British Women Writers Conference Panel
Binghamton University
June 19-21, 2014
Deadline: December 15, 2013
The Brontës’ collective oeuvre simultaneously represents and explodes the boundaries of the Victorian period’s historical, ideological, and stylistic concerns. Their writing engages the most significant cultural issues of their time and has helped to define subgenres and an array of formal techniques since the nineteenth century. Perhaps this begins to explain why major critical shifts have often centered on the work of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne—consider, for example, Gilbert and Gubar’s The Madwoman in the Attic and Spivak’s “Three Women’s Texts and a Critique of Imperialism.” In anticipation of the bicentennial of Charlotte Brontë’s birth in 2016, we invite paper proposals for a panel reflecting on how the field of Victorian studies has been shaped by the work of any or all of the three sisters, analyzing how their prose and/or poetry provide a mirror for understanding the critical issues of the era. Papers might alternatively address how the shifting critical fortunes of the Brontës’ work reflect the dynamic changes in the field of Victorian studies. Proposals should clearly situate the paper within the larger British Woman Writers conference theme of “reflections.”
Please submit a 300-word abstract and a short bio (in a single .doc or .pdf attachment) to Lauren Hoffer and Elizabeth Meadows at brontereflections2014@gmail.com no later than December 15, 2013. Panel subject to approval.