RSVP
Publication: 2015
Deadline: November 30, 2014
"Waterloo and its Afterlife in the Nineteenth-Century Periodical and Newspaper Press"
In anticipation of the 2015 Research Society for Victorian Periodicals (RSVP) annual conference hosted by the University of Ghent, Belgium, Victorian Periodicals Review invites submissions for a special issue commemorating the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo. Napoleon’s final defeat was of course a watershed event in the history of Europe, and the political and cultural impact of the battle would remain fresh for decades to come. Wellington, for instance, lived well into the Victorian period, and his massive state funeral in 1852—the same year that saw the nephew of his adversary at Waterloo crowned emperor of France—was a major cultural and historical event in its own right. These and other events shaped by the historical legacy of Waterloo inspired intense coverage and debate in the periodical press of the time, and for this special issue, we invite submissions from a variety of perspectives and from across disciplines which re-examine this legacy and shed light on the conventions of periodical and newspaper journalism of the period.
Possible topics include:
- Representations of Waterloo in the nineteenth-century press: Wellington as national hero and celebrity; Napoleon and his lingering impact on French and European politics; veterans’ reunions and other commemorations of the battle; travel and tourism in Waterloo; European and transatlantic perspectives on Waterloo and its aftermath.
- War correspondence in the press during the Napoleonic period.
- Illustrations in the press commemorating Waterloo and/or its heroes.
- Newspaper or periodical advertising drawing on the memory of Waterloo.
- Topical and commemorative poetry about Waterloo in the periodical and newspaper press.
- Waterloo and the Napoleonic Wars as subjects of nineteenth-century serial fiction.
The conference organizers invite 500-word abstracts of potential submissions by 30 November 2014. Completed essays based on abstracts selected must be submitted by 20 February 2015. Final essays should be 5,000-9,000 words in length (including notes and bibliography).
The Waterloo special issue will be published as the winter 2015 edition of Victorian Periodicals Review.