Julia Fernelius defended her thesis

The thesis defence took place on February 25th. Her opponent was Professor Max Saunders at the University of Birmingham, who also gave a lecture the day before, on books about the future from the 1920s and 30s. Julia’s supervisors were senior lecturer Irina Rasmussen and professor Giles Whiteley from our department. The defense was celebrated afterwards with colleagues and relatives.

Here's a summary of Julia Fernelius’ thesis:

In the thesis “Furnishing Modernity”, Julia Fernelius reconsiders Ford Madox Ford’s tetralogy Parade’s End(1924–1928) through the material world of the domestic interior.

The thesis investigates how furniture, décor, and the broader landscape of everyday objects shape the exploration of consciousness, modernity, and the upheavals of the First World War in Ford’s tetralogy. By placing Parade’s End in dialogue with contemporaneous developments in visual art, design, and architecture, the thesis offers a cross-disciplinary perspective on how material culture mediates both personal experience and historical transformation.

“Furnishing Modernity” responds to ongoing critical debates on history and representation in modernist studies, and offers new insights into the aesthetic, stylistic, and intellectual concerns that define Ford’s significant contribution to British modernism.