Gretchen Gerzina

Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina is a professor in English, specialising in the novel, Victorian studies, Black British and American studies, the Bloomsbury set, and biography. She joined Brunel in 2011, after being a professor and head of department at Dartmouth College in America.

She is the author of four books, and the editor of three, as well as having authored numerous articles. Her first book, a biography of the Bloomsbury figure Dora Carrington, was published by John Murray, W.W. Norton, and Chatto & Windus. Her second book Black England: Life Before Emancipation, was published by John Murray and Rutgers University Press. Two further biographies followed: Frances Hodgson Burnett: The Unpredictable Life of the Author of The Secret Garden (Chatto & Windus and Rutgers University Press), and Mr and Mrs Prince (HarperCollins), the story of the joint discovery of 18^th-century former slaves in New England who went on to become legendary original settlers and landowners, successfully arguing cases in court. The edited books comprise two editions of The Secret Garden and Black Victorians/Black Victoriana (Rutgers University Press).

In 2009-10, she was on the three-person jury to select the finalists for the Pulitzer Prize. She has been the Fulbright Distinguished Scholar to Great Britain (at the University of Exeter), held two grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, and in 2009-10 was the Eastman Professor to Oxford, and fellow at Balliol College.

Research Overview

Gretchen has research interests in race in British (and American) literature, as well as the novel from the 18^th-21^st centuries in both nations. She particularly brings these perspectives to canonical literatures, putting them within an expanded social context. She is currently working on several projects: ‘The Black Wife in British Literature’, an article on Carrington for a book on ‘Queer Bloomsbury’, an article on ‘Bloomsbury and Empire’, and a mixed-race memoir.

Teaching Activity

At Brunel, Gretchen Gerzina will be teaching on undergraduate modules on Victorian and African America literature, (EN3608) on ‘The African American Novel’, and at the postgraduate level, on the new MA English Literature, (EN5539) on ‘The Brontës’).

For many years Gretchen hosted a weekly, nationally syndicated radio programme in America, ‘The Book Show’, interviewing authors such as Toni Morrison, Tracy Chevalier, Amitav Ghosh, Julian Barnes, Paul Auster, Hermione Lee, and many others.

She has appeared on British and American television numerous times.

Publications

Journal Papers

(2007) Gerzina, G., Dido Elizabeth Belle: A Black Woman at Kenwood, Heritage Today 24- 27

(2006) Gerzina, G., Bushmen and Blackface: Bloomsbury and Race, South Carolina Review 46- 64

Conference Papers

(2011) Gerzina, G. and Thwaite, A., Frances Hodgson Burnett: A conversation with her biographers, Frances Hodgson Burnett and The Secret Garden

(2011) Gerzina, G., The Secret Garden at 100, 100 Years of "The Secret Garden"

Book Chapters

(Forthcoming) Gerzina, GH., 'Let's Go to Wembley': Bloomsbury and Empire. In: Rossner, V. ed. . Cambridge University Press

(Forthcoming) Gerzina, G., Domestic slavery and the pursuit of freedom in Old England and the American North. In: Maudlin, D. ed. Goods, Books and Ideas: transatlantic exchanges between England and New England. Farnham, Surrey : Ashgate (Due for publication in 2014)

(2011) Gerzina, G., When Mary Met Cathy: Frances Hodgson Burnett in Bronte Country. In: Horne, JC. ed. Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden: A Children's Classic at 100. USA : Scarecrow P. 23- 44

(2010) Gerzina, G., Virginia Woolf, Performing Race. In: The Edinburgh Companion to Virginia Woolf and the Arts. Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press 74- 87

(2004) Gerzina, G., Interview with Zadie Smith. In: Writing Across Worlds: Contemporary Writers Talk. Oxfordshire and New York : Routledge 266- 278

Books

(2009) Gerzina, GH., Mr. and Mrs. Prince. Harper Paperbacks

(2008) Gerzina, G., Green, NE., Reed, C. and Art, HFJMO., A room of their own: the Bloomsbury artists in American collections. Cornell Univ Pr

(2007) Burnett, FH. and Gerzina, G., The annotated Secret garden. W. W. Norton & Company

(2005) Gerzina, G., Frances Hodgson Burnett. Vintage

(2003) Gerzina, G., Black Victorians--Black Victoriana. Rutgers Univ Pr

(1997) Gerzina, G., Black London: Life Before Emancipation. Rutgers Univ Pr

(1995) Gerzina, G., Black England: Life Before Emancipation.

(1995) Gerzina, G., Carrington. Pimlico

(1995) Gerzina, GH., Carrington: A Life. W W Norton & Co Inc