Frances Anne Chiu

Biography

In my new book, Paine’s Rights of Man, I begin by exploring the history of rights from 12th through 18th century, focusing mostly on Britain.  I also show how Paine engaged with these ideas in his earlier writings. Part 1 examines how Paine interpreted the French Revolution and how he intended to implement these ideas in Britain: for instance, his arguments for the eradication of hereditary government and church-state establishments as well as his criticisms of the British constitution and the relationship between monarch and Parliament. Part 2 addresses Paine’s conceptualizations of war, constitutions, and republics; special attention is paid to his view of the American constitution of 1787. To what extent was it accurate? Paine’s attempts to wrestle with the problems of poverty among the elderly and young families is compared with other contemporary solutions. Finally, the conclusion takes a brief look at the reception and legacy of Rights of Man as well as its relevance to the 21st century.

Much of my other work is anchored around the Gothic/horror genres. How do they reflect contemporary issues even without direct references? My doctoral dissertation focused on the Gothic and Jacobin novels of 1780-1800, demonstrating how their anti-aristocratic and anti-Catholic sentiment, for instance, reflected the biases of parliamentary reform and the push for the religious toleration of Protestant Dissenters.

I am also interested in the ways in which the novels and supernatural stories of J. Sheridan Le Fanu were shaped by the development of Irish nationalism. This is a book-length project.

Another book project is on the development of American horror of 1960-1990.

Not least, I am involved in developing a series of brief guides to classic horror works for Manchester University Press, “Reading the Gothic.” I am currently working on guides to Matthew Lewis’ Monk and Stephen King’s Shining.

Publications:

Manuscript of Routledge Philosophy Guidebook to Thomas Paine’s Rights of Man  (100,000 words) published in April 2020.

Proposals for Guides to Gothic Classics: Book proposal on Matthew Lewis’ Monk accepted by Manchester University Press in June 2020. Guide will run approximately 65,000 to 80,000 words. Forthcoming in 2022.


Peer-reviewed Publications:

“’History repeats itself’: Rewriting the Union in J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s Checkmate,” Le Fanu Studies, May 2010. http://www.lefanustudies.com/checkmate.html. [Note: this site was taken down in 2015.]
“Faulty Towers: Reform, Radicalism and the Gothic Castle, 1760-1800,”  Romanticism on the Net  44,  December 2006 http://www.erudit.org/revue/ron/2006/v/n44/013996ar.html
“Dark And Dangerous Designs: Tales of Oppression, Dispossession, and Repossession, 1770-1800,” Romanticism on the Net 28, November 2002 http://www.erudit.org/revue/ron/2002/v/n28/007205ar.html.
“From Nobodaddies to Noble Daddies: Writing Political and Paternal Authority in Fiction of the 1780s and ‘90s” in Eighteenth-century Life, Spring 2002. Pp. 1-22.
Guest Editor of special religion issue of Romanticism on the Net, Feb. 2002 (‘Religion and Romantic Revision’) with introduction by Frances A. Chiu and essays by Emma Mason, Jon Mee, Robert Jensen-Rix, Martin Priestman, Daniel Sanjiv Roberts, and Gina Luria Walker available at http://users.ox.ac.uk/~scat0385



Scholarly Editions:

Proposal and introduction for the first modern edition of Ann Radcliffe’s Journey made in the summer of 1794 accepted by Broadview Press. To be completed by April 2021.

Editor of J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s Rose and the Key (1871), Kansas City: Valancourt Books, November 2007. This is a scholarly edition with a critical introduction to the novel, notes, and appendices. See http://valancourtbooks.com/theroseandthekey.html. Received a positive review at Le Fanu Studies in May 2008, Vol. 3 no. 1. See http://www.lefanustudies.com/rosekey.html  .

Editor of Ann Radcliffe’s Gaston de Blondeville (1826), Chicago: Valancourt Books, April 2006. Designed for undergraduates and graduate students alike, this is the first modern scholarly edition of Radcliffe’s posthumously published novel, complete with an introduction to the novel, notes, and appendices. See http://www.valancourtbooks.com/gastondeblondeville.html. Received a positive review in the Times Literary Supplement (June 1, 2007).



Pedagogical Publications:

“Patricia Rozema’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park”  (3000 words) for Gale Researcher,  2017.

Critical Introduction (13,000 words) of Thomas Paine for Scribner’s British Writers Supplement XXIV. Chief Editor: Jay Parini. New York: Gale Cengage Learning, 2017. Pp. 199-221.

Critical introduction (13,000 words) of Mary Hays for Scribner’s British Writers Supplement XXIII. Chief Editor: Jay Parini. New York: Gale Cengage Learning, 2016. Pp. 139-160.

Critical introduction of J. Sheridan Le Fanu (12,000 words) in Scribner’s British Writers Supplement XIX. Chief Editor: Jay Parini. New York: Gale Cengage  Learning, 2012. Pp. 157-176.

Critical introduction of Ann Radcliffe (10,000 words) in Scribner’s British Writers’ Series Retrospective Supplement III, Chief Editor: Jay Parini. New York: Gale Cengage  Learning, 2010. Pp. 233-53.


Reviews:

Review of Gary Crawford, ed. Reflections in a Glass Darkly: Essays on J. Sheridan Le Fanu in Gothic Studies, November 2013, pp. 108-110.  

Review of Helen Braithwaite’s Romanticism, Publishing, and Dissent: Joseph Johnson and the Cause of Liberty in Romanticism on the Net 40, November 2005 http://www.erudit.org/revue/ron/2005/v/n40/012468ar.html.

Review of Thomas O. Beebee’s Epistolary Fiction in Europe, 1500-1850  in Notes and Queries, September 2000.

Education

Smith College, A.B. 1985 English major/music minor
Northwestern University, M.A. 1991 English Literature
Oxford University, Ph.D. 2000 English Literature

Areas of Research / Professional Expertise

British Reform and Radicalism, 1640-1900
Gothic/Horror:
      English Gothic, 1760-1800
      Irish Gothic, 1830-1900
      American Horror, 1960-1990

Personal Interests

21st-century politics and horror

Books

Articles

Photos