Randolph-Macon College English Professor Jen Cadwallader is the author of Spirits and Spirituality in Victorian Fiction (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016).

“In the book, I argue that supernatural encounters in nineteenth-century fiction show Victorians trying to achieve greater spiritual agency by adapting scientific theories to traditional Christianity,” explains Cadwallader. “The increasing presence of ghosts across the nineteenth century—in fiction, newspaper accounts, séances, and magic shows—thus highlights a significant countercurrent to the general decline of faith during the period.”

In the book, Cadwallader also examines ghost encounters in the fiction of Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, Charles Dickens, Margaret Oliphant, Rhoda Broughton, E. Nesbit, and Rudyard Kipling.

“My research demonstrates how the supernatural served as a site where a range of stances toward spirituality could be tested: from ambivalence toward both scientific and religious epistemologies to fascinating instances of spiritual evolution,” she says.

At RMC, Cadwallader teaches Victorian literature and children’s literature, plus two courses that draw directly on her research: Midnight Tales, a survey of the horror genre, and The Gothic Tradition, a capstone course for English majors.

Cadwallader joined the RMC faculty in 2009. She earned her B.A. from Alfred University and her M.A. and Ph.D. from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.