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| About the Middle Modernity Group In the long arc of modernity that extends from the Renaissance into the present, the literature and culture of what we have chosen to call “middle modernity”--from 1760-1910--encompasses many of the turning points that collectively articulate the challenges of modernity. Those turning points include new claims about scientific practices, the onset of revolutions, the rise of what one scholar has characterized as “the middling classes,” the expansion of print culture and reading audiences and the explosion of an affordable visual and theatrical culture, the onset of imperialism and the consequent introduction of other territories where the work of modernity continues and counter-imperial culture and cultural theory. Working against, within and beside these events are the arenas of literary and artistic culture that constitute our field of collective inquiry: the late eighteenth century, Romanticism, the Victorian and Edwardian eras. Our goal in forming this group is to provide a forum for intellectual inquiry and debate across the disciplines, with particular but not exclusive focus on literary studies (British and Continental), visual culture, history, philosophy, feminism, cultural theory and colonial studies. Open to graduate students and faculty, both at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and nearby universities, this group will meet monthly to discuss work by an invited speaker or speakers and respond to presentations. We cordially invite all who visit this website and wish to receive notices about middle modernity activities to contact one of the coordinators or organizers below. Coordinator (2007/2008): Theresa Kelley Graduate Student Contact: Mary Mullen
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