CFP: Victorian Sensation Fiction (9/15/03; NEMLA, 3/4/04-3/7/04)

CFP: Victorian Sensation Fiction (9/15/03; NEMLA
3/4-7/04)

NEMLA Convention in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
March 3-7, 2004

Panel Title:
Victorian Sensations: Gender, Colonialism, and
Beyond in the Work of Collins, Braddon, et al

Panel Description:
As the sensation novels, raising questions of gender,
empire, and other issues, were seen as threats to
Victorian values by establishment critics, this panel
explores these concerns in the work of Wilkie Collins.
M.E. Braddon, Charles Reade, Sheridan Le Fanu, Ellen
(Mrs. Henry) Woods, Rhoda, Broughton, and others.

Call for Papers
Papers can explore (but are not limited to) the following
topics:
Antecedents to Sensation fiction: Gothic and Newgate
novels. Collins and Dickens. M.E. Braddon’s
lesser-known works. Sensation novels as a revolt
against realism. Sensation novels and the
supernatural. Collins’s epistolatory narrative strategy,
The Woman in White as prototype. The Fallen Woman.
Gender: Courageous women and tearful men.
Homoeroticism in Le Fanu’s Carmilla, in Charles
Reade’s novels and others. Indomitable heroines:
Magdalen (No Name), Kate (Griffith Gaunt), Violet
(Vixen), and others. Female villains: Lady Audley’s
Secret; Jezebel’s Daughter; Mrs. Lecount (No Name),
and others. The critique of imperialism in The
Moonstone. Escapes/exiles to the colonies in
Sensation fiction. The critique of Muscular Christianity
in Man and Wife. The critique of class structure in any
works. Dual identity and disguises in Collins’s work.
Charles Reade vs. “The Prurient Prude.” Laudanum,
opium, alcohol, and other drugs and poisons in
Sensation fiction. Tight-lacing and stays. Medical
issues in Sensation fiction, including: Somnambulism,
fainting, nervous disorders, madness, vivisection,
epilepsy, mesmerism, bleeding, consumption,
jaundice, and other illnesses and cures. Legal issues
in Sensation fiction, including: Marriage, divorce, child
custody, domestic violence, women’s property rights,
bigamy, wills, inheritance, libel, criminal justice.

Abstracts (up to 500 words, or so) by September 15,
2003 to:
richard.fantina_at_fiu.edu

Richard Fantina
Florida International University
3000 NE 151 Street, AC1 381
North Miami, FL 33181

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Received on Sat Sep 06 2003 - 15:14:44 EDT