(with apologies for cross-posting)
My short piece Proserpine appeared last week in the latest volume of the Journal of Neo-Victorian Studies. It’s an electronic journal focusing on contemporary interpretations of nineteenth century culture, and this special issue revolves around children and creativity.
Proserpine is a short piece of speculative fiction about a meeting between Jane Morris, wife of William Morris and muse of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and the young Virginia Stephen, who would later become Virginia Woolf. The story imaginatively engages with how a child of the late Victorian period might observe her world. It investigates the idea of Woolf as a “neo-Victorian,” tracing her Modernist sensibilities to the deep roots of her Victorian childhood. It can also be enjoyed, more simply, as a story about an unusual child who meets an equally unusual woman on a warm spring day.
To access Proserpine, please click here: http://www.neovictorianstudies.com/; and on the left-hand side of the page, click the heading that reads “Past Issues.” Then click on the heading for “5:1 – 2012” for the Special Issue entitled The Child in Neo-Victorian Arts and Discourse: Renegotiating 19th Century Concepts of Childhood. You’ll find Proserpine about half-way down the page. There is also, to my simultaneous horror and delight, the first critical analysis of my work in the guest editors’ introductory piece (the first essay in the table of contents).
amrh / Mougins, October 2012
What fun to read that! I was transported there, which was especially nice considering the weather today. And I scrolled through the essay looking for the reference to you there, too. I hope you are very proud of yourself, and not too modest!
Thanks for sending it to me!
xx
You’re quite welcome. Leighton House is a fabulous place — I was delighted to see it featured as a location in Parade’s End on the telly recently. xx / am