CFP: Victorian Memories (grad) (UK) (7/16/07; 9/15/07)

full name / name of organization: 
Ryanjamesbarnett_at_aol.com
contact email: 

CALL FOR PAPERS:

=E2=80=98Victorian Memories=E2=80=99: A One Day Interdisciplinary Postgradu=
ate Conference,=20
hosted by the University of Central England.

To be held at Birmingham Central Library, Saturday 15 September 2007. =20

Keynote Speakers: Professor David Amigoni (Keele University) and Professor=20
Elisabeth Jay (Oxford Brookes University).=20

Admission: =C2=A36 (which includes morning/afternoon coffee and a buffet lu=
nch).=20
(Booking forms are available at the conference website: =20
www.lhds.uce.ac.uk/english/?page=3Dvictorian-memories).

=E2=80=98There is the art of memory and there is the memory of art=E2=80=
=99
Jacques Derrida

This conference invites postgraduate students to address any aspect of=20
memory in Victorian culture; including, but not limited to, literature, sci=
ence,=20
art, history and philosophy. Proposals should be no longer than 300 words.=20
Deadline for proposals is 16 July 2007. Please send proposals to: =20
victorianmemories_at_yahoo.co.uk

Papers are expected to be no longer than 20 minutes. Although this is a=20
Victorian conference, we welcome proposals for papers on=20
authors/artists/philosophers etc working outside of the United Kingdom (alt=
hough it is necessary that=20
papers are delivered in English). See below for further details or visit th=
e=20
conference website: www.lhds.uce.ac.uk/english/?page=3Dvictorian-memories.=20

=E2=80=98I have a room whereinto no one enters
Save I myself alone:
There sits a blessed memory on a throne,
There my life centres=E2=80=99
Christina Rossetti, Memory

=E2=80=98I did not forget. Was it my own wrong I remembered?=E2=80=99
Mrs Clennam, in Dickens=E2=80=99s Little Dorrit

To remember or to forget? In their respective works Dickens and Rossetti ca=
n=20
be seen as participating in a wider discussion, taking place during the=20
Victorian era, focusing on the role memory plays, both positively and negat=
ively,=20
in our lives. The Victorians were fascinated by the concept of memory and=20
repeated attempts were made to discover why and how one remembers and forge=
ts.=20
But why is the notion of memory so important to the Victorians? And, as if=20
the concept of memory itself could not be forgotten, why do the Victorians=20
constantly return to analyse, theorise, and explore its possibilities?=20

Possible topics may include:

Memories of the literary/artistic past; =E2=80=98forgotten=E2=80=99 Victori=
ans; the=20
posthumous memory/reputation of Victorian figures; Modernist and/or Postmod=
ern =E2=80=98
memories=E2=80=99 of the Victorian era

Psychological theories of memory; memory and trauma; repressed memories;=20
memory and subjectivity; dreams; ghosts

=E2=80=98False=E2=80=99 memories; memory and the =E2=80=98invention of tradi=
tion=E2=80=99; Amnesia/=20
Forgetting/Forgetfulness

Nostalgia

Memories of the oppressed; working class memories; (post)colonial memories

Memory and narrative; genre; historical novels/events; diaries; confessions=
;=20
 (auto)biography; childhood memories; reminiscences and recollections; =20
memoirs

Memorials/monuments/commemorations; mementos/keepsakes/relics

Memory and religion; death/ memory and mourning

Gendering memory

=E2=80=98Memories=E2=80=99 of the future/ experiences of d=C3=A9j=C3=A0 vu:=
 (In Memoires for Paul de=20
Man, Jacques Derrida claims: =E2=80=98Memory projects itself toward the fut=
ure=E2=80=99).=20

Please send proposals (max 300 words) to: victorianmemories_at_yahoo.co.uk=20

Alternatively, you may post proposals to the conference organisers, Serena=20
Trowbridge and Ryan Barnett, at the following address:

=E2=80=98Victorian Memories=E2=80=99 Conference
English Department
University of Central England
Perry Barr
Birmingham
B42 2SU

Please also send any questions or queries to the above email or postal=20
addresses.=20

Deadline for proposals: 16 July 2007.

Conference website: www.lhds.uce.ac.uk/english/?page=3Dvictorian-memories

=E2=80=98Memory, my dear Cecily, is the diary that we all carry about with=20=
us=E2=80=99
Miss Prism, in Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest

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Received on Sun Apr 22 2007 - 15:35:35 EDT