Dr Catherine Wynne

Dr Catherine Wynne

Reader in Victorian and Early Twentieth-Century Literature and Visual Cultures and Associate Dean for Research and Enterprise, Faculty of Arts, Cultures and Education

Faculty and Department

  • Faculty of Arts Cultures and Education
  • School of Humanities

Qualifications

  • BA
  • MA (University College Dublin)
  • PhD / DPhil (University of Oxford)

Summary

I studied at the University of Galway, undertook an MA in Modern English and American Literature at University College Dublin and a doctorate at the University of Oxford.

I currently enjoy the role of Associate Dean for Research and Enterprise in the Faculty of Arts, Cultures and Education and teach undergraduates and supervise PhD students in the School of Humanities (English) at the University of Hull.

My research and publications cut across Victorian and post-nineteenth century literature and visual cultures to the contemporary, with particular focus on the Gothic, war art and memoir, Victorian theatre, travel writing, and colony and empire.

I have published monographs on Bram Stoker (Bram Stoker, Dracula and the Victorian Gothic Stage) and Conan Doyle (The Colonial Conan Doyle) and a biography of Victorian Britain’s leading war artist, Lady Butler (Lady Butler: War Artist and Traveller, 1846-1933). My Butler biography was reviewed in the Sunday Times and was described as ‘a history book as much as an artist biography’ which ‘draws on a cast of real-life characters who wrote letters, kept journals and published their travel writing and autobiographies. Elizabeth comes alive between the pages, often in her own words … Wynne’s skill is to anchor Elizabeth Butler in her own time, while allowing us to see and read her achievements, ambitions and particular skill through 21st-century eyes’ (Cristín Leach, 2019).

I have edited and co-edited books on Stoker’s theatrical writings (two volumes), Bram Stoker and the Gothic, the afterlives of Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes, Victorian mesmerism, and two novellas by Conan Doyle and Stoker. I have also published numerous journal articles and book chapters which focus on the nineteenth century to the contemporary.

I am editor of a new edition of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes for Oxford University Press (World’s Classics), forthcoming in 2025, and a new (joint edition) of The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Valley of Fear for Edinburgh University Press New Critical Editions of the works of Arthur Conan Doyle. I am currently writing a short monograph on Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie and Egypt for Palgrave.

I was literary consultant and interviewee on a number of BBC and Channel 4 TV programmes, and have recently been a contributor for Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) on Daphne du Maurier for CBC Ideas hosted by Nahlah Ayed; Deutsche Welle (German National TV) on Bram Stoker; Irish national TV (RTE) and radio (Newstalk) on Bram Stoker and Lady Butler; Britain By Beach (Channel 4) on Bram Stoker; Books that Made Britain (BBC2) on Bram Stoker; BBC World Service (Conan Doyle); Woman’s Hour (Radio 4) on Victorian mesmerism.

I have been invited to deliver talks and lectures internationally (Tunisia, Germany, Ireland, UK) and at UK institutions, including the British Library, the National Army Museum, Ferens Art Gallery, and societies such as Friends of Ferens Art Gallery, Whitby Civic Society, Dracula Society (London), U3A (Whitby).

I have organized international conferences (including the Bram Stoker Centenary conference in 2012), continue to deliver alumni masterclasses which commenced during COVID, and work with local charities and culture providers to develop resources supporting access to cultural heritage for children with SEND. I organise the University of Hull’s Barbara Canham Turner Lecture. I write for the national and international press, and I am a member of several literary and cultural societies. I was awarded a special category of fellowship from the English Association in 2023 in recognition of my ‘outstanding’ work for the community of English.

My research has been funded the British Academy (Stoker and Butler), the Marc Fitch Fund (Butler), Society for Theatre Research (Stoker), Royal Society of Edinburgh (Conan Doyle), City of Culture Fund, Hull and East Yorkshire Charitable Trust and others.

I supervise PhDs on travel writing and material cultures, on holy wells and springs and on Covid narratives (part of the University of Hull's 'Living with Death - Learning from Covid' research cluster). I contribute as co-host to the Pandemic Pages podcast which is led by PhD researcher, Lucyl Harrison.

Module Convenor

- Gothic Imagination (level 6)

I am the primary PhD supervisor for five PhD students. I supervise across literature and creative writing.

Recent outputs

View more outputs

Book Chapter

Conan Doyle's "young, athletic sporting men": Class, Empire, War and the Boxing Body

Wynne, C. (2021). Conan Doyle’s “young, athletic sporting men”: Class, Empire, War and the Boxing Body. In N. Clausson (Ed.), Re-examining Arthur Conan Doyle (41-58). Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Victorian Stage Magic, Adventure and the Mutilated Body

Wynne, C. (2021). Victorian Stage Magic, Adventure and the Mutilated Body. In C. Bloom (Ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Steam Age Gothic (691-710). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40866-4_37

Neo-Holmesian Fiction

Wynne, C. (2019). Neo-Holmesian Fiction. In J. M. Allan, & C. Pittard (Eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Sherlock Holmes (213-227). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316659274.016

Journal Article

Fang experiences in Whitby's goth/ic theatre

Wynne, C. (in press). Fang experiences in Whitby’s goth/ic theatre. Punk & Post-Punk, 13(2), https://doi.org/10.1386/punk

Soldier Stories: The Irish In The Army From The Late Nineteenth Century To The First World War

Wynne, C. (2023). Soldier Stories: The Irish In The Army From The Late Nineteenth Century To The First World War. British Journal of Military History, 9(2), 81-105. https://doi.org/10.25602/GOLD.bjmh.v9i2.1712

Research interests

- Bram Stoker

- Arthur Conan Doyle

- Lady Butler

- Gothic

- Victorian literature and culture

- War art from the Victorians to the First World War

- Victorian theatre

- Empire and colony

- Travel writing

Lead investigator

Project

Funder

Grant

Started

Status

Project

Inspiring European Citizenship through Educational Technology

Funder

EC European Commission

Grant

£124,681.00

Started

1 October 2017

Status

Complete

Project

Mariupol State University – Study of the Mariupol Communities in Great Britain

Funder

British Council

Grant

£4,980.00

Started

12 September 2024

Status

Complete

Co-investigator

Project

Funder

Grant

Started

Status

Project

NERC: Supporting Interdisciplinarity in Discovery Science 2022

Funder

NERC Natural Environment Research Council

Grant

£14,197.00

Started

1 October 2022

Status

Complete

Postgraduate supervision

I am currently supervising doctorates on travel writing (c. 1880-1940); Covid and pandemic narratives; Holy Wells; a vampire novel (exegesis) as co-supervisor; disability in Victorian fiction as co-supervisor.

Completed PhDs as primary supervisor:

- Dr David Beck, Arthur Conan Doyle (2012)

- Dr Sara Williams, The Maternal Gaze in the Gothic (2011)

- Dr Laila Alharthi, Neo-Historical Fictions (2020)

- Dr Rachel Knighley, Creative Writing - novel (2020)

-Dr Sabrya Albalawi, Brian Friel (2020)

- Dr Keith Fuchs, Creative Writing - novel (2023)

- Dr Emma Linford, Romance Fraud from Wilkie Collins to Agatha Christie (2024)

Conference presentation

The Irish Soldier in the British Army in the Nineteenth Century

2024 - 2024

Invited lecture at the West Cork History Festival (August 2024). https://westcorkhistoryfestival.org/2024-festival-watch-this-space/

Consultancy/Industry advisory role

Britain By Beach

2021 - 2021

Consultant on Bram Stoker and Dracula on Channel 4 TV series 'Britain by Beach' (aired on 27 November at 8pm).

Other

Post-show discussion of Blackeyed Theatre's Dracula, Derby Theatre

2024 - 2024

Post-show discussion with Nick Lane, the writer and director of Blackeyed's Theatre's Dracula, and Harry Rundle (Arthur Holmwood/Count Dracula), and Professor Matthew Cheesman (University of Derby) at Derby Theatre. https://derbytheatre.co.uk/event/dracula/

'Why vampire stories simply won't go away' (Deutsche Welle)

2022

Interviewed on location in Whitby for Deutsche Welle programme on vampires. The programme was released on 31 October 2022 and is available to view on DW Made for Minds (https://www.dw.com/en/why-vampire-stories-simply-wont-go-away/video-63589572) and on youtbube. Programme description: "Bram Stoker's novel "Dracula" was published 125 years ago. It became a worldwide classic as an early work in a genre that is booming today. We explore this success story and travel in Bram Stoker's footsteps to Whitby, in northeast England."

Yorkshire Post interview for 'Britain by Beach'

2021 - 2021

Interviewed by Alexandra Wood on Channel 4 programme 'Britain by Beach'. I was academic consultant and interviewee on the Whitby part of the programme which focused on Bram Stoker and Dracula.

Top