Editorial Introduction

Abstract

Marking the first issue of the Australasian Journal of Victorian Studies since its move to a new OJS platform hosted by eScholarship Journals at Sydney University Press, the Editor thanks those who have worked on it over the ten years since it first went on line at the National Library of Australia, and welcomes new helpers Carolyn Lake, Nancy Langham Hooper and Jocelyn Hargrave.  After heartfelt thanks to a cast of dozens, the Introduction discusses the Australasian niche occupied by the Journal in the context of transnational and interdisciplinary developments in the Humanities, using a selection of work around the recent Dickens centenary to illustrate ways in which Victorian Studies can be “done” from different angles without abandoning its central focus on nineteenth-century studies of British culture. 

The topics of papers in this general issue range from the Eastlakes’ British art collecting practices to Louis Becke’s brutal South Seas adventure stories, with the properties of touch in fin de siècle fiction and Oscar Wilde’s aesthetic individualism in Dorian Gray providing fascinating and perceptive food for thought.  Reviews are similarly diverse and interesting:  Conan Doyle, Neo-Victorian Freakery, Victorian poetry and new archival material from early nineteenth-century British women writers located in New Zealand collections.

Finally, the Journal Editor announces two future special issues, and invites papers to be submitted for inclusion in future general issues, with the new OJS platform at Sydney University being open for business.  The Journal’s Focus and Scope section is a good place to start.   Enjoy!