A Pair of Blue Eyes
A Thomas Hardy Society Study Day
In association with the University of Exeter and the University of Hull
7 April 2018, 10:00am
The Corn Exchange, Dorchester
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:
Jane Thomas (University of Hull)
Andrew and Marilyn Leah (The Thomas Hardy Society)
Rebecca Welshman (University of Liverpool)
Angelique Richardson (University of Exeter) and Helen Angear (University of Exeter and DCM)
2018 will mark the 145th anniversary of the publication of A Pair of Blue Eyes, said to be the favourite Hardy novel of both Leslie Stephen and Coventry Patmore. A review in The Spectator in June 1873 described the novel as '...a really powerful story...of varied and deep interest...not too harrowing...relieved by exquisite touches of word-pictures...'. It is a tale of class and gender clashes, contains the scene which gave literature the term 'cliffhanger', and rather than Wessex, it is set in Cornwall where Hardy met his future wife Emma Gifford.
The Thomas Hardy Society warmly invites proposals for twenty-minute presentations on any aspect of A Pair of Blue Eyes which may include, but are not limited to:
- Subversion of gender conventions
- Homoeroticism and the Homosocial
- Sexual expression and repression
- The interdisciplinarity of science and literature
- Biographical details within fiction
- Moral purity/impurity
- Secrecy and concealment
- Spying and voyeurism
A day designed to appeal to both academics and general readers alike, the Society is also offering two bursaries of £50 each to students wishing to attend who would otherwise find travel or accommodation costs prohibitive. Please send proposals of no more than 350 words, and no later than 14 February 2018, along with a brief description, if you are a student, of how a bursary would benefit your studies, to Tracy Hayes (THS Student Co-Ordinator) at malady22@ntlworld.com.