Department of English & Modern Languages
Dr. Brenda Ayres
Professor of English
Assistant Honors Director
DeMoss 3310
582-2779
Biography
An assistant director of LU's Honors Program and a full professor in the Department of English and Modern Languages, Dr. Ayres calls herself a Victorianist. She has published widely in 19th-century British scholarship, including fifteen books to date, and regularly presents papers at conferences. She also coordinates the LU Victorian Society and helps put on the Civil War Seminar each spring. Besides her commitment to the Honors Program, she is active with graduate studies; served on the Graduate Senate and Graduate Senate Executive Committee for six years, including as Chair from 2009-10; chaired the Graduate Senate Committee on Professional Development and Welfare; and continues to serve on the English Graduate Committee. Additionally, like most graduate faculty, she directs and reads theses and dissertations. She has coordinated a conference on literature and Christianity, and is presently co-coordinating Quatercentenary Celebration of the KJV Bible Conference.
Degrees
Ph.D. in Nineteenth-Century British Literature, with a subspecialty in nineteenth-century American women’s novels, University of Southern Mississippi, 1992.
M.A. in Creative Writing, University of South Alabama, 1986.
B.A. in English/Creative Writing, University of South Alabama, 1985.
Awards
Research Leave, 2010-2011.
Montclair's Who's Who in Collegiate Faculty, 2010-2011.
Madison Who's Who Among Executives and Professionals, 2008.
Who's Who Among America's Teachers, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2005, and 2006.
Empire Who's Who Among Executive and Professional Women in Education, 2006.
Georgia Council of Teachers of English (GCTE) College Teacher of 1997.
South Atlantic Association of Departments of English Outstanding Teacher of 1995.
Publications
Books
General Editor and introd. The Widow and Wedlock Novels of Frances Trollope. 4 vols. London: Pickering and Chatto, 2011. Print.
Augusta Jane Evans Wilson: A Critical Biography. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2011. Print.
Ed., notes, and introd. Kith and Kin. By Jessie Fothergill. 1882. London: Pickering & Chatto, 2010.
General Editor and introd. The Social Problem Novels of Frances Trollope. 4 vols. London: Pickering & Chatto, 2009. Print.
Ed. The Life and Adventures of Jonathan Jefferson Whitlaw. 1836. By Frances M. Trollope. Notes by Christine Stuphin. London: Pickering & Chatto, 2009. Print.
Ed. and notes. The Life and Adventures of Michael Armstrong.1840. By Frances M. Trollope. London: Pickering & Chatto, 2009. Print.
Ed. and notes. Jessie Phillips: A Tale of the Present Day.1843. By Frances M. Trollope. London: Pickering & Chatto, 2009. Print.
Ed. and notes. The Vicar of Wrexhill. 1837. By Frances M. Trollope. London: Pickering & Chatto, 2009. Print.
Ed. Ring the Bell: Making Ordinary Moments Extraordinary in Business and in Life. John T. Kirk. Mustang, OK: Tate, 2008. Print.
Ed. and introd. The Emperor's Old Groove: Decolonizing Disney's Magic Kingdom, Peter Lang, 2003. Print.
Ed. and introdSilent Voices: Forgotten Novels by Victorian Women Writers. Praeger, 2003. Print.
Ed. and introdFrances Trollope and the Novel of Social Change.Greenwood P, 2001. Print.
Dissenting Women in Dickens' Novels: The Subversion of Domestic Ideology. Westport, CT: Greenwood P, 1998. Print.
Articles
"'Under the Hill': 'The Man Question' in the New Women Novels of Corelli, Fothergill, and Linskill." Women Writers of the Fin de Siècle. Eds. Adrienne Gavin and Carolyn W. de la L. Oulton. London: Palgrave, 2011.
"Edith Simcox’s Diptych: Nonfiction and Fiction by Two Personas of the Same Pen." Making a Name for Herself: Women in Journalism at the Fin de Siècle. Ed. Elizabeth Gray. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. Print.
"Globe Missionary Evangelism,” "Life Ministries," "Brazil Gospel Fellowship Mission," "Globe Missionary Evangelism," "World Servants," "World Gospel Mission," World Mission Prayer League," Pentecostal Assemblies of the World," "International Pentecostal Holiness Church," "Maranatha Campus Ministries," "The (Original) Church of God." Baker Handbook of Denominations and Ministries. Ed. George Thomas Kurian. Dartmouth, MA: Baker, 2011. Print.
"Henry and Katherine Bellamann." Mississippi Encyclopedia. UP of Mississippi, 2011. Print.
"The Vexing Vicar of Wrexhill: Frances Trollope's Vinegary Distaste for Evangelicalism." Women's Writing 17.1 (2010). Ed. Tamara S. Wagner. Routledge P.
"Profile of The Vicar of Wrexhill by Frances Trollope." Literary Encyclopedia. http://www.LitEncyc.com. London, 2010. Print.
"William Burges and His High Victorian Scripture in Stained Glass." The Renascence of Stained Glass in the Nineteenth Century. Ed. Kathleen O'Neill Sims. Farnham Surrey UK: Ashgate, 2010. Print.
"'Titanic Game' in Jessie Fothergill’s Kith and Kin." Kith and Kin (1881) by Jessie Fothergill. London: Pickering and Chatto, 2010. xxiii-xxxv.
"Jessie Fothergill" and "Jessie Fothergill: Kith and Kin." (1881) Ed. Robert Clark. London: The Literary Dictionary Company, LTD. 19 July 2010. Web.
"Mary Linksill," "Frances Trollope: The Widow Barnaby (1839)," "Frances Trollope: The Widow Married; a Sequel to the Widow Barnaby (1840)," "Frances Trollope: The Widow Wedded; or The Adventures of theBarnabys in America (1843)," and "Frances Trollope: The Lottery of Marriage (1849)." Ed. Robert Clark. London: The Literary Dictionary Company, LTD. 28 June 2010. Web.
"Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage." "William Blake's 'London." "Jane Austen." A Companion to Literary Romanticism, Ed. Andrew Maunder. Facts on File: New York; 2009. Print.
"'Moth and Rust': Mary Cholmondeley's Assessment of the Church of England." Mary Chomondeley Reconsidered: A Collection of Essays. Eds. SueAnn Schatz and Carolyn Oulton. London: Pickering and Chatto, 2009. 147-59. Print.
"Jane Austen"; "Maria Edgeworth, 1767-1849"; "William Blake's 'London'"; and "Romantic Characteristics in Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Women." Companion to Literary Romanticism. Ed. Andrew Maunder. NY: Facts on File, 2009. Print.
"John Mitchell Kemble;" "Amelia Lewis (Freund);" "British and Foreign Review;" and "Temperance Magazines: Band of Hope Review, Church of England Temperance Magazine, Wings, White Ribbon." The Dictionary of Nineteenth-Century Journalism. Ed. Marysa Demoor and Laurel Brake. London: The British Library and Academia Press, 2008; and electronically via Proquest.
General Introduction. Frances Trollope and the Novel of Social Change. London: Pickering & Chatto, 2008. Vol 1. vii-xxxvii.
"Augusta Jane Evans Wilson, 1835-1909" and "Gerard Manley Hopkins, 1844-1899." The Encyclopedia of Christian Literature. Ed. George Thomas Kurian. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2007. Print.
"Labor Done, Battle Won, and Requiescat In Pace: Five Abolitionists at English Cemetery in Florence: Fanny Trollope, Richard Hildreth, Theodore Parker, Hiram Powers, and Elizabeth Barrett Browning." Bicentennial Year of the Abolition of the Slave Trade. Ed. Julia Holloway. 2007. http://www.florin.ms/cemetery.html.
"The Real Education of a Hippie." College Faith, Vol. III. Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews UP, 2006.
"Frances Trollope." Also: Profiles of Domestic Manners of the Americans, The Life and Adventures of Jonathan Jefferson Whitlaw: or Scenes on the Mississippi, The Life and Adventures of Michael Armstrong, the Factory Boy, and Jessie Phillips: a Tale of the Present Day. Literary Encyclopedia. http://www.LitEncyc.com. London, 2006. Print.
"'A Cross Line' by George Egerton" and "'The Sad Fortunes of the Rev Amos Barton' by George Eliot."Companion to the British Short Story & Short Fiction. Ed. Andrew Maunder. Facts on File: New York; 2006.
"Poetic Power of Frances Wright." Rev. of Reason, Religion, and Morals by Frances Wright and Foreword by Susan S. Adams. Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com. 29 Jul. 2004. Print.
"Middle-Class Blacks," "Temple #7 Restaurant," "Nicknames of Malcolm," "Peterson, Bill," and "Thiel, Betty Jean." Encyclopedia of Malcolm X. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2000. Rev. Kindred Nature: Victorian and Edwardian Women Embrace the Living Word by Barbara T. Gates. Victorians Institute Journal 28 (Sept. 2000): 178-80. Print.
"Summer in Oils." BCAA Newsletter. May 2000. Print.
"Mythic America." Teaching English in the Two-Year College 24.4 (Dec. 1997): 326-33. Print.
"General Education for the New Age: The Interdisciplinary's Elasticity and Specificity." Reaching Through Teaching 10. 2 (Spring 1997): 22-24. Print.
"Catharine Smith Jones." Facing South: A Festival of Southern Culture. (Anthology). Ed. Susan Hines. Oct. 1995. Print.
"Poetry 'Beyond the College Walls.'"SAADE Newsletter Fall 1995: 4-6. Print.
"Dogs in George Eliot's Adam Bede." The George Eliot–George Henry Lewes Newsletter 18-19 (Sept. 1991): 22-30. Print.
"The Huntress of Soft Touches: The Strumpet in Alice Walker's The Third Life of Grange Copeland." MAWA Review (June 1991): 28-30. Print.
Conference Papers, Speaking Engagements, and Readings
"Gothecclesiology: Adaptability and the Vernacular in St. Fin Barre’s Cathedral." British Association for Victorian Studies 2010 Conference: Victorian Forms and Formations. University of Glasgow, September 2-4, 2010.
"'Under the Hill': 'The Man Question' in the New Women Novels of Corelli, Fothergill, and Linskill." Women Writers of the Fin de Siècle International Conference. University of London, June 28-29, 2010.
"The English Tea." Keynote Speaker. Longwood Center for the Visual Arts. Longwood University; Farmville, VA; May 13, 2010.
"Flora: Mrs. J.E.B. Stuart," The Cavalry. Liberty University Civil War Seminar; Lynchburg, VA; March 27, 2010.
"Villino Trollope, Piazza Independenza, Florence; The Birthplace of the American Civil War: The Fanny Trollope, Richard Hildreth, and Harriet Beecher Stowe Connection. " City and Book International Conference: The Americans in Florence’s "English" Cemetery, Biblioteca e Bottega Fioretta Mazzei e Amici del Cimitero "degli Inglesi"; Florence, Italy; October 11, 2008.
"Persephone in the River Phlegethon; or, the Women at Gettysburg." Liberty U Civil War Seminar; Lynchburg, VA Mar. 29, 2008.
"Building Community with Online Students." Liberty University Faculty Workshops; Lynchburg, VA; May 23, 2007.
"The Role of Christianity in the American Woman's Movement." Liberty University Christianity and America History Conference. Liberty U; Lynchburg, VA; Apr. 21, 2007.
"'The Story of a Dead Self': The Theosophical Novels of Marie Corelli." The Victorian Interdisciplinary Studies Association of the Western United States (VISAWUS) 11th Annual Conference. Pepperdine U; Malibu, CA; Oct. 26-28, 2006.
"Janey Reb, Betsey Yank, and Other Civil War Angels: Depiction of Women in Civil War Art." Blood on the Canvas: The History of Civil War Art. Liberty U; Lynchburg, VA Mar. 25, 2006.
"Uncle Tom's Cabin Tableaux Vivants." Blood on the Canvas: The History of Civil War Art. Liberty U; Lynchburg, VA; Mar. 25, 2006.
"The Many Loves of Christina Rossetti." The 1st Annual Literature and Christianity Conference; Liberty U; Lynchburg, VA; Mar. 8, 2006.
"The Phantasmal Fanny Trollope." The 13th Annual 18th- and 19th-century British Women Writers' Conference; Lafayette, LA; Apr. 16, 2005.
"Issues in Engaging in Victorian Studies in the Community College." Victorian Interdisciplinary Studies Association of the Western United States; Austin, TX; Oct.9-11, 2003.
"Beast on a Leash: Victorian Dominion over the Animal Kingdom" (paper). Mid-Atlantic Popular Culture Conference; Pittsburgh, PA; Nov. 1-3, 2002.
"Medieval Romanticism in British Victorian Literature and Art" (panel) and "Medieval Misogyny in the Nineteenth Century" (paper). Southern Conference of British Studies, New Orleans, Nov 2001.
"Apis Trollopiana: Frances Trollope and the Novel of Social Change" (panel) and "Frances Trollope: Provocateur Extraordinaire" (paper). MLA Conference; Washington, DC; Dec 2000.
"Animals in Victorian Literature" (panel) and "The Iconization of Animals in Victorian Culture" (paper). Southern Conference of British Studies; Louisville, KY; Nov 2000.
"What Students Are Expected to Know Before Taking Composition I." English High School and College Teachers Forum; GCTE Conference; Jekyll Island, GA; Mar. 1999.
"Issues of Gender in Victorian Literature" (chair). Southern Conference on British Studies; Birmingham, AL; Nov. 1998.
"Restructuring the Literature Survey Course: Multi-specialist Approaches to General Education," Georgia Conference on College/University Teaching, Kennesaw, Apr. 1998.
"Secret Gardens: Redefining the Survey of Literature Course," GCTE's "Exploring the New Literacy," Savannah, Feb. 1998.
"Sonnet to Southern Fall," "The Good Ole Days," "The Poet's Snake," "Goldfall," MGC's Spring Fling Poetry Thing; May 1997.
"Things Get Lost," "Twinkle Twinkle," "Tiny Tears," "Saturday"; Sandhills Conference; Augusta, GA; May 1997.
"Co-teaching History and English in a Two-year College," Georgia Conference on College and University Teaching, Kennesaw, April 1997.
"The Haunted House: Why Victorian Women Wrote Ghost Stories," Southern Conference on British Studies, Little Rock, Oct. 1996.
"Things Get Lost," "Washboard," "Washboard #2," Poetry reading for MGC's Creative Writing Spring Fling; Apr. 1996.
"The Hummingbird Feeder," Poetry reading at Writer's Guild of South Georgia Conference, Valdosta; Oct. 1995.
"Poetry 'Beyond the College Walls,'" SAMLA, Atlanta, Nov. 1995.
"Weeding," Short story reading for Arts Alliance, Jul. 1995.
"Cantrell's Grill," Short story reading at MGC's Creative Writing Spring Fling, Apr. 1995.
"Ocean," Poetry reading for the Arts Alliance Art Festival, Mar. 1995.
"Harper Lee's 'Pink Cotton Penitentiary'"; American Culture Association in the South; Charlotte, NC; Oct. 1994.
"Tiny Tears," Poetry reading on Cliff Chandler Show (tv), Oct. 1994.
"Sunday Driver," Short story reading on Cliff Chandler Show, June 1994.
"Shrewsbury," Short story reading at MGC's Creative Writing Spring Fling, Apr. 1994.
"The Pastoral," Short story reading at MGC's Women of Talent Show, Mar. 1994.
"The Sexual Revolution: Did It Happen?", An Interdisciplinary Treatment of the Effects of the 1960s, MGC, Nov. 1993.
"Feminist Undertow in the Movies: Thelma and Louise, Fried Green Tomatoes, and A League of Their Own"; Faculty Lecture Series; Spring Hill College; Mobile, AL; Jan. 1993.
"'The Vile Outpourings of a Lewd Woman's Mind': The Woman's Voice in Nineteenth- century Fiction"; "Woman As Subtext" Symposium; University of Southern Mississippi; Hattiesburg, MS; Nov. 1991.
"Gender Stereotypes in the Victorian Novel"; Graduate Conference on Gender Issues; Emory University; Atlanta, GA; May 1991.
"Gender Stereotypes in the Dickensian Novel"; Graduate Conference on Gender Issues; University of Southern Mississippi; Hattiesburg, MS; Apr. 1991.
"Dogs in George Eliot's Adam Bede"; George Eliot Conference; Northeast Missouri State; Kirksville, MO; Apr. 1991.
"Gender in the Bestseller"; Mississippi Philological Association; Mississippi State University; Starkville, MS; Jan. 1991.
"Black English"; Seminar; Southeast College of Technology; Mobile, AL; Jun.1990. "Controlling Point of View"; Metropolitan Writers' Guild; Mobile, AL; Jun. 1989.
Service
Assistant Director of the Honors Program
Former Chair to the Graduate Senate and GS Executive Committee
Former Chair GS Committee on Graduate Faculty Professional Development and Welfare
Advisor to the Victorian Society
Originator of Liberty’s literary magazine, Lamplight
Co-Coordinator of the Quatercentenary Celebration of the KJV Bible Conference
Co-organizer of LU's Annual Civil War Seminar
Coordinator of the Literature and Christianity Conference
Digital Commons Editor for the Dept. of English/Modern Languages
Courses
ENGL 697 Special Topics
ENGL 689/690 Thesis
ENGL 503 Research and Bibliography
ENGL 554 Teaching Writing across the Curriculum (online)
ENGL 552 Fiction Writing
ENGL 551 Poetry Writing
ENGL 515 Studies in British Literature: Victorian, Romantic
ENGL 512 Seminar in British Authors: George Eliot, Brontë Sisters, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens
ENGL 497 Special Topics (Domestic Novel, Victorian Gothic, Irish Literature.)
HONR 495 Senior Honors Thesis
ENGL 400 Dickens Seminar, Brontë Seminar, Jane Austen Seminar, George Eliot Seminar
ENGL 438 Women’s Literature
ENGL 321 Victorian Period
ENGL 311 The English Novel
ENGL 303 English Romanticism
ENGL 216 English Literature II (residential & online)
ENGL 215 English Literature I
Church
Mountain View United Methodist Church (Forest, VA): Choir, Worship Leader
