Introduction

The Centre for Victorian Studies, Department of English, Jadavpur University since its foundation in 2010, has consistently maintained a high standard of research productivity in the area of Nineteenth Century Literature Studies (one of the thrust areas of the C.A.S programme), and in the specialized field of Victorian Studies.

With the pioneering work initiated by renowned teachers and mentors, Professors Jasodhara Bagchi, Sajni Mukherji and Sheila Lahiri Choudhury, the Centre has emerged as a space for focused discussion, training, and investigation in the area. The present members of the department who specialize in these fields aim to carry forward their legacy and make the Centre a meeting place for fruitful academic research, cooperation and partnership.

The Centre has collaborated with the ‘Victorian Studies Centre’ of the University of Leicester (UK) whose members have expressed a keen interest to work with the faculty of Jadavpur University.

With an interdisciplinary approach to research, the Centre has further worked in association with sister departments of the Arts Faculty of Jadavpur University, namely, the Departments of Comparative Literature, History and Bengali among others. We hope to make it function as a nodal centre for all researchers and college teachers working in this field in other Colleges and Universities of West Bengal at large.

Our next objective is to build a centre of excellence at the national level by collaborating with the English Departments of leading Indian Universities. We also plan to revive a (now defunct) tradition of regularly hosting ‘Work-in-progress’ seminars wherein young Ph.D. students working on the Victorian period may discuss their research projects and benefit from constructive criticism from more experienced members of the faculty.

Journal

The online journal of the Centre for Victorian Studies – The Confidential Clerk – is  published once a year. The first issue was based entirely on academic articles on Victorian Studies contributed by postgraduate students enrolled in M.A.,M.Phil and Ph.D programmes at Jadavpur University. We hope to send out an open call for papers for teachers and postgraduate students of other colleges and universities in the next issue of the journal and work towards making The Confidential Clerk a national site for publishing new research in Victorian and Late Nineteenth Century Studies.

Meanwhile, the “Scribbles” section of the Centre’s website (currently under renovation) will function in the future as a forum for informed discussion on working papers where all researchers in Victorian and Late Nineteenth Century Studies from Jadavpur and other universities and colleges can post their articles and abstracts of work-in-progress for comments and feedback from their colleagues working in the same area.