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On the Cover is "Cucullin Guards the Retreat of the Men of Erin" by Seagan MacCatmaou, from The Táin by Mary A. Hutton (Dublin: Talbot, 1907), 432.

Announcement: Darwin and the Evolution of Victorian Studies. Special Issue of Victorian Studies

2009 is both the bicentennial of Charles Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of On the Origin of Species. Victorian Studies will mark the occasion with a special issue, guest-edited by Jonathan Smith.

Since the publication of VS's first Darwin issue in 1959, the study of Darwin and the relationship of his life and work to Victorian culture has become an industry. In the past twenty-five years alone we have witnessed the publication of the first fifteen volumes of the Darwin correspondence, Darwin's 1836–1844 notebooks, major Darwin biographies by Janet Browne and Adrian Desmond and James Moore, and important books by such scholars as Gillian Beer, Bert Bender, Peter Bowler, Sandra Herbert, George Levine, Ronald Numbers, Robert Richards, Rebecca Stott, and Robert Young. In recent years, the study of Darwin has begun to take new directions through examinations of Darwin's writings beyond the Origin and the Journal of Researches, investigations of Darwin's impact on previously overlooked areas (e.g. art and visual culture, psychology and the emotions), and new approaches to Darwinism's impact on Victorian attitudes to gender and courtship, race and empire, literature and publishing. The fact that Darwin's complete writings and 5,000 pieces of his correspondence have been made available in searchable online databases promises to open up Darwin scholarship even further.

Changes at VS

We have had the privilege of compiling this volume with the assistance of an excellent undergraduate intern, Leili Slütz. Leili is a senior majoring in English. During her time with Victorian Studies she has enjoyed delving into the mysterious world of Microsoft Access databases and also mastering the fine arts of cross-reading and copying. Leili would like to thank Amy, Maddie, Jamie, and Ashley for feeding her baked goods, improving her ability to do push-ups, and increasing her knowledge of Mrs. Beeton's secret life, as well as for sharing valuable knowledge on editing and academics.

As always, Victorian Studies thanks the Indiana University Honors College, without whose generous support our internship program would not be possible. [End Page 747]

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