We’re absolutely delighted to tell you about a new Elizabeth Gaskell conference, organised by Gaskell Society members at Anglia Ruskin University, working with the British Association for Victorian Studies (BAVS). The conference takes place in person at Anglia Ruskin University (Cambridge), but also online, so you can attend, no matter where you are.
9.00 – Registration & Welcome Address
with Alice Jackman & Kathleen Gentle
9.15-10.00 – Round table discussion: Teaching Victorian Literature
with guests, Dr. Jo Carruthers (University of Lancaster), Dr. Elizabeth Ludlow (Anglia Ruskin University), and Dr. Simon Marsden (University of Liverpool)
10:15 – 11:30 – Panel 1: Discourse, Dialogue & Dissent
“Thou canst not escape from it”: Male Prophecies in Lois the Witch and Mary Barton – Rosa Ortiz (University of Oviedo)
Elizabeth Gaskell’s Portico Library: Reading Jane Austen and other novels of manners – Emma Probett (University of Leicester)
“I ax your pardon if I use wrong words”: Caregiving, Class and Dialogue in EG’s North and South – Charlotte Wilson (University of Oxford)
Everyday Habits: The representation of Dissent in Gaskell’s Ruth – Magdalena Nerio (University of Texas)
11:30 – Coffee
11.45-1.00 – Panel 2: Gender & Sexuality
Dress, Desire and the Other in Elizabeth Gaskell’s North & South – Ahad Taqizadeh (SBU)
The Quiet Queerness of ‘Libbie Marsh’ – Jessica Campbell
Spinster- Reformers: Gaskell’s re-imagining of Spinsterhood in Cranford and My Lady Ludlow – Reilly Fitzpatrick (Baylor University)
‘Ripe Wisdom & Sound Counsel’: EG’s Lois the Witch as a study in effective patriarchy – Elena Clayton-Harding (University of Liverpool)
1.00-2.00 – Lunch
2.00 – 3.00 Keynote Address with Dr. Jo Carruthers (University of Lancaster)
3.15-4.15 – Panel 3: The Body
Intersections of Industrialism and Disability in Mary Barton – Erin Dulin (University of North Carolina)
Contagious Bodies, Contagious Texts: Post-Covid Temporalities of Knowledge in Gaskell’s Ruth – Johanna Harrison-Oram (Royal Holloway)
Community and Spousal Abuse in Morton Hall – Kathleen Gentle (ARU)
4.15 – Coffee
4.30-5.45 – Panel 4: Trade & Environment
Viral Railways in Gaskell’s Cranford and Cousin Phyllis – Alan Rauch (University of North Carolina)
“Soothed without knowing how or why?”: Introspection, Female Emotion, and Air Quality in North & South – Kristyn Woytkewicz (Baylor University)
Mary Barton and the Opium Trade – Menglu Gao (University of Denver)
“A Sense of Change’: Emotions to Environmental Change accompanying industrialization in the Victorian Age – Zhang Qingheng (University of Macau)
5:45 – Closing Remarks