victorian

Henry James occupies an unusual position in the literary categories of English language fiction. Claimed by both the British and the Americans, as well as by both the 19th century and the 20th, James’ fiction crosses many of the artificially imposed borders our field has created, yet his stories often deal explicitly with the social changes and their consequences that caused the borders to be established in the first place. As we live through yet another period of social upheaval, is James still relevant? What can his short fiction offer a 21st century reader? How might we convey this to our students, many of whom initially find his content dated and his prose challenging?

Call for Papers on Robert Frost

Modern Language Association Convention, Chicago, January 3-6, 2019

Sponsor: The Robert Frost Society

Contact: Grzegorz Kosc, President of Robert Frost Society, grzegorz.kosc@uw.edu.pl

Deadline for Proposals: April 7, 2018; length: 300-350 words

Session: “New Trends in Robert Frost Criticism”

*DICKENS DAY*

Saturday 20th October 2018, Senate House, London

CFP: Dickens, Families and Communities

CFP: Substance Use and Abuse in the Long Nineteenth Century

13th – 14th September 2018

Edge Hill University

Speakers:

Professor Susan Zieger, University of California Riverside

Dr Noelle Plack, Newman University

Dr Douglas Small, University of Glasgow

‘The body (follow me closely here) lies at the mercy of the most omnipotent of all potentates—the Chemist.’

Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White (1859)

Historians have long recognized the central relationship between property ownership and political participation in Britain. As many have acknowledged, throughout the nineteenth century, men’s ability to vote was based on fulfilling a property qualification; even women’s enfranchisement in 1918 still carried property requirements.