Victorian Popular Fiction Association’s 10th Annual Conference

The Victorian Popular Fiction Association is dedicated to fostering interest in understudied popular writers, literary genres and other cultural forms, and to facilitating the production of publishable research and academic collaborations amongst scholars of the popular. Our annual conference is now in its tenth year and aims to celebrate with a five day extravaganza! Alongside the usual keynotes, special panels, reading group and exhibition, there will be trips out to different events around London.

The organisers invite a broad, imaginative and interdisciplinary interpretation on the topic of ‘War and Peace’ and its relation to any aspect of Victorian popular literature and culture which might address literal or metaphorical representations of the theme.

Conference Date: 3-7 July 2018
Organised By: Institute of English Studies, Senate House, London

Keynote: Mariaconcetta Costantini, G. d’Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara

Keynote: Carolyn Oulton, Canterbury Christ Church University

Keynote: Cathy Waters, University of Kent

Round Table on the State of the Field: Juliet John, Andrew King, Julia Kuehn, Kate Newey, Catherine Pope

Exhibition: ‘How Novel Was the Novelette? Fiction, Gender and Popular Nineteenth-Century Periodicals’, curated by John Spiers

Reading Group: ‘Invasion Fiction’, hosted by Andrew King and Beth Gaskell

We welcome proposals for 20 minute papers, panels of three papers affiliated with an organisation or a group of scholars and non-traditional papers/panels, on topics which can include, but are not limited to:

War:

  • War: colonial wars, war heroes, battles, war poetry, staged battles, invasion and conflict, violent death, war reportage and illustration/photography, war painting, medicine, infirmaries, surgery
  • Material culture of war
  • Britain vs the Continent: conflicts of views, customs, civilizations
  • Us versus Them: Empire and colonialism, ‘otherness’, abject, uncanny
  • Wars of ideas
  • Class war: Chartism, war on poverty, socialism
  • War between the sexes: The New Woman, women as workers and consumers
  • Science and technology: Darwinism, technological advances, train travel
  • Religious controversies and crises of faith: Darwin, religion vs science, Higher Criticism
  • War is personal: personal rivalries, the threat of crowds and mobs, anarchism, nihilism, terrorism, assassination plots
  • War of mind and body: disease, nervousness, phobias, anxieties
  • Violence: crime and punishment, domestic and sexual abuse, child abuse
  • News and print culture: professional rivalries, periodical debates, book sales, the best seller
  • Genre wars: realism, sensationalism, Gothic, detective, science fiction
  • Travel writing/writing travel in times of war and conflict
  • Conflict as a narrative force
  • Exclusion of popular fiction from the canon/struggle for recognition in the academy

Peace:

  • Domestic harmony: love, romance and sex
  • Childhood innocence: the ‘romantic child’ and the Golden Age of children’s literature
  • Anniversaries: birthdays, weddings, christenings, deaths
  • Peace of mind/finding peace: religious movements, beliefs, spirituality/Spiritualism
  • Peace of body: rest cures, convalescing, R.I.P.
  • Social reform: global treaties, armistices, resolution, utopian communities, Pax Britannica, Britain as a guardian of the peace
  • Enforcing the peace: police, legislation, army, suppressing rebellion
  • Design reform movements: Arts and Crafts, the Victorian home, collections and collecting
  • Peace with our neighbours: the Great Exhibition, the grand tour, cosmopolitanism, relations between countries, food, animals
  • Material culture of peace
  • News and print culture: literary networks, co-operations, collaborations, authors, publishers and printers, image and text, the development of the book market: triple decker, single volume, yellowback, French novels
  • Narrative and poetic harmony: plot vs. character, poetry vs. prose, the art of the novel
  • Harmony and discord: music in popular fiction
  • Victorian values and nostalgia/costume drama
  • Republication of popular fiction/increasing recognition in the academy

Special topic panels: following our successful formula, we are continuing the special panels which will be hosted by guest experts; therefore we especially welcome papers about the following topics:

Topic 1: ‘Class War, Conflict and Reconciliation’ hosted by Tara Macdonald

Topic 2: ‘Religious Controversy and Reconciliation’ hosted by Naomi Heatherington

Topic 3: ‘The First War of Indian Independence’ hosted by Éadaoin Agnew

Please send proposals of no more than 300 words and a 50 word biography in Word format to Drs Janine Hatter, Helena Ifill and Jane Jordan at: vpfainfo@gmail.com

Deadline for proposals: Friday 2nd March 2018

Official Website