Lucy Hartley

Lucy Hartley is a Professor of English at the University of Michigan, specializing in 19th-century British literature and culture. She holds a BA (Hons) from the University of Oxford and a D.Phil. from the University of York. Her research bridges intellectual history, visual culture, and the social transformations of modernity. She has authored monographs on physiognomy, democratic aesthetics, and women’s writing, and edited volumes in Victorian studies. Her work examines intersections of art, politics, and science in Victorian Britain, with recent projects focusing on poverty and social reform.

Education:

• BA (Hons), University of Oxford
• D.Phil., University of York (1996)

Research Interests:

• Nineteenth-century British literature and culture
• Intellectual history
• Visual culture
• Art and politics
• Women’s writing
• Democratic theory

Publications highlight interdisciplinary approaches to Victorian studies, analyzing how aesthetic theories, scientific discourses, and social movements shaped modern democratic ideals. Current projects explore the Whitechapel Project of Henrietta and Samuel Barnett, linking poverty alleviation to urban reform.

Teaching includes graduate seminars on literary theory and undergraduate courses on post-1830 British literature. Her work has been recognized through affiliations with the University of Michigan’s English Department and contributions to scholarly journals.