CALL FOR PAPERS

Technologies and Media in the Nineteenth Century

29^th Annual Meeting: April 4-6, 2003 at MIT, Boston, MA

Suiting our theme to our setting at MIT, this year we would like to discuss the ways technologies and media affected culture in nineteenth-century Great Britain. This topic of course covers the growth of new technologies (and there were far too many to be covered in the topics suggested below) but also differing cultural responses to them, from the way political practices changed in response to the new opportunities they afforded to the various and complex resistances to technological change.

Topics include (but are not limited to):

New Media and the Changes to Older Ones: Photography, Voice reproduction, Film, to list a few new media, were all developed in the nineteenth century. Also changes to the literary marketplace and developments in the history of the book. The development of the press and the Victorian periodicals. Poetic and political media: working-class poetry, broadsheets, political novels. New technologies for reproducing and disseminating communication: typewriters, telegraphs, advertising in new ways.

Technology in Literature and the Arts: The appearance of new technologies in fiction but also fiction in different ways formed by technology: Victorian Science Fiction and the rise of detective and forensic fiction. Industrial fiction. The role of technology in Victorian art and narrative painting. The response of visual arts to new modes of visual reproduction.

Space and Transportation: The effects of railroads and road systems, but also bicycles, steamships, automobiles, telephones. The effects of technology on urban and rural space: train stations, the growth of cities and suburbs in response to new forms of transportation. New forms of exhibition spaces (the Crystal Palace; but also museums and department stores).

Technologies of Mind and Body: New medical practices, x-rays and anaesthesia. Corsets, crinoline and body shaping. Psychoanalysis, mesmerism and psychic phenomena.

Resistances to Technology and New Consequences: Anti-technological writers such as Carlyle and Ruskin. The struggle between emergent and older technologies: handlooms, coaches, lancet and leeches. New legal ramifications: changes to copyright law.

And since technology breaks down categories: technology and empire, domestic techologies: new modes of cooking, sanitation, etc. Victorian cyborgs. Effects of techology on our research. Innovations in botanical and biological sciences.

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To: Professor Joan Dagle, Secretary/Treasurer. NVSA

Dept. of English, Rhode Island College

Providence, RI 02908

I wish to renew my dues or become a member of the Northeast Victorian Studies Association. I have enclosed a check to NVSA for ---$15 in U.S. dollars (regular membership) or ---$10 (student)

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ACADEMIC AFFILIATION-----------------------------------------------------------

Paper Proposals (no more than two double-spaced pages) by Oct. 15, to :

Professor Talia Schaffer

English Department

Queens College, CUNY

Flushing, NY 11367-1597

Email: talia_schaffer@qc.edu

Fax (attn: Talia Schaffer): (718) 997-4693

Please do not send complete papers. Please do not include your name on your proposal: we review proposals anonymously. Please do include your name, institutional and email addresses, and proposal title in the cover letter that accompanies the proposal.

Finished papers should take 15 minutes (20 minutes maximum) so as to provide ample time for discussion following each panel.

Roundtable: In an attempt to allow more participation in the program, and to continue the conference=s interest in teaching, we are continuing the popular roundtable discussions on pedagogy that we initiated four years ago. This year, in connection with our topic, we are interested in presentations on the uses of new technologies in teaching Victorian literature.

If you would like to make a presentation, please send a note to Professor Paula Krebs, Department of English, Wheaton College, Norton, Mass. 02766 (fax: (508)286-8263; email: pkrebs@wheatonma.edu) describing briefly (no more than one double-spaced page) the aspects of pedagogy that you would like to share. Keep in mind that being a presenter means creating an atmosphere for stimulating discussion rather than presenting a paper.

The Coral Lansbury Travel Grant ($100.00) and George Ford Travel Grant ($100.00) given in memory of key founding members of NVSA are awarded annually to the graduate student, adjunct instructor, or independent scholar who must travel the greatest distance to give a paper at our conference. Apply by indicating in the cover letter of your proposal that you wish to be considered. Mention also if you have other sources of funding.

All who wish to join NVSA, and all members who have not yet paid their dues for the 2001-2002 membership year should return the attached tear-off. And Dr. Hartley Spatt (24 Center Street, Woodmere, NY, 11598) urges all members to send him a note subscribing to the Victorian Studies Bulletin ($5.00 a year).

Finally, as many of you know, our Vice-President for Information Services, Professor Glenn Everett, has established a NVSA list (NVSA-L) on email and NVSA Home Page on the World Wide Web (http://www.nvsa.org). The Web site offers items of interest to NVSA members. NVSA-L is a place to summarize and share conference activities and logistics, and to conduct NVSA business. It’s used mainly around conference time, so don’t worry that it will clutter up your mailboxes. To subscribe, send a message to ListProc@utm.edu. Leave the subject line blank; on the message line write SUB-NVSA-L, your first and last name.

Professor Jonathan Loesberg, President, NVSA

Dept. of Literature

American University

Washington, DC 20016

Phone: (202) 885-2971

Email: jloesbe@american.edu

Fax: (202) 885-2938