Thinking Dickens
Aarhus University, Denmark
13–16 July 2026
We invite papers on the cerebral Dickens, but also on “the mind of the heart” (David Copperfield): on how Charles Dickens thought, but also how and what we think about him. Suitable topics might include:
Dickens and philosophy, psychology, statistics, or the natural sciences
Dickens and his intellectual friends and contemporaries, such as Thomas Carlyle and George Eliot
How Dickens and his readers develop ideas through and by means of language
Plotting, planning, and making connections
Dickens cognitively and imaginatively at work, at the level of paragraphs, sentences, and individual words
Thinking … but also dreaming, believing, and (in Rosemarie Bodenheimer’s double-edged phrase) knowing Dickens
How Dickens’s characters’ minds work
Natural and artificial intelligence in the study and teaching of Dickens
Neurodiversity
Revisiting Dickens and literary/critical theory, from deconstruction to cognitive poetics
Logical Dickens; learned Dickens; witty Dickens; stupid Dickens
Gendered, racialized, and class-defined models of thought
Thought in relation to things in Dickens, including how he imagines the inanimate, and how abstract form, sound, space, or the temporal and material constraints of book-making structure and define his narratives
Thoughtfulness or mindfulness in Dickens
What we think of Dickens as a person, and what he might have thought of us
As always, papers on Dickensian topics other than the stated theme will also be welcome.
Principal Organiser: Dominic Rainsford
Symposium Scholarships, Prizes, and Awards (Deadlines):
Bursary Scholarships (Graduate, Untenured, Independent Scholar): 31 May 2026
Best Blog Bursary: 31 May 2026
Robert B. Partlow Prize (Conference Paper): 15 April 2026
David Paroissien Prize (Published Article): 31 January 2026
Mary Espartero Webb Travel Award (BIPOC): 1 May 2026
Submission
Abstracts of proposed papers (250 words max.), together with a biographical statement (150 words max.), should be sent by 4 January 2026 to Dominic Rainsford at dickens2026@cc.au.dk.
Please note that all presenters must be members of the Dickens Society by the time of the Symposium.
Membership costs $35.00/year and includes a subscription to Dickens Quarterly.
Registration
The registration portal for the 31st DICKENS SOCIETY SYMPOSIUM, Aarhus, July 2026, is now open: https://event.au.dk/events/31st-dickens-society-symposium (NB: The language can be switched from Danish to English by clicking at the top of the page.)
The PARTICIPATION FEES are as follows:
EARLY-BIRD RATES, until 23:59 (Central European Time), 30 April 2026:
Regular rate: kr. 1.700 (approx. USD 260 /GBP 195)
Reduced rate for students, emeriti, independent scholars, etc. (if in doubt, please enquire): kr. 1.100 (approx. USD 170 / GBP 125)
FROM 1 May 2026:
Regular rate: kr. 2.000 (approx. USD 310 /GBP 230)
Reduced rate for students, emeriti, retired, independent scholars, etc.: kr. 1.300 (approx. USD 200 / GBP 150)
All of these rates include the opening reception (13/7), lunches and coffee breaks during the three days of academic sessions (14–16/7), as well as the conference dinner at Godsbanen (15/7). Please note that the dinner and other catering are part of the package; there is no discount for participants who will not be present for one or more days of the Symposium.
In the case of co-presented papers, all presenters who will be physically present at the Symposium are required to register.
Please remember that all those presenting papers must be MEMBERS OF THE DICKENS SOCIETY by the time of the Symposium. Membership costs $35.00/year and is obtained by subscription to Dickens Quarterly: https://www.press.jhu.edu/journals/cart/for-sale?oc=2557
Participants who wish to bring GUESTS to the conference dinner may do so at the rate of kr. 500 per person. (This option appears in the registration form after the participant’s own registration category has been entered.)
The provisional programme is now available. 2026 DS SYMPOSIUM PROGRAMME
Please direct any questions to: dickens2026@cc.au.dk
Location
Aarhus was recently voted the happiest city in the world. A Baltic port, on the mainland of Jutland, it is Denmark’s second largest city. It is older and more characteristically Danish than Copenhagen (which is just three hours away by train, but practically in Sweden).
As well as a university regularly placed in the world’s top 100, Aarhus has extensive relics of its Viking origins, iconic museums of art and archaeology, idyllic beaches and forests, celebrated architecture, and many excellent cafés and restaurants.
Dickens never came to Denmark – as far as we know – but his connections with the country (not just his over-staying guest, Hans Christian Andersen) were substantial and significant.
Travel and Accommodation
Previous Symposia
We hope that this symposium will be as environmentally sustainable as possible, given the intercontinental nature of the Society. Delegates from within Europe are strongly encouraged to travel to Aarhus by train or bus. Interrail is not just for teenagers, and is well worth considering. Excellent advice about rail travel in general appears here. It is even possible to travel to Aarhus by train from London, but this requires careful planning, and you need to be prepared for delays and occasional missed connections, particularly in Germany. (The organizer has done this trip many times; often breaking the journey in Cologne, but sometimes all the way in one day.) The best site for booking trains across Europe is probably Deutsche Bahn. We recognize, of course, that some conference delegates within Europe may need to fly, for one good reason or another. The city is served by Aarhus Airport (AAR; about 45 mins. by bus from Aarhus) and Billund Airport (BLL; about 90 mins.), with flights from many points of origin provided by Ryanair, Norwegian, and other budget airlines.
For those travelling to the conference from outside Europe, your entry point is likely to be Copenhagen Airport (CPH). We would strongly recommend that you travel from there to Aarhus by train, rather than taking a connecting flight. The train takes about 3 hours, runs roughly every hour, and goes direct from the middle of the airport to central Aarhus. Apart from being less sustainable, a connecting flight to Aarhus Airport will still leave you with a 45-minute bus ride to the city, and will therefore save little time. Immigration and baggage-handling at Copenhagen Airport are fast and efficient, but it would make sense to allow about 90 mins. between scheduled arrival and the departure of your train to Aarhus.
Booking for train journeys within Denmark normally opens on the DSB site two months before the travel date. Discounted “Orange” tickets can usually be purchased in advance for specific trains, as well as “Orange Fri” tickets which are a little more expensive but can be cancelled/changed with 30 minutes’ notice. You are strongly advised to reserve a seat at the same time as you buy your ticket. You will find that “standard class” on Danish intercity trains is comfortable; a lot like 1st class elsewhere. A slower, but efficient, reliable, and slightly cheaper way of getting to Aarhus from Copenhagen Airport (or city) is the bus service, Kombardo, with which you will spend part of the journey in a ferry. But the train is definitely the easier option.
Preliminary advice about accommodation:
A good range of accommodation in Aarhus can be found at booking sites such as Hotels.com and Booking.com, as well as airbnb. Comfortable options, often used by visitors to Aarhus University, include Milling Hotel Ritz, Scandic The Mayor, Scandic Aarhus Central, and Comwell (very roughly DKK 1,000/EUR 135/USD 155 per night for a single). Good cheaper places include Cabinn Aarhus and Danhostel Aarhus City (both about DKK 600/EUR 80/USD 95 per night). Classy establishments include Hotel Royal and Villa Provence. All of these are in the town center, within walking distance or a very short bus or tram ride of the University.
If you need to email or telephone Danish hotels or travel companies, or indeed if you need help on the streets of Aarhus, don’t worry about the language: this is essentially a bilingual (Danish/English) country. When it comes to budgeting, don’t worry about tipping in restaurants, hotels, or taxis; it is not expected.
If you have more specific questions about travel, accommodation, or other practical matters, please contact Dominic Rainsford at dickens2026@cc.au.dk.
Further details about registration, practicalities, and the conference program will be added to this site in due course.
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The 31st annual Dickens Society Symposium
Location: Aarhus, Denmark
Dates: 13-16 July
Sponsored by: Aarhus University
Organiser: Dominic Rainsford
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The 30th Annual Dickens Symposium
Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Dates: July 14-17
Sponsored by: Boston University
Organizer: Natalie McKnight (Boston University)
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The 29th Annual Dickens Symposium
Location: Birmingham, England
Dates: July 15-18, 2024
Sponsored by: University of Birmingham
Organizers: Michaela Mahlberg and Caroline Radcliffe (University of Birmingham)
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The 28th Annual Dickens Symposium
Location: Rochester, New York
Dates: July 16-19, 2023
Sponsored by: Rochester Institute of Technology
Organizer: Sean Grass (Rochester Institute of Technology)
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The 26th Annual Dickens Symposium
London, United Kingdom
Dates: July 8-10, 2022
Sponsored by: City, University of London
Organizers: Juliet John (Royal Holloway, University of London), David McAllister (Birkbeck, University of London), Chris Louttit (Radboud University), Michaela Mahlberg (University of Birmingham), Claire Wood (University of Leicester)
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The 25th Annual Dickens Symposium: No Theme
Location: Online
Dates: July 12-14th, 2021
Sponsored by: Rochester Institute of Technology
Organizers: Sean Grass (Rochester Institute of Technology), Chris Louttit (Radboud University), Emily Bell (Leeds University), Lydia Craig (Loyola University Chicago)
- 2020: No Conference (Pandemic) -
The 24th Annual Dickens Symposium: “theme”
Location: Salt Lake City, Utah
Dates: July 26-28th, 2019
Sponsored by: Utah Valley University
Organizers: Leslie Simon (Utah Valley University)
The 23rd Annual Dickens Symposium: “Dickens and Language”
Location: Tübingen, Germany
Dates: 30 July-August 1, 2018
Sponsored by: Eberhard Karls University
Organizers: Mattias Bauer and Angelika Zirker (Eberhard Karls U)
The 22nd Annual Dickens Symposium: “Interdisciplinary Dickens”
Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Dates: July 14-16, 2017
Sponsored by: the Dickens Society and The Center for Interdisciplinary Teaching & Learning at the College of General Studies, Boston University.
Organizer: (Natalie J. McKnight, Boston U)
The 21st Annual Dickens Symposium: “Adapting Dickens”
Location: Reykjavík, Iceland
Dates: 11-13 July, 2016
The 20th Annual Dickens Symposium: “Liquid Dickens”
Location: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Dates: July 8-10, 2015
Sponsored by: Saint Mary’s University
Organizer: Sara Malton (Saint Mary’s University)
The 19th Annual Dickens Society Symposium: “Dickensian Landscapes”
Location: Domaine de Sagnes, Béziers (Languedoc-Roussillon), France.
Dates: 8-10 July, 2014
Organizers: Marie-Amélie Coste (Lycée Jules Ferry), Christine Huguet (Université Lille III), Nathalie Vanfasse (Aix-Marseille Université), and Paul Vita (Saint Louis U, Madrid).
The 18th Annual Dickens Society Symposium
Location: Toronto, Canada
Dates: July 4-8, 2013
Organizer: Dr. Leon Litvack (Queen’s U, Belfast, Northern Ireland).
The 17th Annual Dickens Society Symposium
In the bicentennial year, the Dickens Society was particularly fortunate in having the opportunity to host two symposia—one on each side of the Atlantic.
First Symposium:
Location: Massachusetts, Lowell National Historical Park
Dates: July 13-15, 2012
Sponsored by: the University of Massachusetts Lowell
Organizers: Diana C Archibald (U Mass Lowell) and Joel J. Brattin (Worcester Polytechnic Institute).
Second Symposium:
Location: Kent, England
Dates: 13-15 September, 2012
Sponsored by: the University of Kent in Canterbury
Organizers: Malcolm Andrews (University of Kent), Catherine Waters (University of Kent), and David Paroissien (University of Massachusetts Amherst)
Previous Events
As an Allied Organization officially affiliated with the MLA, the Dickens Society sponsors panels and social occasions at the annual MLA convention and at regional MLA conferences such as Northeast MLA (NeMLA), Midwest MLA (MMLA), and South Atlantic MLA (SAMLA).
Panel organizers should send updates regarding their panel (rescheduling, cancellations, no-shows) and the finalized panel information to Lydia Craig (lcraig1@luc.edu), to post here.
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MLA 2025
Location: New Orleans, LA
Date: January 9-12, 2025
Chair: Chris Louttit (Radboud University)
"Dickensian Cultures and Communities"
Presentations:
Richard Bonfiglio (Sogang University): “Scrooge Goes to Seoul”
Jen Cadwallader (Randolph-Macon College): “Dickens’s Christmas in the Twenty-first Century”
Elizabeth Bridgham (Providence College): “Dickensian Silliness: Serialization, Pastiche, and Parody in the Twenty-first-Century Sister Arts”
NeMLA 2024
Location: Boston, MA
Date: March 8, 2024
Chair: Lydia Craig (Lake Land College)
"New Directions in Dickens Scholarship"
Presentations:
"Exploring Charles Dickens' Hard Times and A Christmas Carol Through the Lens of Ubuntu Philosophy," Masumi Odari, University of Nairobi
"A Tale of Two Cities: A Transatlantic Experiment," Christian Lehmann, Bard High School Early College
"Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers, and the Moment of Class Consciousness," Mark Fulk, Buffalo State University, SUNY
"The Verse of Charles Dickens: Romanticism, Romance, and Ridiculousness," Lydia Craig, Lake Land College
MLA 2024
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Date: January 6, 2024
Chair: James Armstrong, City College, City U of New York
"Joys and Sorrows of Attachment: Dickens and Lawrence"
Jointly sponsored with The D.H. Lawrence Society
Presentations:
"The Spatial Intertextuality of Paris between Gaskell's French Life and Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities," Lisu Wang, U of Leicester
"The Sorrows of the Lawrentian Persona and Its Attachment to Dickens's David Copperfield," Holly A. Laird, U of Tulsa
"Dickens, Lawrence, and Readerly Entanglement," Bridget Chalk, Manhattan College
NeMLA 2023
Location: Niagara Falls, NY, Sheraton Hotel
Date: March 23, 2023
Chair: Sean Grass, Rochester Institute of Technology
Session 10.30 "Dickens and Resilience"
"Jolly Suffering and the Limits of Resilience in Martin Chuzzlewit and American Notes," Nina Engelhardt, University of Stuttgart
"'Marshes and Dreams’: Country Landscapes in Dickens's Bleak House," Hannah LeClair, University of Pennsylvania
"Little Doors and Little Dorrit: Hinged Resistance and Resilience in Solitary Confinement," Rachel Sims, Phoenix College
"An Uncaring Proposal: Appalling Resilience in Little Dorrit," Bethan Stevens, University of Sussex
ESSE 2022
Seminar 14. “Dickens in Colour”
Location: Mainz, Germany
Dates: 29 August – 30 August 2022
Chairs: Matthias Bauer (Eberhard Karls University), Nathalie Vanfasse (Aix-Marseille Université), Angelika Zirker (Eberhard Karls University).
Session 1, Slot 1:
Presentations:
"Welcome and General Introduction," Matthias Bauer, Nathalie Vanfasse, and Angelika Zirker:
"Dickens’s Reality Show: Chromophobia and the New World," Francesca Orestano (Milan)
"Collar, Choler, Colour, Colours," Jeremy Tambling (Warsaw)
"Hue, Affect, and Influence: What Colour Are Dickens’s Novels?" Sara Thornton (Paris)
Session 1, Slot 2:
Presentation:
"Technicolour Dickens: Colourisation in Research and Practice," Leon Litvack (Belfast)
Session 2, Slot 2:
Presentations:
"Charles Dickens and the Colour Purple," Jeremy Parrott (Independent Scholar)
"The Yellow Leaf," Franziska Quabeck (Münster)
"Green Mounds, Blue Eyes, Black Death: A Digital Humanities Approach to Colours in Dickens," Carolin Odebrecht (Independent Scholar) and Angelika Zirker (Tübingen)
Session 3, Slot 2:
Presentations:
"Dickens’s Ambiguous Colours," Matthias Bauer (Tübingen)
"Bleak and Black London: Dickens’s Presentation of Poor Quarters," Ewa Kujawska-Lis (Olsztyn)
"'[L]ooking, with their bright colours and ribbons, like a bed of flowers': Of Tint and Taint in David Copperfield," Céline Prest (Paris)
"‘The prismatic hues of memory’: Visual StoryTelling and Chromatic Showmanship in Charles Dickens’s David Copperfield," Georges Letissier (Nantes)
NeMLA 2022
Session 12.3 "Dickens and Empathy" (Part 1)
Location: Baltimore, MD, Baltimore Marriott Waterfront
Date: Friday, 11 March 2022
Chair: Lydia Craig, Lake Land College
Presentations:
"Dickens through the Lens of Tolerance, Tolerance through the Lens of Dickens," Nina Engelhardt, University of Stuttgart
"‘But such flesh, and so much blood!’: Dickens, the Empathetic Psychopath," Andrew Halls, King's College
"Morality, Modernity, and Dickens in Bengal," Sayan Chatterjee, Ohio University
"Empathy as Allegory in Hard Times," Marie Sanazaro, Princeton University
Session 14.4 "Dickens and Empathy" (Part 2)
Location: Baltimore, MD, Baltimore Marriott Waterfront
Date: Saturday, 12 March 2022
Chair: Lydia Craig, Lake Land College
Presentations:
"Empathy or Self-Effacement?: Dickens’ Traumatized Angels," Mackenzie Clinger, John Carroll University
"'Suffer, and Be Still:' Pip’s Femme Bottomhood in Great Expectations" Margaret Speer, University of California, Irvine
“'Pig, Get Out Of My Way:' Madame Defarge’s Lack of Empathy and Lévinas’ Irreducible Alterity," Adrianne Wojcik, Northern Virginia Community College
"Paralyzed by Empathy? Another View of Ebenezer Scrooge," Kari Daly, University of Connecticut-Storrs
NeMLA 2021
Session 15.18 "Transatlantic Dickens"
Location: Virtual
Date: Friday, 12 March 2021
Chair: Iain Crawford, University of Delaware
Presentations:
"Take the Case of the Slaves on American Plantations': Harold Skimpole's Race in Bleak House," Lydia Craig, Loyola University Chicago
"Colorblind Victimhood and Class Sympathy: Dickens and the American Civil War," Virginia Maresca, St. John's University
" 'The last grievance of the South': Economic Slavery and Paternalism in A Christmas Carol," Christian Gallichio, University of Georgia
MLA 2021
Session 226. "Hunger and Survival in Dickens"
Location: Virtual
Date: Friday, 8 January 2021
Chair: Sara A. Malton, Saint Mary's University
Presentations:
"Dickens and the Horrors of Cannibalism," Goldie Morgentaler, U of Lethbridge
"Survival Cannibalism as Liberal Paradigm in Great Expectations," Emma Davenport, Duke U
"A Young Vampire and an Old Wound: Hunger and Survival in ‘George Silverman’s Explanation,'" Emily Bell, Loughborough U
Session 183. "Sexual Violence, the Victorians, and #MeToo"
Location: Virtual
Date: Thursday, 7 January 2021
Chairs: Helena Michie, Rice University, Renee Fox, U of California, Santa Cruz
Speakers: Nora Gilbert (U of North Texas, Denton), Patrick R. O'Malley (Georgetown U), Amanda Paxton (Trent U, Durham), Erin Spampinato (Graduate Center, City U of New York), Doreen Thierauf (North Carolina Wesleyan C), Anna Torvaldsen (McGill U).
NeMLA 2020
Location: Boston, Massachusetts, Marriott Copley Place
Date: March 6, 2020
“Teaching Dickens Now” (10.31)
Chair: Diana Archibald, University of Massachusetts Lowell
Presentations:
“Dickens in VR," Jen Cadwallader, Randolph-Macon College
"Dickens and Service-learning: Relevance for the Humanities Under Fire," Diana Archibald, University of Massachusetts Lowell
"Dickens and the Climate Crisis: The Business of Ordinary and Extraordinary Lives," Katja Lindskog, Yale University
MLA 2020
“Mankind Was My Business!:” Dickens and Being Human
Location: Seattle, Washington State
Date: January 9, 2020
Chair: Amberyl Malkovich, Concord U
Presentations:
"Body Language and Dickensian Humanism," Peter J. Capuano, U of Nebraska, Lincoln
"Teaching Humanity: An Investigation of Pedagogy and Human Interests in A Christmas Carol, Bleak House, and Great Expectations," Anna Merz, Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State U
"The Chance Child: Resistance, Belittling, and Gender Norming in Oliver Twist, The Old Curiosity Shop, and Little Dorrit," Amberyl Malkovich, Concord U
"Charles Dickens's Alternate Humanism: Ghostly, yet Clever Narration," Sara Chung, Texas A&M U, College Station
MMLA 2019
"Double the Dickens: Counterparts in the Works"
Location: Chicago, IL
Date: November 15, 2019
Chair: Lydia Craig, Loyola U Chicago
Presentations:
"The Dickens Brothers and Fraternal Doubling in Little Dorrit," Lillian Nayder, Bates C
"A Second Self: Re-written Identity in A Tale of Two Cities," Marian Gentile, Temple U
"On 'Queer Street': Financial Doubles and Queer Partnership in Dickens," Margaret Dobbins, Eastern Michigan U
"Double the Dickens: Multiples in the Works"
Chair: Lydia Craig, Loyola U Chicago
Presentations:
"Stephen Blackpool’s Two Wives: Law and Love in Hard Times," Adrianne A. Wojcik, Northern Virginia Community C
"Doubling Characters Across Novels: Esther Summerson and Arthur Clennam," Christine Colón, Wheaton C
“Her very clothes acted”: Doubling in Stage Adaptations of Bleak House," Kirsten Andersen, U of Cincinnati
NeMLA 2019
"Charles Dickens and the Influences of the Past"
Location: Gaylord National, Washington, D.C.
Date: March 22, 2019
Chair: Kristin A. Le Veness, SUNY- Nassau Community C
Presentations:
"Dickens and the Art of Classical Allusion," Christian Lehmann, Bard High School Early College
"The Clarissa Complex: Forced Marriage in Nicholas Nickleby and Dombey and Son," Leah Grisham, George Washington U
"'Spots of Time': Wordsworthian Spirits and Dickensian Hauntings," Eric Lorentzen, U of Mary Washington
"What Dickens Read: Finding an Unknown Source of Inspiration for Oliver Twist in Dickens's Library," Eva-Charlotta Mebius, University C-London
"Neo-Dickens for a New Audience: Reading, Watching, and Teaching Dickens in the 21st Century"
Chair: Mary Ann Tobin, Pennsylvania State U
Presentations:
"@GE_Jaggers in 280 characters: Exploring Repressions in the Great Expectations Readalong," Lydia Craig, Loyola U Chicago
"Dickens and Doctor Who: Lessons in Time Travel," April Kendra, U of Delaware
"Dickens's Chinese Afterlife: YU Hua's Brothers and Our Mutual Friend," Hai Na, unspecified
"A Christmas Carol: the Gift Book we Keep on Giving," Mary Ann Tobin, Pennsylvania State U
MLA 2019
"Feral Dickens"
Location: Chicago, IL
Date: January 4, 2019
Chair: Lillian Nayder, Bates C
Presentations:
"Wild Things: Dickens’s Vibrant Murders," Katherine J. Anderson, Western Washington U
"Association, Sentiment, and Becoming Animal: Dickens’s Feral Children," Joshua Gooch, D’Youville C
‘Wilderness of a Home’: Domesticity, Ferality, and the Railroad in Dombey and Son," Jenny Haden, U of Washington, Seattle
‘Changed into Wild Beasts’: Characterizing the Crowd in A Tale of Two Cities, Catherine Quirk, McGill U
MMLA 2018
"Consuming Cultures: Dickens"
Location: Kansas City, MO
Date: November 16, 2018
Chair: Sean Grass, Iowa State U
Presentations:
"Consuming Dickens: Teaching A Christmas Carol to Twenty-First Century Students," Gretchen Frank, Lakeland Community College
"The Idea of the Christmas Gift in Charles Dickens's Christmas Stories of the 1840s," Renata Goroshkova, Saint Petersburg State University
"Collaboration, Race, and a Cannibalism Surprise," Melisa Klimaszewski, Drake University
NeMLA 2018
"Charles Dickens: Lessons Imparted and Lessons Learned"
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Date: April 12-15, 2018
Chair: Kristin Le Veness, SUNY Nassau Community College
Presentations:
"Hard Times: Factory Education, Factory System, and the Preston Strike" Dewey Hall, California State Polytechnic U-Pomona
"Learning to Manage Madness: Dickens, Moral Management, and Disability" Emily Baldys, Zane State C
"Always an Active Body: Lessons about Disability and Poverty in Our Mutual Friend," Catherine Welter, U of New Hampshire
"Gendered Lessons: Rejected Constructions of Womanhood and Femininity," Kristin Le Veness, SUNY Nassau Community C
MLA 2018
"Dickens and Resistance"
Location: New York City, NY
Date: January 6, 2018
Chair: Diana C. Archibald, U of Massachusetts Lowell
Presentations:
"A Blot in the Theater: Dickens, Macready, and the Quest to 'Revive the Drama,'' James Armstrong, Graduate Center, City U of New York
"Dickens and Government Resistance: The Battle to Save Epping Forest," Sophie Christmas-Lavin, Stony Brook U, State U of New York
"Dickens and Gender Resistance," Jolene Zigarovich, U of Northern Iowa
"Innumerable Goroos Interspered': Awkwardness as Resistance in Dickens's Prose," Jonathan Farina, Seton Hall U
"Ephemeral Dickens"
Date: January 4, 2018
Chair: Susan Zieger, U of California, Riverside
Presentations:
"Disposable Dickens? Exploring Dickens in the Ephemeral Archive," Janice M. Carlisle and Elizabeth Frengel, Yale U
"Dickensian Jottings," Lillian Nayder, Bates C
Recurrent Ephemerality and the Dolly Varden Dress, Rebecca N. Mitchell, U of Birmingham
NeMLA 2017
"Dickens, Race, Empire"
Location: Baltimore, MD
Date: March 24, 2017
Chair: Iain Crawford, U of Delaware
Presentations:
“‘The Abuse of Irresponsible Power’: Slavery, Violence, and Dependence in Oliver Twist,”
Joshua Gooch, D’Youville College“Ritual Sacrifice and Race in the Narrative of A Tale of Two Cities,” Trenton Judson,
Jarvis Christian College“Playing at Harem: Child Performance of Eastern Roles in Dickens’s ‘The Ghost in Master B’s
Room,’” Adam McCune, Baylor University“Degeneration Fascination,” James Buzard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MLA 2017
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Date: January 7, 2017
"Dickens and Family"
Co-Chairs: Natalie McKnight, Boston University; Lillian Nayder, Bates C
Presentations:
“Broken Families as (Post)Colonial Doubles: Dickens’ Returned Convicts," Christie Harner, Dartmouth C
“Marriage Contracts, Slavery Cases, and the Legal History of Oliver Twist,” Lucy Sheehan, Columbia U
“Embodied Maternity, Bildung, and the Dickensian Home," Livia Arndal Woods, Queens C (CUNY)
“David Copperfield, the Ideal Family and Blood Relations," Rosetta Young, UC-Berkeley
MMLA 2016
"Dickensian Exchange"
Location: St. Louis, MO
Date: November 12, 2016
Chair: Sean Grass, Iowa State U
Presentations:
“Magwitch’s Muzzle: Dividing Men from Beasts in Great Expectations,” Alistair Robinson, UC London
“(Un)anxious Worlds: Taking Stock of Minor Characters in Dickens’s Fictions,” Kristen Starkowski, Princeton U
“Bleak House: Legal Advocacy and Professional Responsibility,” Brenda Welch, independent scholar
NeMLA 2016
"Digital Dickens"
Location: Hartford, CT
Date: March 19, 2016
Chair: Diana Archibald, U of Massachusetts Lowell
Presentations:
"Digital Dickens: Virtual Travel and Tourism," Diana Archibald, U of Massachusetts Lowell
"Tweeting Tippins: Using Digital Media to Recreate Our Mutual Friend's Serialization," Lydia Craig, Loyola U C
"Digital Dickenses: Family Drama in the Digital Archive," Lillian Nayder, Bates C
MLA 2016
"Dickens and Disability"
(Two panels in partnership with The Dickens Project of UC Santa Cruz):
Location: Austin, TX
Date: January 9, 2016
Chair: Talia C. Schaffer, Graduate Center, City Univ. of New York
Presentations:
“The Working Artist and the Literary Man: Disabled Self-Fashioning in Our Mutual Friend,” Natalie Prizel, Yale U
“Grotesque Intelligence: Precocity as Disability in Dickens,” Mallory Cohn, Indiana U, Bloomington
“The Magnification of Jenny Wren,” Rachel Herzl-Betz, U of Wisconsin, Madison
"'The Dickens Jukebox': Music at Work and Play in Narrative Form"
Date: January 7, 2016
Chair: Carolyn S. Williams, Rutgers U, New Brunswick
Presentations:
“Dickens’s Music: Harmony, Texture, and Form in Nicholas Nickleby,” Jonathan Farina, Seton Hall U
“Musical Surface and Depth in Little Dorrit,” Carolyn S. Williams, Rutgers U, New Brunswick
“Doing and Undoing the Orphan: John Parry’s ‘Peasant Boy,’ Bleak House, and Our Mutual Friend,” Tricia A. Lootens, U of Georgia