Archives: Articles


Linda Simonis – Stevenson and Traditions of Satire

Stevenson and Traditions of Satire Linda Simonis Published in Connotations Vol. 34 (2025) Abstract Stevenson is not usually considered a satirical writer. The following article seeks to explore this hitherto neglected aspect of Stevenson’s work. By drawing on two short stories which remained unpublished during his lifetime, “Diogenes in London” […]

Barbara M. Benedict – Chance, Choice, Evolutionary Canonicity, and the Anthologist’s Dilemma: A Response to William E. Engel

Chance, Choice, Evolutionary Canonicity, and the Anthologist’s Dilemma: A Response to William E. Engel1 Barbara M. Benedict Published in Connotations Vol. 34 (2025) Abstract This response takes issue with Professor Engel’s contention that literary anthologists choose texts that perforce provide readers with a literary canon. By examining the British literary […]

Francesca Orestano – Dickens’s Reality Show: Chromophobia in American Notes

Dickens’s Reality Show: Chromophobia in American Notes Francesca Orestano Published in Connotations Vol. 34 (2025) Abstract This article originates from the Dickens Seminar, traditionally a feature of the biennial ESSE—European Society for the Study of English—Conference, which was held in 2022 at the Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany. The Dickens […]

Richard Dury – Familiar Studies: Stevenson’s Multiple Voices

Familiar Studies: Stevenson’s Multiple Voices Richard Dury Published in Connotations Vol. 34 (2025) Abstract Stevenson’s ten essays collected in Familiar Studies (1882) differ stylistically from other contemporary studies of history, literary criticism, and literary history. They lack the single, authoritative, and impersonal voice that readers would expect of such methodical […]

Roger E. Moore – Medieval Jane Austen: A Response to Fritz Kemmler

Medieval Jane Austen: A Response to Fritz Kemmler Roger E. Moore Published in Connotations Vol. 34 (2025) Abstract In this essay, I respond to Fritz Kemmler’s provocative suggestion that Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is indebted to medieval Christian traditions of moral instruction, particularly the seven deadly sins and their […]

Henry Vaughan’s Poetic Identities: A Response to Jonathan Nauman

Henry Vaughan’s Poetic Identities: A Response to Jonathan Nauman Thomas Willard Published in Connotations Vol. 34 (2025) Abstract Jonathan Nauman suggests that Henry Vaughan twice inaugurated himself as a poet in a new subgenre: first as a Welsh river poet in Olor Iscanus (1651) and then as a born-again Christian […]