2001-2002 Edward M. Wise Dissertation Fellow & Awardees

The first Edward M. Wise Dissertation Fellowship was awarded to Ms. Julie Towell, Ph.D. Candidate, English for her dissertation, "The 'Rise and Progress' of Anglo-Saxonism and English National Identity." Her dissertation advisor is Elizabeth Sklar.

Abstract
This dissertation entails an examination of the cultural contexts operating in the creation and evolution of Victorian version(s) of Anglo-Saxon medievalism (or "Anglo-Saxonism") during the nineteenth century. At its base is an analysis of the editorial selection criteria and evaluative comments of the canon of Old English literature serves as the underlying framework, a substantial component entails an examination of the way that an idealized Anglo-Saxon medieval past informed the construction of an English national identity as shown in the use of Anglo-Saxon texts and myths in the creation of historical narratives and representations of Englishness. I contend that "Anglo-Saxonism" had an active role in the creation of an English past worthy of the prevailing sense of a superior English national character.

The first section of the dissertation comprises an examination of the Anglo-Saxon texts that were produced between 1800 and 1890, along with information about the men who produced them. The second part will comprise an examination of representations of Anglo-Saxons and Old English literature found in popular cultural products (i.e., poetry, fiction, drama). It will also cover representations made by historians and biographers dealing with the Anglo-Saxon period as a whole or with specific individuals (e.g., King Alfred and the Venerable Bede). This section will examine Anglo-Saxonism's connections with popular perceptions of racial and national character. The conclusion will discuss some of the major cultural, social political, and intellectual views operating in the period 1800-1890 which provide a context for understanding those nineteenth-century modes of thought which apply to the development of the prevailing constructs of Anglo-Saxonism and of the Old English canon; Old English texts became canonical if they were in some way congruent with an idealized English national character. In other words, the project will be an investigation of the effect of "Anglo-Saxonism" upon nineteenth-century cultural, social, and political discourses operating in the (re)production of "medieval" texts or texts with "medieval" subject matter; and the effect of these discourses upon "Anglo-Saxonism."

The Center also awarded two $1,000 awards. One was to Craig Smith, Ph.D. Candidate, English for his dissertation, "Eustace Tilley's Closet: Gay and Lesbian Writers at the New Yorker 1925-1992." The other award went to Mark Huston, Ph.D. Candidate, Philosophy, "Intuitions and Concepts."