CFP: Sensational Men
Co-hosted by Falmouth University and the Victorian Popular Fiction Association
Falmouth University, Cornwall
April 18, 2015
Deadline: December 1, 2014

Keynote Speakers:
William Hughes, Bath Spa University
Andy Smith, University of Sheffield

“Sensational Men: Victorian Masculinity in Sensation Fiction, Theatre and the Arts”
Villainous, feminised, weak and wanting; men in the sensation genre are often seen as lacking. Critical readings of the genre, moreover, have tended to focus on its constructions of femininity, largely neglecting representations of men and masculinity.   Examining the under-explored subject of Victorian men, masculinity and sensation, “Sensational Men:  Victorian Masculinity in Sensation Fiction, Theatre and the Arts” represents a timely and important intervention in the field. This one day symposium at Falmouth University will provide a point of focus and intellectual exchange for scholars working in many different fields such as: popular fiction studies, theatre studies, Gothic studies, art history, early photography and film, theories of gender, sexuality and nation in nineteenth century studies.

Proposals for panels and papers may include, but should not be limited to:

• Empire and masculinity
• Female masculinity
• Gentlemanliness and masquerade
• Masculinity and the nervous body
• Monstrous masculinity
• Queer masculinities
• Manliness and sensation
• Race and masculinity
• Sexualised men
• Neo-Victorian Sensation fictions

150-200 word abstracts to be sent by: December 1, 2014 to Ruth Heholt and Meredith Miller: ruth.heholt@falmouth.ac.uk and meredith.miller@falmouth.ac.uk