Fields of Interest
Biography
I specialize in poetry and poetics, especially nineteenth-century anglophone poetry, as well as in the big messy sub-field called “religion and literature.” I take a particular interest in the relationship between literary genre (e.g.. poetry, the novel, the essay, etc.) and cultural value. My first book, Victorian Poets and the Changing Bible, concerns the complicated relationship between Victorian poetry and contemporaneous Biblical interpretation. My second book, The Victorian Cult of Shakespeare, explores religious responses to Shakespeare during the nineteenth century. Generally speaking, my scholarship looks at why certain literary genres or sub-genres become valued over others, and under what conditions those genres and relative values evolve.
Research
Selected Research
- Charles LaPorte. The Victorian Cult of Shakespeare: Bardology in the Nineteenth Century. Cambridge University Press, 2020.
- Charles LaPorte. "Post-Secular English Studies and Romantic Cults of Authorship," Constructing Nineteenth-Century Religion: Literary, Historical, and Religious Studies in Dialogue, eds. Joshua King and Winter Werner. Ohio State University Press, Literature, Religion, and Postsecular Studies Series, 2019.
- Charles LaPorte. "Religion and Spirituality." The Cambridge Companion to Victorian Women's Poetry, ed. Linda K. Hughes. Cambridge University Press, 2019.
- "Introduction: Nineteenth-Century Literature, New Religious Movements, and Secularization," Nineteenth-Century Literature 73.2 (September 2018): 147-160. [Co-authored with Sebastian Lecourt for two special issues on New Religious Movements and Secularization (September and December 2018).]
- Charles LaPorte. "Victorian Poetry and Form." Victorian Literature: Criticism and Debates, eds. Lee Behlman and Anne Longmuir. Routledge, 2015: 37-46.
- "The Dramatic Monologue." The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Victorian Literature, eds. Dino Felluga, Pamela Gilbert, and Linda K. Hughes. Blackwell/Wiley, 2015: 474-479.
- "Victorian Poetry and Form." Victorian Literature: Criticism and Debates, eds. Lee Behlman and Anne Longmuir. Routledge, 2015: 37-46.
- “Atheist Prophecy: Mathilde Blind, Constance Naden, and the Victorian Poetess,” reprinted in Victorian Literature: Criticism and Debates, eds. Lee Behlman and Anne Longmuir. Routledge, 2015: 67-74.
- “Victorian Literature, Religion, and Secularization.” Literature Compass 10:3 (2013): 277-287.
- “Aurora Leigh, A Life-Drama, and Victorian Poetic Autobiography.” SEL (Studies in English Literature). (Autumn 2013): 829–851.
- Charles LaPorte. “The Devotional Texts of Victorian Bardolatry.” Shakespeare, the Bible, and the History of the Material Book: Contested Scriptures. Eds. Travis DeCook and Alan Galey. Routledge. 2012: 143-159.
- Charles LaPorte. Victorian Poets and the Changing Bible. University of Virginia Press. 2011.
Research Advised: Graduate Masters Essays
- Jiang, Yixuan. “‘Dark Almost as If It Came from the Devil:’ The Relationship between Heathcliff’s Racialization and His Satanic Portrayal in Wuthering Heights.” University of Washington, 2022.
- Chavez, Micaela. (2022). “'Judge whether she is worth a regret!': The Role of Remorse in the Judgment of Victorian Fallen Women." [Unpublished] Master's Essay, University of Washington.
- Duncan, Anne. "Signs of Life: Redirected Language as Reparative Approach to the American Canon in Hymn for the Black Terrific," MA Essay, Department of English, University of Washington, March 2022.
Research Advised: Graduate Dissertations
- Poland, Matthew. The Global Migrations of George Eliot and Charles Dickens: Books, Newspapers, Archives. 2022. University of Washington, PhD dissertation.
- Gehrke, Laura. The Religious Lives of Women in the Novels of George Eliot and Charlotte Mary Yonge. 2022. University of Washington, PhD dissertation.
- Peters, Nicole. Rereading Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Reading Cultures. 2019. University of Washington, PhD dissertation.
- Ottinger, Aaron. The Role of Geometry in Wordsworth's "Science of Feelings." 2016. University of Washington, PhD dissertation.
- Campbell, Jessica A. Tradition and Transformation: Fairy Tales in the Victorian Novel. 2015. University of Washington, PhD dissertation.
- Hansen, Caitlin R. The Infant Phenomenon: Shakespeare, the Mimetic Child, and Nineteenth-Century British Literature. 2013. University of Washington, PhD dissertation.
Research Advised: Undergraduate Symposia
Courses Taught
Autumn 2023
Spring 2024
Spring 2023
Winter 2023
Spring 2022
Autumn 2021
Spring 2021
Winter 2021
Autumn 2020
Winter 2020
Winter 2019
Autumn 2017
Winter 2017
Autumn 2016
Winter 2016
Autumn 2015
Spring 2015
Related News
Related News
- Retirements / Professor Emeritus Robert "Bob" Abrams - November 21, 2023
- Faculty Awards and Achievements - November 16, 2023
- English Department Faculty Featured in new Humanities Podcast - October 12, 2023
- Season 2, Episode 4: Pimone Triplett and Charles LaPorte: Gwendolyn Brookes, Terrance Hayes, and "The Golden Shovel" - October 9, 2022
- Faculty and Staff Notes - December 19, 2021
- Faculty Books - September 3, 2020
- Faculty and Staff Notes - September 2, 2020
- Faculty and Staff Notes - January 6, 2020
- Faculty Notes - May 15, 2019
- Faculty Notes - May 15, 2019
- Retirements / Professor Joseph Butwin - May 7, 2019
- Lee Scheingold Lecture in Poetry and Poetics - November 30, 2018
- Jesse Oak Taylor Wins First Book Prize - February 9, 2018
- Faculty and Staff Notes - November 17, 2017
- Faculty Awards / McCue, Sonenberg Finalists for UW Distinguished Teaching Award; Gillis-Bridges, LaPorte, Helterbrand Take Departmental Honors - May 28, 2017
- Faculty Notes - August 12, 2015
- Emerging Directions and Continuing Traditions in the English Department - May 6, 2015