Reading Groups

The following is a list of student-run Reading Groups organized around particular scholarly subjects or fields. These Groups host regular meetings to discuss prominent texts and developments in their fields and may also plan events (e.g., research panels and roundtables) for the academic enrichment and advancement of both their members and the Department overall. For more information or if you are interested in becoming a member of a Reading Group, please contact the convenor(s).

Interested in forming a new Reading Group? Contact the GEA Secretary to provide the name and description of your new group and they’ll make sure to add it to the list.

American Literature Research Collaborative

The American Literature Research Collaborative is a forum for scholars of American literatures and cultures to share resources, research, and conversation. We seek to facilitate innovative, inclusive, and interdisciplinary research through collective engagement.

We are committed to promoting collegiality, highlighting new research, and offering professional support to junior scholars. Each year, our topics and approaches emerge from our membership.

Black Studies Working Group

The Black Studies Working Group seeks to explore black study — broadly defined and inter/anti-disciplinary — as an intellectual tradition, social movement, and institutional formation. Directed by the desires of the group members, we can work collaboratively on projects, discuss readings, watch films, listen to music and attend/organize relevant events. This will be a creative and critical space committed to engagement with black intellectual/aesthetic/cultural production in its local and diasporic articulations. All interested and invested are welcome to join!

Canadian Literature Group

The Canadian Literature group was established in 1999. It aims to foster conversation among students at different stages of study (and interested faculty) who specialize in Canadian literature, or those who want to learn more about the field. It offers a forum in which to discuss literary and theoretical works, to share research resources and pedagogical approaches, and to workshop conference papers, dissertation chapters, publications and job talks.

Creative Writing Working Group

This group works just like it sounds. Once a month, students and faculty from our department meet up to write together. Certain meetings throughout the year may include workshopping each other’s creative writing in a collegial and determined way. No prior experience is required, and all are welcome. The group also stays on top of local writing events and readings, writing journal submissions, prizes, and general literary-community involvement.

Eighteenth-Century Reading Group

New students are welcome to join the Eighteenth-Century Reading Group! A few times each semester, we meet to discuss short readings from the long eighteenth century. Last year, we read Mary Wollstonecraft’s Scandinavian letters and selections from the “Grub Street” translation of The Arabian Nights’ Entertainments, among other things. We also eat delicious snacks and talk about our own work. Please come out to our first meeting in September, when we’ll plan for the year ahead.

The Faerie Queene Reading Group

A bi-weekly gathering in which a group of graduate students courageously attempt to read through Spenser’s epic, The Faerie Queene, canto by canto. To join or receive more information, please reach out to Chloe Holmquist, Josiah Lamb, or Ferron Guerreiro. Monthly meetings will be hosted at the Centre for Renaissance and Reformation Studies in Pratt 304 (third floor of E.J. Pratt Library, at Victoria College).

Feminist Theory Reading Group

The Feminist Theory Reading Group welcomes students of all backgrounds who work with some aspect of women’s studies, gender studies, or feminist theory in their research, or who would just like to learn more about the above topics in an inclusive and welcoming environment! Though we aim to engage primarily with both classic and emerging critical theory, we are also open to using memoir, fiction, poetry, film, and various other media as theory. As such, we invite students from diverse disciplinary backgrounds to share their insights.

Growing / Writing / Reading Crew

This group mixes hands-on growing practice with literary studies. We plan and grow a local vegetable garden, and we build a relationship with the soil as an organism: using compost to encourage healthy soil, we plant and tend regeneratively. Reading and writing poetry together as we garden, we reimagine how literary thinking can shape material experience of the garden community and we use physical contact with soil and other organisms to inform and intensify our writing. Our events have included local poets, environmental scholars from a variety of fields, and food systems experts. Anyone is welcome – with any amount of experience, or none at all. We will donate part of our harvest to the GEA pantry and part to a local food bank (if there is food left over).

Marxist Theory Reading Group

The Marxist Theory Reading Group (formerly “Critiquing Capitalism”) invites students with any level of expertise or experience to join monthly discussions of foundational and recent texts in Marxist thought. Our vibrant and welcoming discussions have two aims: (1) to grapple with political, social, economic, and philosophical currents in Marxism generally; (2) to consider the usefulness of Marxism to literary studies and the usefulness, in turn, of literary studies to Marxism. We are committed to learning from and thinking alongside our colleagues, holding recent/upcoming collaborations with reading groups such as Postcolonial Theory, Feminist Theory, and Disability Studies. We welcome students from beyond the Department of English to join us!

Medieval Reading Group

The Medieval Reading Group (formerly “Middle English Reading Group”) warmly welcomes students from any background with an interest in the Middle Ages! At our monthly meetings, we discuss a primary text from the medieval period, paired with related scholarly work. A basic reading comprehension of Middle English will be required for most meetings. Future activities may also include film screenings or cooking with medieval recipes. Additionally, our meetings give students studying the Middle Ages a chance to present various aspects of their research and workshop their writings. Our aim is to engage with provocative and compelling texts as a group, so feel free to come join us in our generative discussions!

Modernist Reading and Research Group (MRRG)

Pronounced “merge,” MRRG is the graduate modernist reading and research group, now back from hiatus. Going forward, the group’s goal will be to reconsider both “classical” or “high modernism” (from roughly the late nineteenth century to the early twentieth) and late modernism (from the postwar era), as well as the undecided question of the status of modernism in contemporary literature. This will, hopefully, become a forum for revisiting major modernist touchstones, sharing neglected texts that deserve more attention, and rethinking conceptualizations and periodizations of modernism and modernity, as well as discussions of film, theatre, photography, and visual art. Our monthly meetings could feature discussions of texts chosen by MRRG members, discussions of relevant issues in the field, and/or presentations of research by group members. Suggestions are welcomed.

Neo-Latin Reading Group

In conjunction with CRRS, the Neo-Latin Reading Group offers a colloquial setting for faculty and graduate students to explore excerpts from the vast range of Latin literature from the age of Petrarch to the eighteenth century and beyond. Although the group is not a substitute for formal Latin instruction, all interested are encouraged to attend—even if you fear your Latin is rusty or insufficient.

Monthly meetings will be hosted at the Centre for Renaissance and Reformation Studies in Pratt 304 (third floor of E.J. Pratt Library, at Victoria College). More details can be found here.

Nineteenth-Century Reading Group

As eclectic a group as the century it explores, the Nineteenth-Century Reading Group (NRG) welcomes students both new and returning. Meeting about once a month, NRG gives junior scholars – C19 Americanists, Victorianists, Romanticists, and beyond – a chance to connect, share research ideas, and develop professionally.

Northrop Frye Working Group

In conjunction with CRRS, the Northrop Frye Working Group seeks to consider the role of Frye’s criticism in Renaissance and Reformation Studies, as well as consider Frye’s place both within a wider Canadian literary culture and specifically at the University of Toronto. For more information on the group and details about the first meeting, please visit the CRRS website.

Contact:
Matthew Church | matthew.church@mail.utoronto.ca

Postcolonial Theory Reading Group

The Postcolonial Theory and Literature Reading Group aims to close-read the “canonical” texts of Postcolonial Theory and reassess their significance in contemporary practices of literary criticism. We also aim to situate Postcolonial Studies within a broad range of interrelated disciplinary approaches including aesthetics and poetics, theories of immigration and diaspora, cultural studies, Marxist studies and global modernist studies. We will read a variety of texts and we welcome students from diverse disciplinary backgrounds and interests such as media studies, visual arts, comparative literature, and area studies to join us in our productive and enriching discussions.

Contact:
Maandeeq Mohamed | maandeeq.mohamed@mail.utoronto.ca
Sylvanna Baugh | s.baugh@mail.utoronto.ca
Thuyen Viet Truong | thuyen.truong@mail.utoronto.ca

Queer and Trans* Cinema Club

The Queer and Trans* Cinema Club aims to create community and further the study of 2SLGBTQ+ history in the English Department. We welcome students of all backgrounds and disciplines. Each meeting, we come together to screen a film, or a series of short films, paired with an (optional) piece of critical theory to facilitate a discussion about gender and sexuality studies and queer history. Popcorn included!

Contact:
Joe McLaughlin | joe.mclaughlin@mail.utoronto.ca

The Wallace Stevens Reading Group

The Wallace Stevens Reading Group is a casual group dedicated to the close reading and discussion of works by the American Modernist poet Wallace Stevens. The group meets twice a month to examine the sometimes puzzling, often beautiful poems by this man whose “unwillingness to abandon either of his two incompatible truths—the truth of desire and the truth of the failure of desire—led to a great amplitude of human vision not granted to those who live more comfortably in body and soul, and to a truth-telling ease not granted to those who have fewer difficulties to confess” (Helen Vendler, Words Chosen Out of Desire).

Contact:

Bret van den Brink | bret.vandenbrink@mail.utoronto.ca

Currently Inactive Groups

The following Reading Groups were previously active in the department, but the convenors have graduated or otherwise stepped away from leading the group. If you are interested in reviving any of these groups, please contact a member of the GEA Executive.

Affect Theory Reading Group

Affect Theory—particularly when used as a lens in conjunction with psychoanalytic, queer, or feminist theories—has gained tremendous traction in the humanities and cognitive sciences as an approach to examining emotions and one’s capacity to act or be acted upon. The Affect Theory Reading Group meets monthly to unpack interdisciplinary readings related to this critical study of feeling and to explore its abundant applications in literary studies. Our discussions will focus on texts by prominent theorists Lauren Berlant, Sianne Ngai, Ann Cvetkovich, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Heather Love, and many others. Beginners and specialists alike are welcome to these meetings; the group is intended as a low-stakes space to expand our knowledge in this field, to try on new ideas, and to wrestle with complicated concepts and affects! Please reach out with any questions or concerns.

Bible and Posthumanism Reading Group

The Bible and Posthumanism Reading Group welcomes students from all backgrounds interested in the treatment of the nonhuman in the Bible, from the natural environment, animals, machines, angels, monsters, and others. No knowledge of the Bible is necessary whatsoever—this is simply a reading group that aims to use lesser-known parts of the Bible to investigate the place of the nonhuman in literature.

Digital Literature Reading Group

The Digital Literature Reading Group provides an open, collaborative forum for the discussion and analysis of the digital literary objects (including but not limited to hypertexts, “digital-like” print works, games, and multimedia works), as well as the incorporation thereof into research and pedagogy. We discuss recent critical and creative developments in the field while also enabling conversations around participants’ own scholarship, and meet monthly during the academic year.

Disability Studies Reading Group

The Disability Studies Reading Group will meet once a month to engage students of any disciplinary background in a discussion of texts that address the topic of disability in a variety of contexts and mediums. Where appropriate, we will also read material from related fields, such as mad studies, the health and medical humanities, critical mental health, and critical theory. If so desired, there is the possibility we may workshop in-progress projects (papers, articles, dissertation chapters, etc.) from our members. This reading group is low-key and welcoming, and thus no prior knowledge of disability studies is required.

English Paleography Reading Group

This collaborative reading group is dedicated to the study of medieval and early modern handwriting in English. It is geared towards anyone who wants to practice reading manuscripts in a fun and informal setting. Everyone is welcome, especially beginners!

Environmental Humanities Reading Group

The Environmental Humanities Reading Group aims to foster an interdisciplinary and collaborative discussion space for reimagining our social and environmental ecologies. Each month we will read a variety of texts concerned with the environment from critical theory, to literary and digital texts, film, and multimedia. While group participants will collectively decide on the readings and discussions, topics of interest include: transcultural negotiations of the environment and climate change, non-human animals, dystopia and utopia, disability (eco-crip theory), and environmental impacts of settler-colonialism and capitalism.

Food Memoir Reading Group

Do you like food? Do you enjoy reading? Then this group is for you.

Food Memoirs (or foodoirs) are texts that describe a writer’s life through food. These authors might be chefs, restaurant workers, food scientists, reviewers, editors, or simply someone who enjoys food. Examples include Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain, Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl or Eat a Peach by David Chang.

The group will meet once a month. We’ll discuss these food memoirs and their themes, recipes, and food experiences.

Latin Reading Group

This group was formed to support students whose research involves reading and translating Latin literature. We meet once a month to practice our translation skills in an informal setting and welcome medievalists, early-modernists, and classical-reception scholars alike! Students who are working with texts that stump them can bring specific passages to our sessions and we will tackle them together. If no particular help is needed, we have some fun selections of Latin poetry and prose — such as chapters from Lucius Apuleius’ picaresque novel The Golden Ass, mythic tales from Walter Map’s De Nugis Curialium, and excerpts from Horace’s Satires — with which to keep ourselves entertained.

Medieval Revival Reading and Research Group

Medieval stories have been continuously told and retold throughout the centuries since the Middle Ages, often with drastically different political agendas. This group will meet once a month to discuss such revivals, and while it will focus primarily on literary medieval revival, it will also consider art and other media from the Renaissance to the present day. Whenever possible, we will partner with other reading groups to bring together scholars from a range of different academic specialisms to draw on our many knowledge bases from which to understand this retelling and repurposing of medieval stories and symbols.

Music and Sound Research Collective

This group seeks to foster a community of scholars, creatives, and listeners who share an interest in the literary, material, and cultural impacts of musical and sonic phenomena across temporal, geographical, theoretical, and disciplinary planes. Monthly activities may include soundwalks, listening parties, guest talks, workshopping research, or casually reading and discussing articles pertaining to music or sound in relation to literary and cultural studies. No prior experience in these fields is required, and all are encouraged to tune in if any of the above resonates with you.

Poststructuralist Theory Reading Group

This group aims to bring together researchers in any historical period whose work and interest also include aspects of poststructuralist theory. We will hold monthly meetings to discuss together dimensions of poststructuralist thought, its development, and its applicability to contemporary concerns of literature and society. This will also be a workshopping space for your works in progress. Instead of going over the commonly known “canonical” texts of various theoretical approaches, we will aim at covering less widely read pieces that will help to create a more nuanced and expansive understanding of poststructuralist theory.

Please feel free to get in touch if you have suggestions for texts to discuss in upcoming meetings or if you have material you would like to workshop.

Science Fiction and Fantasy Reading Group

The Science-Fiction and Fantasy reading group is a place for anyone to be able to explore their favourite works of speculative fiction in a more academic setting. This group will meet monthly to read speculative works from the late 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries, as well as the theories surrounding them, in order to gain an understanding of where our modern conceptions of the genres have come from, and where they may be going in the future. Everything from well-known authors such as Isaac Asimov and Ursula K. Le Guin, to newer authors such as Becky Chambers and Nnedi Okorafor will be covered, and suggestions from group members are highly encouraged.

Shakespeare Reading and Research Group

The Shakespeare Reading and Research Group welcomes students of all disciplines to join us once a month to discuss Shakespeare’s plays in an inclusive and welcoming environment! Through pairing Shakespeare’s plays with essays on emerging critical theory, cool podcasts, and Shakespearean adaptations, we will discuss the ever-changing position of Shakespeare and his place in literature today.

Trans Theory Reading Group

The trans theory reading group welcomes all students interested in studying and contributing to this emergent branch of intersectional and interdisciplinary discourse. Our objects of analysis will take different forms—from academic criticism to lyric poetry to popular film to the visual arts—and will take up different historical periods—from antiquity to post-post modernity. Our transhistorical and transmedial collaboration will foreground the insights of foundational trans theorists like Hortense Spillers, Susan Stryker, and Julian Gill-Peterson, and it will move us toward the new generation of trans scholars, including Colby Gordon, C. Riley Snorton, Cameron Awkward-Rich, and others. How is trans related to queer? How is it related to feminism? How do the oppressions of race and gender collude with each other? What might a trans method look like? What do we want trans to do for us? These are the kinds of questions we will take up.