Goucher Names Fourth Biennial Burke Jane Austen Scholar-in-Residence

Release date: June 19, 2007 |

Devoney Looser, associate professor of English and literature coordinator at the University of Missouri, Columbia, has been named Goucher College's 2007-2008 Burke Jane Austen Scholar-in-Residence. 

Looser, the author of British Women Writers and the Writing of History, 1670-1820, will complete a research residency in the Jane Austen Collection of Goucher’s Julia Rogers Library from March 3 to 7. She also will consult with students and faculty and deliver a public lecture titled "Jane Austen, Jane Porter, and Bath" on March 5 at 7:30 p.m. in Merrick Lecture Hall. 

A dedicated Austen scholar, Looser edited the collection Jane Austen and Discourses of Feminism, and she has written numerous articles on the author, including “’I Always Take the Part of My Own Sex’ Emma’s Mrs. Elton and the Rights of Women,” "Old Dogs and New Tricks: Austen’s Female Elders,” “Jane Austen ‘Responds’ to the Men’s Movement,” and “Jane Austen, Feminist Literary Criticism, and a Fourth ‘R’: Reassessment.”

She has contributed to recent books on Austen as the author of chapters such as “Jane Austen in the Twenty-First Century,” “Reading Jane Austen and Rewriting ‘Herstory,’” and “Feminist Implications of the Silver Screen Austen.”

Among other projects, Looser is also now working on two book-length projects: “British Women Writers and Old Age, 1750-1850” and “Another Jane: Jane Porter, Austen’s Contemporary.”

Goucher established the Burke Scholar-in-Residence program in 2000 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Alberta Hirshheimer ’28 and Henry Burke’s bequest of their Austen collection to the Julia Rogers Library. The Burkes’ collection of first and early editions of Austen’s works, translations, critical studies, works by her contemporaries, background literature about her life and times, and audiovisual materials have helped make Goucher’s one of the world's most extensive collections of the famous author.

The residency is held biennially and offers the selected scholar a week to research Goucher’s Austen collection, work with related undergraduate classes, and present a public lecture on an Austen-related topic. The grant also provides a $1,000 stipend, travel expenses, and accommodations.

Looser's visit is sponsored by the Friends of the Goucher College Library and the Alberta and Henry Burke Austen Scholar-in-Residence Program.