John Leech, “The Quiet Street,” Punch’s Pocket Book, 1856

VICTORIANS IN SIGHT & SOUND

MVSA Annual Conference

Chicago, IL April 15-16, 2005

CALL FOR PAPERS

The Twenty-Ninth Annual Midwest Victorian Studies Association meeting will be held in Chicago once again. In keeping with its long interdisciplinary and inclusive tradition, MVSA welcomes proposals from any disciplinary perspective dealing with any aspect of Victorian visual and aural culture.

Possible approaches might include:

*the relationship between text and illustration in the Victorian novel *visual adaptations of Victorian texts *the role of advertising in changing London streetscapes and soundscapes *political iconography in the Victorian cartoon *oratory and the aural context of 19th-century politics *representations of the Victorians in 20th-century cinema *photography’s commentary on contemporary science and social life *musical re-interpretations of Victorian literature and art *20th-century adaptations of Victorian aesthetics through novels, music, art, or film *parlour music and the middle-class home *visual vocabularies and the illustrated periodical *stagecraft and sensation in the Victorian theatre…

About the conference: We will meet at the historic Omni Ambassador East Hotel in downtown Chicago. Our keynote speaker will be Elaine Hadley, from the University of Chicago, author of Melodramatic Tactics (1995) and the forthcoming volume, Living Liberalism. As always, music and art will figure prominently throughout the two days. It should be an aesthetically engaging conference and we invite all members to attend, whether presenting or not. Victorianists studying and working in the midwestern United States are especially encouraged to attend at MVSA, and to make a home in this distinguished scholarly organization.

Graduate students are especially welcome as attendees and presenters at MVSA conferences, where they will find a stimulating and collegial atmosphere, and conference fees are adjusted to make attendance more affordable. MVSA annually awards the Bill and Mary Burgan Prize for an outstanding paper by a graduate student at the conference, while the prestigious Arnstein Prize supports dissertation research of an interdisciplinary kind. Conference news can be found on the website at http://www2.ic.edu/MVSA/

Submissions: By October 31st, email a 500-word (only) abstract to Alisa Clapp-Itnyre, Asst. Professor of English, Indiana University East: aclappit@indiana.edu. Please mention “MVSA 2005 Paper Submission” in the Re: line and include your own name, title, institution, email and snail mail addresses, and a phone number in the text. If you do not receive an email confirmation of receipt, please re-submit.