Existing research on the female characters in Oliver Goldsmith’s The Vicar of Wakefield (1766) has indicated the ways in which they contribute substantially to the novel’s narrative complexity, multifaceted exploration of morality, and its socio-political contexts. Especially comparative readings of the Vicar’s daughters Olivia and Sophia have resulted in considerations of eighteenth-century womanhood and gender norms. This presentation aims to add to these accounts by providing an in-depth study of both the major and minor female characters in the novel. As its point of departure, it will show how the daughters serve as the main focal points for the novel’s conceptualisation of female virtue and sexuality. The juxtaposition of their characters, their actions, and their ideas on love and matrimony—with Sophia seemingly embodying sense and purity, Olivia sensibility and transgression—facilitates an exploration and deconstruction of the dichotomy between virtue and sin. Attention will also be dedicated, however, to the minor female characters to indicate how figures such as Mrs. Deborah Primrose, Miss Arabella Wilmot, and Squire Thornhill’s hired prostitutes embody alternative female moral types, thus complicating the dichotomy even further. Embedding the discussion of these characters within a wider context of literary-historical constructions of femininity, this presentation will explore how Goldsmith participates in a contemporary addressing and revaluing of notions of female virtue as defined, among others, by Samuel Richardson in Pamela and Clarissa, while also anticipating later portrayals of femininity in, for instance, Jane Austen’s works. The Vicar of Wakefield thus not only presents its reader with a complex pattern of eighteenth-century femininity, but also provides insights into contemporary debates on marriage, morality, and women’s agency.  

上外“跨、通、融”研究生教育质量提升系列讲座由研究生院主办，汇集国内外知名专家学者，共设有“科学与学术研究方法”“区域国别研究”“科技前沿与未来发展”三大主题。该系列讲座旨在提高我校研究生的学术水平和科研能力，彰显区域国别研究学科内涵，与科技前沿和未来发展同频共振，提升我校研究生的竞争力、发展力、持续力，助力研究生把握主动，赢得未来。
该系列讲座一年举办30场。2023级学术学位硕士研究生，在修业年限内每个主题需要参加至少4场，总数不低于12场，方可达到“学术活动与专业实践”学分的考核要求。
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本讲座从跨学科视角出发，介绍数字人文的发展、概念形成及演进等，并结合案例展示数字人文研究思维及研究理念，以及数字人文在语言学研究中的应用。

为了帮助具备一定多语种（俄语、日语、德语、法语、西班牙语等）专业能力，且对中学教师职业感兴趣的本科生、硕士生、博士生了解上海市中学多语种学科情况，判断自己是否适合中学多语种教师的职业，尽早在大学就读阶段做好准备，研究生院邀请上海市教师教育学院（上海市教委教研室）关键语种教研员、中学日语高级教师郭侃亮为同学们做分享交流。