SSG History Project Narrative

From October 8-10, I attended and presented at the annual conference of the Northeast American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies. This year’s theme was “Texts and the City,” which aligned well with my dissertation research on the representation of London in the eighteenth- century novel. My dissertation is titled “Urban Plunge: Eighteenth-Century Novel Heroines in London,” and it investigates how the novel, which was emerging as a genre during this period, represents and imagines the mobility of women in the rapidly expanding London metropolis.

I presented a paper titled “London in the Making: Perceptions of Urban Space and Female Identity in Roxana” in a panel called “Mapping London.” In my paper, I argue that Defoe explores conflicting theories about urban space in the early eighteenth century through his figuration of female characters. This panel ended up including just one other scholar, Dr. Anne Cotterill, and thus ample time was left after our presentations for the Q&A. As a result, I was able to engage in thoughtful discussion with Dr. Cotterill and audience members about the relationship between urban travel and identity-formation, the opportunities and challenges for women in the period, and about intertextuality in Daniel Defoe’s corpus. Other conference panels were dedicated to such topics as the gendering of city spaces and the London-centered novel, so attending these sessions and conversing with other presenters were valuable for my research and my professional development.

I am requesting reimbursement for my registration fee, transportation, and hotel accommodations. In an effort to cut costs, I shared a hotel room with a graduate student department colleague and selected the least expensive ticket to and from Hartford via Amtrak. Thank you for your consideration.