In the second of this series, Danielle Barkley from McGill introduces herself:

Hello, members of the Romantic Illustration Network! I’m very pleased to have a chance to introduce myself. I am currently a lecturer at both McGill University and Bishop’s University in Montreal, Canada. I am awaiting a defense date for my doctoral thesis, Reading The Details: Realism and the Silver Fork Novel, 1825-1845. This research focused on the narrative strategies of silver fork novels, arguing that the accumulation of detail was the genre’s major priority, and that in order to represent that detail as fully as possible, these novels  often depart from the narrative norms widely viewed as central to prose fiction.  As I work to turn the thesis into a book manuscript, I’m planning to incorporate new material on illustrations in silver fork fiction, looking at how illustrations furthered the work of presenting detailed accounts of elite lifestyles (or the illusion thereof). I’m also interested in giftbooks and literary annuals, and the role of illustration there. Feel free to contact me at danielle.barkley@mail.mcgill.ca.