Mary Elizabeth Braddon Special Authors Panel at
2015 Victorians Institute Conference
Victorian work and labor
October 2 – 3, 2015
Converse College
Spartanburg, SC
The Mary Elizabeth Braddon Association is organizing a special author session at the upcoming Victorians Institute Conference. This year marks the centenary of Braddon’s death and this session is part of a year-long series of events organized to celebrate Braddon’s life and work. We welcome submissions of any work on Braddon, but as the conference theme is Victorian Work and Labor and submissions to this panel might consider themes of work and labor in Braddon’s writing; Braddon’s own work as an author, journalist, and editor; or the work being done in current scholarship on Braddon.
Keynote Speaker:
Susan Fraiman, University of Virginia
Author of
X-treme Domesticity: Desperate Housekeeping from Robinson Crusoe to Martha Stewart
(forthcoming from Columbia UP)
I’ve got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom.
– Thomas Carlyle
Work is the curse of the drinking class.
– Oscar Wilde
The concept of personal, as well as societal, industry was essential to the Victorian sense of self. The idea of work as a virtue, a duty, and a privilege was widespread (and sometimes mocked). For the 44th annual meeting of the Victorians Institute, we invite proposals from a variety of disciplines addressing issues of Victorian work and labor, broadly defined. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:
-magic/invisible/fairy workers
-illegal work and black markets
-labor in public and private spheres
-new professions and professionalization
-middle-class work and occupations
-play and amateurism in an age of work
-art and authorship as labor
-intellectual vs. physical labor
-Crystal Palace: showcasing production
-the work of conquering the Empire
-the work of teaching Vic lit and culture
-industrialization
-work in the Empire
-work and gender
-child labor
-calling vs. toil
-servants and servitude
-prostitution
-the work of childbirth
-work and welfare of animals
-agrarian vs. city labor
-man and machine
-disabled bodies and work
-industry and environment
-the work of criminals
-“dirty” work.
Papers or panels on poetry, prose, nonfiction, visual art, or historical context are welcome, as are presentations on the pedagogy of teaching Victorian literature. Selected papers from the conference will be refereed for the Victorians Institute Journal annex at NINES. More information about the organization can be found at: https://www.vcu.edu/vij/
200 – 250 word proposals and a brief one-page CV should be sent to Anna Brecke, annabrecke@gmail.com, by JUNE 15th for submission to the conference chairs. Please write “VI 2015 Abstract” in the subject line. Proposals should include contact information.