Dr. Joey Kim’s debut book, “Romanticism and the Poetics of Orientation,” received an honorable mention for the British Association for Romantic Studies’ (BARS) First Book Prize, finishing among the top three of eight shortlisted titles for the international award.
Her book examines how the modern lyric subject took shape through the invention of the “Oriental” subject, making the case for a more global, cross-cultural understanding of Romanticism.
Dr. Joey Kim’s “Romanticism and the Poetics of Orientation” was selected from eight shortlisted titles for the British Association for Romantic Studies’ First Book Prize.
“I’m deeply honored to have ‘Romanticism and the Poetics of Orientation’ recognized by the British Association for Romantic Studies,” said Kim, an associate professor of English in the Department of English Language and Literature in the Judith Herb College of Arts, Social Sciences and Education.
“When the seeds of this book first began germinating in 2012, I never imagined it would receive this kind of recognition. The book asks what happens when we analyze British Romanticism not as an exclusively European literary tradition, but as one shaped by cultural exchange and encounters with Asia. It means a great deal to have this work recognized by scholars in the field.”
Awarded every two years for the best debut monograph in the field of Romanticism, the BARS First Book Prize is presented by the leading UK organization for the study of the Romantic period. Yin Yuan won this year’s prize for “Alimentary Orientalisms: Britain’s Literary Imagination and the Edible East” (Bucknell University Press, 2023). Colleen Taylor received the other honorable mention for “Irish Materialisms: The Nonhuman and the Making of Colonial Ireland, 1690-1830” (Oxford University Press, 2024).
Published by Edinburgh University Press in 2023, “Romanticism and the Poetics of Orientation” was also shortlisted for the Wordsworth Circle’s Marilyn Gaull Book Award.
