Charlotte POTTER
Dr Charlotte POTTER
Post-Doctoral Research Associate
+41 22 379 70 34
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RESEARCH INTERESTS
I am joining the department this Autumn (2023) as a Post-Doctoral Research Associate on the Shakespeare鈥檚 Lyric Poetry project, led by Prof Lukas Erne and funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation.
I completed my AHRC-funded PhD in English Literature at the AV短视频 of Sussex in 2022, with a thesis entitled 鈥楿nfixed Virginity: Metaphor and Defloration in Early Modern Drama鈥�. I also hold an MPhil in Renaissance Literature from Newnham College, Cambridge (2017), and an MA in English Literature from the AV短视频 of St Andrews (2015). My thesis explored the relationship between metaphor and virginity in early modern culture, with a focus on Shakespearean drama. It argued that virginity was an inherently destabilizing and imaginative concept, and that writers, especially playwrights, capitalise on this instability in their plays. I develop an account of virginity as 鈥榰nfixed鈥� by examining puzzling and paradoxical examples from Shakespeare鈥檚 All鈥檚 Well That Ends Well, Romeo and Juliet, and Henry V, as well as Thomas Middleton and William Rowley鈥檚 The Changeling. My approach of 鈥榰nfixed virginity鈥� reflects how virginity was circulating at a broad imaginative level across culture, a metaphorical concept produced within a patriarchal social context. I am currently developing the thesis into a monograph, and look forward to teaching an MA seminar in Spring 2024 based on this research. My current research builds on my doctoral work to take my theory of 鈥榰nfixed virginity鈥� beyond analysis of female virginity in Shakespeare鈥檚 plays to early modern poetry more broadly.
PUBLICATIONS
鈥楽hakespeare鈥檚 reading audiences: Early modern books and audience interpretation鈥�, Textual Practice, 32.4 (2018), 729-32, DOI:10.1080/0950236X.2018.1447426
PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
I am passionate about engaging with wider audiences beyond academia. In 2019 I was the Impact and Engagement Co-ordinator for the , which adapted William Baldwin鈥檚 1561 text for an interactive, multimedia stage performance. In 2021 I was a researcher for the hit BBC Radio 4 history podcast, You鈥檙e Dead to Me. I also have experience organising conferences, including a public symposium on women in academia in St Andrews in 2015.
SELECTED CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
鈥楯uliet鈥檚 Recycled Virginity: the significance of the dawn in Romeo and Juliet鈥�, Beginnings in Early Modern Culture Symposium, AV短视频 of Sussex, June 7, 2022
鈥�400 years of eggs and female sexuality: from Jan Steen to Sarah Lucas鈥�, English Graduate Seminar, AV短视频 of Sussex, April 13, 2019
鈥楾he poetics of virginity and its loss in All鈥檚 Well that Ends Well and The Changeling鈥�, Seduction Conference, AV短视频 of Edinburgh, November 15-16, 2018
鈥楬ugh Latimer鈥檚 Sermon on the Plough and the 鈥渟affron bag鈥� metaphor鈥�, Early Modern Sermons Conference, AV短视频 of Sheffield, November 2, 2018
鈥樷�淭oo cold a companion鈥� or 鈥淭he dear companion of mu soul鈥�?: Personified forms of virginity in All鈥檚 Well that Ends Well and The Changeling鈥�, Personification Across Disciplines Conference, Durham AV短视频, September 17-19, 2018