victorian

The editors invite contributions to Symbolism. An International Annual of Critical Aesthetics, an interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed journal dedicated to pursuing fundamental questions on the forms and functions of the symbolic. Symbolism publishes high-profile research on topics related to the use of figurative language, thought and signification in artistic expression and representation. While maintaining a strong literary focus, the annual also inquires into practices of the symbolic across discourses in media ranging from the cinema and painting to opera, sculpture and other arts.

The Victorian period is generally thought of as an age where science and its discoveries led to a shift from the religious to a scientific explanation of the natural world. Obviously at the centre of this whole shift was Charles Darwin, his powerful inferences and the delayed publication of The Origin of Species, as he feared disturbing established religious and social practices. And the crises of faith it did instill affected an entire generation. However much we wish to adhere to this scientific aspect of the Victorian period, one cannot ignore the fact that the age also saw a proliferation of the interest and belief in the supernatural, the occult, in ghost stories, séances et al.

I am seeking paper presentations for this year’s English II (1800-1900) session at the Midwest Modern Language Association's conference in Milwaukee (November 5-8) that discuss the significance and dynamics of social class and class consciousness in the representations, production, consumption, and understanding of literature in 19th century Britain. Please send a 250-word abstract, and a brief C.V. and bio to Kevin Swafford at swafford@fsmail.bradley.edu. Abstract, C.V. and bio are due on June 15

Literature Among the Ruins: Junky Humanities, Literary Garbage, and Textual Flotsam

Two-Part Conference Panel

Organizers: Dr. Craig Dionne and Dr. Meg Dobbins, Eastern Michigan University

9 June 2020 will mark the 150th anniversary of the death of globally beloved author Charles Dickens (1812-1870). Unfortunately, many planned celebrations have been cancelled or postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. To encourage support of research and writing as our world copes with this crisis, and to bring us together for an important anniversary in this time of social distancing, #Dickens150, a virtual transatlantic global gathering, will take place on this date. All proceeds, after covering a minor technology fee, will be donated to the Charles Dickens Museum, London.

Rocky Mountain
Modern Language Association
Seventy-fourth annual convention

October 8-10, 2020

Boulder, Colorado | Millennium Harvest House Hotel

English Nineteenth-Century Panel
Deadline Extended: April 30

The word boredom has been in circulation since Ancient times, in the shape of a variety of synonyms --acedia, taedium vitae, horror loci, melancholy, ennui, spleen-- and bearing a theological stamp, since it was believed to be a demonic sin in the Christian tradition. In modernity, however, for the “enlightened subject” (Goodstein, 4), as a response to social and economic transformations, boredom has become a secular experience concerned with temporality, signifying loss of meaning and feeling of emptiness in the pace of modern life. In critical circles, boredom remains a hybrid phenomenon that brings together a variety of contradictory definitions.

Dickens and Decadence

Stockholm University, Sweden

Deadline for submissions: 31 May 2020

Department of English and Department of Culture and Aesthetics

Stockholm University

17-18 December 2020

Conference Homepage: https://www.english.su.se/2.60277

Keynote speakers: John Bowen (York), Dennis Denisoff (Tulsa), and Claire Wood (Leicester)

CALL FOR PAPERS
2020 MMLA Conference’s MVSA-Affiliated Panel

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

November 5-8, 2020

“Cultures of Collectivity”

In keeping with the MMLA conference theme, “Cultures of Collectivity,” the Midwest Victorian Studies Association panel welcomes proposals that explore myriad examples of cultural collectivity in 19th century Britain.

Possible topics include but are not limited to:

Midway through New Grub Street (1891), Reardon reunites with his wife Amy. In preparation, he leaves behind his overcoat. This attire, once “fairly good,” is now long past its prime, “the edges of the sleeves were frayed, two buttons were missing, and the original hue of the cloth was indeterminable.” Reardon knows Amy well, but not well enough: her attention at the meeting is quickly directed to “his muddy and shapeless boots,” and her desire for “a renewal of amity” conflicts with her shock over her husband’s appearance: “[S]uch attire degraded him in her eyes; it symbolised the melancholy decline which he had suffered intellectually.

Our panel invites papers that consider the relationship among disciplines in the Victorian period. What can we learn about our present from the intertwined Victorian modes of knowledge production and distribution?

CV and 300 word abstract to Scott C. Thompson (scottcthompson19@gmail.com) and Renata Kobetts Miller (remiller@ccny.cuny.edu). Deadline: March 7, 2020.

Modern Language Association Convention
Toronto, January 7-10, 2021
Call for Papers: Guaranteed sessionWe seek proposals on new approaches to the lives of Morris and his associates, including his Pre-Raphaelite, Arts and Crafts, socialist, and familial circles. Papers on twentieth-century and contemporary responses to Morris's legacy as broadly conceived are also welcome.Please send a one-page abstract to florence-boos@uiowa.edu by March 18, 2020

VISAWUS 2020: Victorian Transitions

Reno, NV October 15-17, 2020

The Victorian Era was one of transitions. Victorian Britain transitioned from a rural to urban society. It transitioned from an emergent empire to the dominant imperial power. It transitioned from a walking, water, wind, and animal-based transportation system to a steam-powered transportation system. It transitioned from a regional to national and then imperial culture.

British women novelists of the Victorian era often explored the accepted and shifting concepts of woman’s role at home, in the workplace, and in society as a whole. Charlotte Bronte, George Eliot, and Oliver Schreiner, for example, discuss a woman’s right to education and the careers open to her as well as how she chooses, if she has a choice. This panel will explore these writers’ arguments for women’s equality and examine repercussions deriving from their writing. Panelists might address such questions as how authors expressed their acceptance of or discontent with women’s position in society or whether the conversation changed as the nineteenth century came to an end. Papers should not exceed 15 minutes.