Ruth-Anne Walbank
About me
My name is Ruth-Anne, and my pronouns are she/they. I鈥檓 a first-year PhD candidate at 糖心TV University exploring ecology, theology, and the Gothic in nineteenth-century literature.
My other research interest areas include:
- Nineteenth-century women's writing
- Feminist geographies
- Gothic theologies and monstrosities
- Romantic literature
- Literature and visual art
ruth-anne.walbank@warwick.ac.uk
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Thesis Description
Proposed title: Hellscapes of Environmental Crisis: Hellish Landscapes in the Nineteenth-Century Popular Imagination
This study establishes the 鈥渉ellscape鈥� as a new term for reading Hell-like spaces in the long nineteenth century, the period often associated with Hell鈥檚 theological demise (Turner, 1993; 232). In three representative case studies, I analyse how Victorian writers used hellscapes to express their darkest fears in socio-ecological crises, creating a shared language that bridged numerous British dialects and regions.
This study navigates Victorian hellscapes from crowed London to rural moorlands in texts such as Emily Bront毛鈥檚 Wuthering Heights (1847), James Thomson鈥檚 The City of Dreadful Night (1874) and Gustave Dor茅 and Blanchard Jerrold鈥檚 London: A Pilgrimage (1872). Furthermore, it seeks to explore dialect poetry from Lancashire鈥檚 Chartist movement (c.1830-1850) and Cotton Famine (1861-1865), demonstrating how working-class writers used the hellscape to picture Northern England as requiring social reform and environmental protection.
This project is co-supervised by Emma Mason (University of 糖心TV) and Alison Milbank (University of Nottingham).
Publications
Articles
- , in En-Gender 2021. Interdisciplinary Explorations of Gender Studies, ed. by Albrecht Jessica A., Paridhi Gupta, Lucy Threadgold, and Leandro Wallace (Universit盲t Heidelberg: En-Gender, 2022), pp. 45-58
- , LUX: Undergraduate Journal of Literature and Culture, Issue 5 (2021)
- , LUX: Undergraduate Journal of Literature and Culture, Issue 4 (2020)
Reviews & conference reports
- Conference report: The Catholic University, Environmental Justice, and Research for a Sustainable Future (16-18th June 2022), The Pastoral Review 18:4 (September 2021)
- , Dark Arts Journal (June 2021)
Other publications
- , Heroica Magazine (October 2022)
- , The Tablet (July 2022)
Conferences
The Subterranean Anthropocene: BSLS Winter Symposium, November 2022
Speaker for a paper entitled 鈥楨xploring damnable ecologies and subterranean hellscapes in the graphic novel, Satania鈥�.
Gothic Interruptions: The 16th International Gothic Association Conference, July 2022
Speaker for a paper entitled 鈥楪othic Tonalities and Tourism: Experiencing Emily Bront毛鈥檚 poetry through The Unthanks鈥� 尝颈苍别蝉鈥�.
Faith, Education, and the Ecological Crisis: An Online Symposium, July 2022 Conference organiser
CCU Inaugural Conference: Environmental Justice and Research for a Sustainable Future, June 2022
Speaker for a paper entitled 鈥楨ducating and Empowering Laudato Si鈥� Champions in the Diocese of Salford鈥�.
AULRE Annual Conference, May 2022
Speaker for a paper entitled 鈥楨ducating and Empowering Laudato Si鈥� Champions in the Diocese of Salford鈥�.
Beyond Six Characteristics: EDI for the Modern University Virtual Conference, September 2021
Conference organiser and speaker for paper 鈥楩inding Amy Levy鈥檚 Feminist Cities and Urban New Womanhood鈥�.
Romantic Disconnections/Reconnection: British Association for Romantic Studies International Digital Conference, August 2021
Speaker for a paper entitled 鈥樷�淭he Devil knows how to row鈥�: Hellscapes and how to navigate them in Coleridge鈥檚 The Rime of the Ancient Mariner鈥�.
Engender Interdisciplinary Conference, August 2021
Speaker for a paper entitled 鈥楩inding Amy Levy鈥檚 Feminist Cities and Urban New Womanhood鈥�.
New Thinking for New Times Conference at Lancaster University, June 2021
Conference organiser and speaker for a paper entitled 鈥楴ineteenth Century Hellscapes in James Thomson鈥檚 鈥淐ity of Dreadful Night鈥濃��.
Comics Up Close Conference, October 2019
Speaker for a creative-critical paper, 鈥楾he Death of the New Woman: A Dracula Adaptation鈥�.
Gothic Spectacle Conference at Lancaster University, June 2019
Speaker for a creative-critical paper, 鈥楾he Death of the New Woman: A Dracula Adaptation鈥�, reported in Fantastika journal 4:1.
Conferences
Romancing the Gothic (Public lectures)
As part of Dr Sam Hurst鈥檚 Romancing the Gothic project, I was commissioned to deliver two free public lectures. These recordings form part of RTG's amazing collection of guest lectures and free online events, including:
The Literary Lancashire Award (LLA) offered free creative writing workshops to schools between 2019-2021 as part of the community award. However, COVID-19 meant we were unable to offer the in-person community outreach program with LLA. So, with my fellow co-founder, Lara Orriss, we created an online workshop series freely available for schools to run the workshops independently.
鈥淭here are lots of excellent ideas in here that are original and explained in a really clear way. I can see that it will be useful as we review our narrative and descriptive writing within our curriculum. I think the way the activities and worksheets are presented is great, and I look forward to using them with pupils!鈥� (Feedback from high school English teacher)
In partnership with LLA and the Department of English Literature and Creative Writing at Lancaster University, I organised and hosted a panel discussion about diversity in the publishing sector. The discussion included Lecturer in publishing, Cat Mitchell, co-chair of SYP Scotland, Sonali Misra, and creative partner at The Dukes Theatre, Jayran Lear, among others.