Mary Elizabeth Braddon Public Engagement and Study Day

Mary Elizabeth Braddon Public Engagement and Study Day

14^th November 2015

University of Hull

Keynote Speaker: Anne-Marie Beller, University of Loughborough

Mary Elizabeth Braddon was a prominent Victorian woman writer, whose popular fiction was published, consumed, and criticized the world over. (In)famous for her blue eyed, blonde haired ‘angel of the house’ villainess in Lady Audley’s Secret, Braddon shocked the established literary world with her contributions to the popular 1860s genre, sensation fiction. However, Braddon’s writing career lasted almost fifty years, and during this time she experimented with a range of different literary genres, and edited two of her own magazines, which helped to validate her as a respectable woman author by the turn of the century.

This event is a study day to commemorate the centenary of Braddon’s death in 1915 and aims at bringing Braddon into the public domain. It is co-hosted by the Mary Elizabeth Braddon Association, the Centre for Nineteenth-Century Studies, and the OpenCampus programme at the University of Hull. We invite papers on all aspects of Braddon’s life, works and influences, but request jargon be kept to a minimum as this event is aimed at a public audience.

Possible topics for papers might include, but are not limited to:

• Braddon’s childhood and her autobiography ‘Before the Knowledge of Evil’
• Braddon’s career as an actress in the 1850s
• Braddon’s relationship with her publisher, John Maxwell, and the challenge of being a writer and a wife/mother
• Braddon’s literary career as a writer and editor of her own magazines
• Braddon’s critical reception, both contemporary and modern
• Braddon’s contribution to the emerging genre of detective fiction
• Braddon’s poetry, plays, short stories, novellas and novels
• Braddon’s influences and her influence on others
• Braddon’s representation in modern society: film and radio adaptations; Lady Audley’s Secret on the A-Level syllabus
• Why Braddon remains relevant today

Please send abstracts of 300 words to Dr Janine Hatter (j.hatter@hull.ac.uk) and a short (100 words) bio. by 30^th September 2015.