Victorian Popular Fiction Association 16th Annual Conference

Places and Spaces in Victorian Popular Literature and Culture

15th-17th July 2024, Canterbury Christ-Church University

Written by Natasha Booth-Johnson

With four panels running in each session all day, a jam-packed schedule made it impossible to see the full breadth of what the VPFA’s 16th annual conference had to offer, but the range of themes ensured there was something for everyone. With a wonderful mix of established scholars and fresh faces, the venue was abuzz with an infectious positivity that ensured everybody felt welcomed as they arrived bright and early on Monday morning.

A fantastic range of papers, many with a particular focus on women’s writing, showed the extensive reach of Victorian popular fiction across the entire length of the long nineteenth century and explored themes ranging from the supernatural to the queer, and genres from detective fiction to the sensation novel. Some highlights of the first day included talks by Janette Leaf on the Victorian shop girl in The Ladies Paradise (1882), Anna Ferrández López’s fascinating look at window women in Shirley (1849) and Wives and Daughters (1864), and, of course, the keynote paper given by Minna Vuohelainen on Clerkenwell, London’s “shadowland”.

As afternoon turned to evening, delegates enjoyed the usual drinks reception followed by a much-anticipated screening of The Happy Prince (2018), introduced by Helena Esser. Tears were abundant as the end credits rolled. Evening entertainment was a particular strength of this conference, and delegates enjoyed a rare opportunity to learn Victorian circus skills before the customary conference dinner.

The talks continued into the second and third day, with a moving keynote by Ben Bethell on the history of Victorian England’s convict prisons, some of which were barely a stone’s throw away from the conference site. The Third Sex Reading Group discussed the Cleveland Street scandal, Iulia Molnar shared her work on a digital mapping project for Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897), and Anna Shane provided a new look into the erotics of place in E.W. Hornung’s stories.

Altogether, the range of work shared and the friendly atmosphere truly encompasses the heart of what the VPFA seeks to achieve and made for a thoroughly enjoyable three-day conference.

Photos from the circus skills workshop

« Back