Charlotte Keller ’25, English literature, recently completed her most ambitious research project to date: a deep-dive literary analysis of James Joyce’s “Dubliners” through the lens of post-colonial and feminist theory. The paper, developed as part of her senior seminar and presented at the 29th Annual Symposium on Undergraduate Scholarship and 9th Annual Graduate Research Forum, represents a fusion of Keller’s academic interests and a testament to her growth as a student during her time at Capital.
“I’m going to miss the people and really everything about this place,” Keller reflected, “but I also feel like I’ve done what I need to do.” With graduation just around the corner and graduate school on the horizon – she’s been accepted into Western Michigan University’s MFA program in Poetry – Keller is poised for the next chapter.
Keller’s journey into Joyce's complex world began in an unexpected way. While enrolled in her senior seminar with Liam O'Loughlin, associate professor of English, she was also taking a course on literary modernism with David Summers, professor of English. That’s when she first encountered “Dubliners.”
“I read it, and I just loved it,” she said. “It was serendipitous with the timing. There’s a lot of work on post-colonial readings of ‘Dubliners,’ and there’s work on the women in the stories, but I wanted to combine those approaches. I was reading for spaces in the novel where women were prominent and where they were absent. How their lives function differently in the colonial system than the men of the ‘Dubliners.’”
The crux of Joyce’s work, Keller said, is paralysis, how life in Ireland under British rule stifled ambition and progress. But she found something new in the gaps of existing literary review.
“One of the examples that I use in my presentation that I pulled from my paper is ‘The Sisters,’ the first story,” Keller said. “It’s called ‘The Sisters,’ but everyone writes about the boy and the priest. No one talks about the sisters. The story wouldn’t exist without them, even though they’re not considered the main characters. They function as a vehicle for the story to move forward. No one is specifically talking about the women and yet, the entire short story is called ‘The Sisters.’”
O’Loughlin, Keller’s faculty mentor during her research project, praised Keller’s thoughtful approach.
“Charlotte took on a heavy topic – how to say something new about James Joyce! Her research project combines some of her numerous interests: feminist analysis, anticolonial social movements, and symbol-heavy literary narrative,” said O’Loughlin.
“In working with Charlotte on this project, she demonstrated a commitment to research and rewriting. I was impressed by her ability to balance the confidence of her convictions with an openness to revision, working intently on a dynamic, theoretically informed project.”
As Keller prepares for graduation, she leaves behind a project that highlights not just her academic abilities, but her voice as a thinker and writer. No matter where her next chapter takes her, her research offers a fresh take on a classic work and a strong foundation for what comes next.
For more information on student research at Capital, visit https://www.capital.edu/academics/experiential-learning/undergraduate-research/research-symposium/.
To learn about English at Capital, visit https://www.capital.edu/academics/english/.