Special Session Proposal for the Annual Convention of the Modern
Language Association: December27-30, 2007; Chicago, Illinois.

=20

CFP: Special session at the Modern Language Association, Chicago 2007;
entitled: "Ragged London: The Spectacle of Crime and Degeneracy in the
Victorian Capital."

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>From the sensational "Newgate Novels" of the early Victorian period to
the spectacle of the "Ripper Murders" during the so-called "Autumn of
Terror" (1888), the Victorian middle-class was deeply fascinated by the
seeming degeneracy and pervasive criminality of London's lower class.
Narrative, journalistic, and investigative accounts of London's "low
life" and rookeries were, in fact, part of the mainstay of middle-class
popular culture. But what other function, beside lurid entertainment,
did slum narratives provide? What were the discursive intersections of
Victorian culture and class that seemingly necessitated the production
and consumption of slum narratives and tales of urban degeneracy, crime,
and decay? =20

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Please send a brief abstract via email or regular mail by March 20, 2007
to

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Kevin R. Swafford

Department of English

Bradley University

Peoria Illinois 61625

 or

swafford_at_bradley.edu

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Received on Thu Feb 01 2007 - 18:59:16 EST