RESEARCH
Research Overview
The primary focus of my research is the intellectual, cultural, and political formation of the future citizen subject at the fin de siècle.
My research investigates how the imagination, nostalgia, and political ideologies translate into habits and lived practice. I explore these questions by engaging with the classic works of British children’s literature and popular fiction. My inquires focus upon those points of intersection between the literature, psychological and educational theory of the time, and the political influences of culture upon both the reader and the text itself.
My current research looks specifically at nineteenth-century liberalism’s influence upon Golden Age children’s literature, focusing on the works of Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson), Frances Hodgson Burnett, Kenneth Grahame, and Robert Louis Stevenson.
Besides my primary research, I also work in the public digital humanities bridging the distance between academic scholarship and community engagement.
Selected Publications
“The Indemonstrable Monster: Shelley’s Sublime Demogorgon in Prometheus Unbound” Keats-Shelley Journal | Keats-Shelley Journal, vol. 72 no. 1, 2023, p. 40-61. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/970574. (Published 2025).
“‘What about Becky?’: Teaching Children’s Literature via Student-Led Experience(s)” | The Early Children’s Literature and Culture Chronicle, 5.1 (Spring 2025).
“The Liberalism of A Little Princess (1905) and the Downfall of the Liberal Empire” | Children’s Literature Association Quarterly 49.2 (Fall 2024), pp. 168-183 | https://doi.org/10.1353/chq.2024.a945158
“John O’Malley as a Guide for Eloquentia Perfecta, Community-Engaged Work, and Graduate Education.” Co-authored article with Allen Brizee and Stephanie Hurter Brizee. Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal. Vol. 11: No. 2, 2022. | https://doi.org/10.53309/2164-7666.1422
“Visual Rhetoric: Making Meaning Via Visuals: Chapter 1.” A Visual Rhetoric Field Guide, ed. Sheila Coursey, et al. Saint Louis University, 2022.
“1619 – 2023: Tracing Systemic Racism in Saint Louis and Missouri.” Co-authored with Allen Brizee and Stephanie Hurter Brizee. The Saint Louis Story: Learning & Living Racial Justice. Summer 2023.
Current Projects
Current Monograph Project:
Liberalizing Wonder in the Golden Age of British Children’s Literature
My project explores nineteenth-century liberalism’s complex influence upon the genre conventions of Golden Age children’s literature (1865-1928). I explore the traditional liberal political practices modeled for readers within the works of Lewis Carroll, Charles Dickens, Frances Hodgson Burnett, and Kenneth Grahame by placing these works into conversation with the political writings of J.S. Mill, Matthew Arnold, and James Fitzjames Stephen. Fundamentally, I argue that these fantastic works of the Golden Age of children’s literature are essentially liberal in character as they model and self-expression, self-possession, and self-cultivation.
Public Digital Humanities: The Saint Louis Story
The Saint Louis Story: Learning & Living Racial Justice is collaborative project among scholars at Saint Louis University, local educators, and community partners. This public digital humanities project is a community-based research initiative and an educational resource that serves the local community by exploring the history of slavery and systemic racism in St. Louis, Missouri and the surrounding area.
I stepped away from this project in the summer of 2025, after moving to Elkins, WV.
Research Grants
2023 Beaumont Scholarship Research Award (Saint Louis University)
Colten Biro 