Rachel Slivon
English Department, University of Florida
Graduate Student and Teaching Assistant
Research
My research interests include British literature, particularly the period from the nineteenth century to the present, and gender studies, specifically engaging with feminism and queer theory. The interactions and relations between British literature, particularly in the nineteenth century, and gender studies are of primary interest. My research focuses on British women writers, including the Charlotte Bronte and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. I am interested in the novel, poetry, canonical and non-canonical works, and gender within nineteenth-century British literature.
Examples of my particular research interests include Hiram Powers" statue The Greek Slave (image below) and Elizabeth Barrett Browning"s sonnet regarding The Greek Slave (also below)
They say Ideal Beauty cannot enter
The house of anguish. On the threshold stands
An alien image with enshackled hands,
Called the Greek Slave! as if the artist meant her
(That passionless perfection which he lent her
Shadowed not darkened where the sill expands)
To so confront man.s crimes in different lands
With man.s ideal sense. Pierce to the center,
Art.s fiery finger! and break up ere long
The serfdom of this world! appeal, fair stone,
From God"s pure heights of beauty against man"s wrong!
Catch up in the divine face, not alone
East griefs but west, and strike and shame the strong,
By thunders of white silence, overthrow
Hiram Powers" The Greek Slave