Elizabethtown College English Department

Dr. Kimberly V. Adams of the English department has interests and hobbies that stretch beyond the Victorian literature for which she is known on campus.  You might be surprised to learn that she also rows boats.

“I live in Philadelphia when I’m not teaching here,” she said.  In addition to a home in Philadelphia, she has an apartment in Elizabethtown to make it easier to come to the College to teach.  “What I like to do is urban. I like to go to art museums, I like to travel, and in season—it’s just beginning to be season—I row boats on the Schuylkill River.”

She has also been overseas.  Since her husband is Dutch, she often goes to the Netherlands to visit his family.

Reading Victorian Literature at Elizabethtown College

Adams’ favored literary period—and primary research subject—is the British Victorian era. Her research interests have resulted in a published book project, Our Lady of Victorian Feminism: The Madonna in the Work of Anna Jameson, Margaret Fuller, and George Eliot. This book highlights another of her research interests: feminist and gender studies.

Among the classes that Adams teaches, British Authors: The Brontës is a popular one that allows students to engage with some of the most fascinating novels of the Victorian period, including Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, and Villette.  Students work to identify and discuss the Gothic elements in each work.

She also teaches Major British Writers which serves as an introductory course to British literature by taking samples from the Romantic up to the modern periods. She and Dr. Suzanne E. Webster alternate teaching the course each spring.

Julia Raup-Collado, a sophomore English literature major, took Major British Writers with Adams. “You can really tell when a professor is passionate and knowledgeable about a subject—and I think that I personally respond well to that,” Raup-Collado said, reflecting on Adams’s teaching.

Adams’s research interests have led to a natural partnership with the women and gender studies program at Elizabethtown College. She has recently contributed to a new interdisciplinary course called Visualizing Women in 19^th Century Western Art and Literature.

“I enjoy, very much, teaching the students here. I like the way they’re serious about their work and their careers. I like the way the different majors give people different strengths,” Adams said.

Author Bio:

Colleen Wells is a senior English professional writing major who hopes to publish a novel at some point in her life. She is passionate about all things Byronic hero and enjoys attempting to analyze T.S. Eliot’s poetry for the thousandth time.

 

Tags: career, Dr. Adams, literature, Victorian