Editors’ Note

In this issue, we celebrate the global reach and impact of Victorian literature. We invited literary scholars from around the world to tell us about their experiences in the classroom as they shared their passion for Victorian culture with their students. We asked them, in particular, to consider the different meanings that texts accrue for non-British, contemporary readers. From India to the Netherlands, from Italy to Hong Kong, teachers worldwide describe the rich interplay of texts and cultural contexts.

We also congratulate Lucy Sheehan (Columbia University) for winning the journal’s annual Hamilton Prize for her essay “Trials of Embodiment: Being a Gothic Body in Mary Barton.” We offer our congratulations to the first runner-up, R. Jayne Hildebrand (Columbia University) for her essay, “The Ranter and the Lyric: Ebenezer Elliott’s Corn Law Rhymes and the Genres of Reform.” We are grateful for the hard work of the four advisory board members who adjudicated this year’s competition: Julie Codell, Nicholas Daly, Janice Helland, and Marjorie Stone. Finally, we thank all the graduate students who entered the competition and the colleagues who alerted them to the Hamilton Prize.