[PhD Supervision] Chloé Holland, “Ellen Wood: The Professional Woman Writer & the Victorian Literary Marketplace”

CHLOE HOLLAND1I currently supervise the doctoral research of Chloé Holland, who began her PhD in August 2014 and was awarded a fee-waiver by the School of Humanities & Social Science at LJMU after completing her BA (Hons) in English Literature at the University of Salford and her MA in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Culture at the University of Chester. Chloé’s main research interests lie in Victorian popular fiction, the periodical press, and women’s writing, and her thesis combines these areas by focusing on the life and work of Ellen Wood (or Mrs Henry Wood). A prolific and popular Victorian author, much of Wood’s work remains neglected by scholars, and despite a revival of interest in sensation fiction since the late-twentieth century no monograph-length study has been dedicated yet to Wood’s writing and career.

faceChloé’s research situates the this important author’s work and life in several intersecting contexts related to the Victorian publishing industry and literary market place: her public image, her professional publishing career, her work as editor, her identity as a woman writer, and how the development of her extensive career manifested itself in the styles and themes of her fiction. Chloé’s supervisory team consists of Professor Brian Maidment, Professor Glenda Norquay, and me, her Director of Studies. Chloé has presented papers at several conferences, including those of the Victorian Popular Fiction Association (VPFA), and she teaches on the first-year module “Literature in Context”.

You can find out more about Chloé and her research on Twitter (@chloeholland) and on her blog (http://www.chloeholland.blogspot.co.uk), where you’ll find updates on her  life as an early-career researcher, her journey as a PhD candidate, and occasional posts and tweets about her love for Manchester City FC.