A Victoria University
of Wellington researcher is off to Cambridge University after winning a
scholarship following her work on New Zealand literary giant Katherine
Mansfield.
Anna Plumridge graduated from Victoria
as a Master of Arts in English with distinction after completing her thesis on
Mansfield’s The Urewera Notebook, which was subsequently published as a
book.
She has now been
selected as a 2016 recipient of the prestigious Gates Cambridge Scholarship to
complete a PhD in English Literature at Cambridge University starting this
October.
Victoria is ranked
number one in New Zealand for research quality and Miss Plumridge says her time
at Victoria was pivotal to her academic success.
“Victoria put my work on
a global platform, starting with the Victoria University Katherine Mansfield
Conference in 2013 when I read my first piece of work on Katherine Mansfield,
which was an adapted version of my Honours paper. The international status of
Victoria pulled some great Mansfield critics to the event, including Jackie
Jones, the literary editor at Edinburgh University Press, which eventually
published my thesis.”
Miss Plumridge says The
Urewera Notebook sheds a new light on New Zealand’s history, the nature of
Mansfield, and the relationship that New Zealand settlers had with Māori. Her
studies at Cambridge will continue to enrich New Zealand’s national culture as
she focuses on the novel Erewhon by Samuel Butler, which was inspired by
time he spent in New Zealand.
Victoria University
Emeritus Professor Vincent O’Sullivan and Professor Peter Whiteford supported
the research.
Professor Whiteford says
Miss Plumridge’s success is evidence that Victoria can foot it with the best.
“There are close to
4,000 applications worldwide for the Gates scholarship annually. From that,
only around 50 are awarded. This shows Anna’s talent, and the success that
Victoria can provide.”
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