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Dr Karin Koehler

Lecturer in 19th Century Literature

k.koehler@bangor.ac.uk

0000-0003-0710-8308

Dr Karin Koehler

View Dr Karin Koehler’s profile on the Bangor Research Portal

Overview

My research focuses on the role and representation of infrastructure in nineteenth-century writing. In particular, I'm interested in the relationship between discourses of development and nineteenth-century ideas about education and national development. In the past, my research has concentrated on the significance of communication media and technology in Victorian literature. I have further research interests in the cultural history of sexual knowledge, in literary constructions of privacy from the Romantic period to the present, and in contemporary responses to and reinventions of the Victorian period. I would be pleased to supervise postgraduate research related to any of these subjects.

I hold an MA (Hons) in English and French (2011) and a PhD in Victorian Literature (2015) from the University of St Andrews. I joined Bangor University in 2016 as a lecturer in nineteenth-century British literature, having previously taught at St Andrews and for the Scottish Universities' International Summer School based at Edinburgh University.

Additional Contact Information

My research and teaching focus on nineteenth-century literature, with particular emphasis on the relationships between literary culture and media, technologies, and infrastructures of communication.

Email: k.koehler@bangor.ac.uk

Phone: (0124838)2113

Location: Room 303, New Arts Building, College Road, Bangor University, LL57 2DG

I welcome PhD proposals in the following subject areas: Victorian literature and culture; Neo-Victorian literature; letters in literature and epistolary writing; media, networks, and technologies of communication in literature; infrastructure and literature; the life and work of Thomas Hardy.

Teaching and Supervision

I would welcome PhD proposals in the following subject areas: Victorian literature and culture; Neo-Victorian literature; letters in literature and epistolary writing; media, networks, and technologies of communication in literature; infrastructure and literature; the life and work of Thomas Hardy. If you are a prospective doctoral researcher and not sure whether your project fits my expertise, please don't hesitate to contact me to discuss your proposal.

Research Interests

I'm currently the principal editor of a four-volume source book on nineteenth-century communication culture, forthcoming with Routledge in 2025. Nineteenth-Century Communications: A Documentary History, 1780-1918 seeks to help researchers navigate the overwhelming wealth of materials related to the development of communications and their political, economic, social, and cultural impacts. This research is supported by the British Academy and the Leverhulme Trust with a small grant.

I also recently co-edited, alongside Dr Gregory Tate (St Andrews University) a special issue of the journal 19: Interdisciplinary Studies in the Long Nineteenth-Century on 'Nineteenth-Century Literary Languages'. The issue will appear early in 2025 and represents the culmination of the AHRC-funded research network Victorian Literary Languages.

I am working on a book on the way in which nineteenth-century popular verse cultures responded to - and helped to shape - the experience of living in a networked world.

Building on my interest in communications, my research also explores the infrastructures (especially roads and bridges) that underpinned the increasingly faster transmission of messages. In particular, I have been working on the cultural reception in Welsh and English of the two bridges over the Menai. This research forms the beginning of a new project that takes a four nations approach to exploring the connections between the nineteenth-century bildungsroman and other discourses of development.

My first monograph, Thomas Hardy and Victorian Communication, was published by Palgrave in 2016. Related research on epistolary elements of novels and stories by Charlotte Brontë, Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Gaskell, Thomas Hardy, and Anthony Trollope has been published in Brontë Studies, Victorian Literature and Culture and Victorian Review, as well as in edited collections.

I have also written on the ways in which the plots and narrative form of literary texts refract changing attitudes toward sexual knowledge during the Victorian period. An essay about the significance of handwriting in Victorian fiction, periodicals, and graphology manuals has appeared in an edited collection about Judgement in the Victorian Age.

Postgraduate Project Opportunities

I am willing to supervise a PhD

Publications

2025

  • PublishedNineteenth-Century Communications: A Documentary History
    Koehler, K., McIlvenna, K., Hopkins, E., Kirkby, N., Smith, E. & Thompson, H., 25 Sept 2025, Routledge.
    Research output: Book/Report › Book
  • PublishedNineteenth-Century Literary Languages
    Koehler, K. (Editor) & Tate, G. (Editor), 2 May 2025, In: 19: Interdisciplinary Studies in the Long Nineteenth Century. 37
    Research output: Contribution to journal › Special issue › peer-review

2023

  • Published‘Dreaming of Infrastructure on Egdon Heath: Infrastructure and Development in Thomas Hardy’s The Return of the Native’
    Koehler, K., 2 Sept 2023.
    Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper › peer-review
  • Published‘“I was not know for sure what be the Queen, Evan; was you?”’: Fictions of Development in Amy Dillwyn’s The Rebecca Rioter (1880)
    Koehler, K., 8 Nov 2023, In: 19: Interdisciplinary Studies in the Long Nineteenth Century.
    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2022

  • Published'"[L]etters must increase": Reading and Writing the Post Office as a Literary Institution'
    Koehler, K., Jul 2022, Institutions of Literature, 1700-1900: The Development of Literary Culture and Production. Mee, J. & Sangster, M. (eds.). Cambridge University Press, p. 234-254 21 p.
    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
  • Published‘Poetry, Language and National Identity in the North Wales Newspaper Press, c.1820-1855’
    Koehler, K., May 2022.
    Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper › peer-review

2021

  • PublishedA Tale of Two Bridges: The Poetry and Politics of Infrastructure in Nineteenth-Century Wales
    Koehler, K., Oct 2021, In: Journal of Victorian Culture. 26, 4, p. 499-518
    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2020

  • PublishedLate-Victorian Polemics about Sexual Knowledge in Thomas Hardy and Sarah Grand
    Koehler, K., Jan 2020, In: English Literature in Transition, 1880-1920. 63, 2, p. 211-233
    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2019

  • PublishedThomas Hardy: Annotated Bibliography
    Koehler, K., 26 Jun 2019, Oxford Bibliographies.
    Research output: Contribution to specialist publication › Article

2018

  • PublishedImmaterial Correspondence: Letters, Bodies, and Desire in Charlotte Brontë’s Villette
    Koehler, K., Mar 2018, In: Brontë Studies. 43, 2, p. 136-146
    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
  • PublishedJudging by the Hand: Handwriting and Character in Victorian Literary Culture
    Koehler, K., 1 Dec 2018, Victorian Judgement. Gregory, J. R., Bautz, A. & Grey, D. (eds.). Routledge
    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review

2017

  • PublishedValentines and the Victorian Imagination: Mary Barton and Far from the Madding Crowd
    Koehler, K., Jun 2017, In: Victorian Literature and Culture. 45, 2, p. 395-412
    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2016

  • Published"Imaginative Sentiment": Love, Letters, and Literacy in Thomas Hardy’s Shorter Fiction
    Koehler, K., 9 Nov 2016, Thomas Hardy's Short Stories: New Perspectives. Berning Schaefer, J. & Craft Brownson, S. (eds.). 1st ed. Abingdon: Routledge, p. 84-102 (The Nineteenth Century Series).
    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
  • PublishedThomas Hardy and Victorian Communication: Letters, Telegrams, and Postal Systems
    Koehler, K., 6 Jun 2016, London: Palgrave Macmillan. 236 p.
    Research output: Book/Report › Book › peer-review

2015

  • Published'A husband without suspicions does not intercept his wife's letters': Letters, Privacy and Gender in the Victorian Novel
    Koehler, K., 31 Aug 2015, Private and Public Voices: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Letters and Letter-Writing. Koehler, K. & McDonald-Miranda, K. (eds.). Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary Press, p. 155-182 27 p.
    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
  • Published"Essentially separated in spite of all uniting factors": Thomas Hardy and the Community of Letter Writers
    Koehler, K., Mar 2015, In: Victorian Review. 41, 1, p. 125-142 18 p.
    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
  • PublishedPrivate and Public Voices: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Letters and Letter-Writing
    Koehler, K. (Editor) & McDonald-Miranda, K. (Editor), 31 Aug 2015, Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary Press. 255 p.
    Research output: Book/Report › Book

Activities

2023

  • ‘“To each heart and each home do thy benefits come”: Postal Labour and Victorian Poetry’

    Symposium organised by the Centre for Literary Editing and the Materiality of the Text (CLEMT)

    30 Jun 2023

    Activity: Invited talk (Speaker)
  • Victorian Literary Languages Workshop 3: Mobility and Communication

    Bilingual workshop as part of AHRC-funded research network Victorian Literary Languages.

    12 Jan 2023 – 13 Jan 2023

    Activity: Participation in Academic workshop, seminar, course (Organiser)

2022

  • Victorian Literary Languages: Workshop 2 - Education and Literacy

    25 Aug 2022 – 26 Aug 2022

    Activity: Participation in Academic workshop, seminar, course (Organiser)
  • Victorian Literary Languages: Workshop 1 - Grammar and Philology

    26 May 2022 – 27 May 2022

    Activity: Participation in Academic workshop, seminar, course (Organiser)

2020

  • ‘“‘I was not know for sure what be the Queen, Evan; was you?’: Infrastructure and the Fiction of Development in Amy Dillwyn’s The Rebecca Rioter (1880)”

    3 Dec 2020

    Activity: Invited talk (Speaker)

2019

  • Interview with Aled Hughes on Radio Cymru

    An interview about new research into poetry and other writing about the bridges across the Menai.

    19 Nov 2019

    Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Media article or participation (Contributor)
  • 'Cables and Bridges: Connecting Wales in the Nineteenth Century'

    A talk as part of a series of lectures offered by the university to coincide with the first installment of the Winter Light event.

    16 Nov 2019

    Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Public lecture/debate/seminar (Contributor)
  • Dear Memory...

    Public workshop exploring the ways in which poetry can change our understanding of the relationship between place and memory.

    14 Nov 2019

    Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Public lecture/debate/seminar (Contributor)
  • 'A Tale of Two Bridges: Dreaming of Infrastructure in Victorian Literature'

    Lecture given as part of the Shankland Library Lecture series at Bangor University.

    6 Nov 2019

    Activity: Invited talk (Speaker)
  • 'not even knowledge takes all strangeness from the world': Knowing the Past in Sarah Perry's The Essex Serpent

    28 Aug 2019

    Activity: Oral presentation (Speaker)
  • Interview on BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour

    Short interview, alongside actor Isabella Nefar, about Howard Brenton's play Jude (Hampstead Theatre), loosely based on Thomas Hardy's novel Jude the Obscure.

    9 May 2019

    Links:

    • https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0004sbd
    Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Media article or participation (Contributor)
  • Writing about Illness and Well-being in the Nineteenth Century

    One-day workshop for twenty KS4 students from the South West, organised in collaboration with Dr Catherine Charlwood (St Anne's College Oxford) and Mr Andrew Hewitt (Hull University), designed to support pupils' engagement with and understanding of nineteenth-century non-fiction and their interest in Thomas Hardy. The workshop was funded by the European Research Council-funded project 'Diseases of Modern Life', based at Oxford University, and supported by the Thomas Hardy Society.

    7 May 2019

    Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Schools engagement (Organiser)
  • The Mayor of Casterbridge at AS-Level: A Workshop

    Invited workshop for AS-level students at Ysgol Syr Hugh Owen, Caernarfon.

    3 May 2019

    Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Schools engagement (Speaker)
  • Welsh Crucible

    May 2019 – Jul 2019

    Activity: Participation in Academic workshop, seminar, course (Participant)
  • Engaging Students in Nineteenth-Century Prose

    The free workshop introduced resources designed to support the teaching and study of nineteenth-century non-fiction. It also explored strategies for using these resources and for drawing on Hardy Country heritage in the teaching of nineteenth-century non-fiction. A subsequent event for pupils, designed to support their engagement with nineteenth-century non-fiction, took place on 7 May 2019.

    12 Apr 2019

    Activity: Participation in Academic workshop, seminar, course (Organiser)

2018

  • Thomas Hardy Journal (Journal)

    Editor

    23 Jul 2018 – 1 Jul 2021

    Links:

    • http://www.hardysociety.org/about-the-society/journal
    Activity: Editorial activity (Editor)
  • 23rd International Thomas Hardy Conference and Festival

    'Alike and Unlike: Revisiting Boscastle and Great Orme's Head'

    19 Jul 2018

    Activity: Participation in Academic conference (Speaker)
  • Correspondence and Community

    Organisation of, and participation in, an international, interdisciplinary colloquium, featuring fourteen speakers from eight countries.

    5 Jul 2018

    Links:

    • https://www.bangor.ac.uk/english/events/correspondence-and-community-37059
    Activity: Participation in Academic conference (Organiser)

2017

  • Thomas Hardy and Sex Education

    A lecture delivered at the Dorset County Museum as part of the 2017 Thomas Hardy Public Lecture Series, co-organised by the University of Exeter, the National Trust, and Hardy Country.

    26 Oct 2017

    Links:

    • https://www.dorsetcountymuseum.org/dcm/events/list/97/literary-lives-hardy-and-sex-education-by-dr-karin-koehler/
    Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Public lecture/debate/seminar (Speaker)
  • Mayers Fellowship

    Two-month fellowship (£6,000) for research in the Huntington Library. The award enabled me to conduct primary and secondary research toward my current monograph project on Victorian Poetry and Epistolary Aesthetics.

    Jun 2017 – Aug 2017

    Activity: Types of Award - Fellowship awarded competitively (Recipient)
  • Woodlanders Study Day

    'Poor Marty's Only Card': Re-reading Marty South

    22 Apr 2017

    Links:

    • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ez6iT4A4SxI
    Activity: Participation in Academic conference (Speaker)
  • Thomas Hardy Journal (Journal)

    Peer-reviewing and editorial decisions.

    Apr 2017 →

    Activity: Editorial activity (Editorial board member)

2016

  • British Association for Victorian Studies 2016

    Paper Title: Consuming Old Selves: Re-Reading Letters in Victorian Poetry

    1 Sep 2016

    Activity: Participation in Academic conference (Speaker)
  • 'A Modern Wessex of the Penny Post: Thomas Hardy's Postal Imagination'; Keynote Lecture at the 22nd International Thomas Hardy Conference and Festival

    29 Jul 2016

    Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Public lecture/debate/seminar (Lecturer)
  • The 22nd International Thomas Hardy Conference and Festival

    29 Jul 2016

    Activity: Participation in Academic conference (Keynote/plenary speaker)
  • The Body and Pseudoscience in the Long Nineteenth Century

    Paper Title: ‘Large quantities of vinegar’: Nutrition Science and/in Victorian Culture

    18 Jun 2016

    Activity: Participation in Academic conference (Speaker)
  • All Things Victorian

    19 Mar 2016

    Activity: Participation in Academic conference (Speaker)

2015

  • Victorian Network (Journal)

    2015 →

    Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer)

Projects

  • Victorian Literary Languages

    17/05/2021 – 19/06/2023 (Finished)

  • Nineteenth-Century Communications: A Documentary History, 1780-1918

    31/08/2020 – 15/06/2024 (Finished)

  • Epistolary Aesthetics and Victorian Poetry

    01/06/2017 – 31/08/2017 (Finished)

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