Conference Announcement

SOLD OUT: EDWARDIAN LITERATURE AND POPULARITY

Downing College, Cambridge
18 February 1999

Between 1890 and 1914, British writers produced some of the twentieth
century's most popular books and plays. The 1890s saw _Dracula_, _Sherlock
Holmes_ and _The Invisible Man_, and the next decade _The Wind in the
Willows_ and _Peter Pan_. Not just hits then, these texts have become
modern myths. Their Edwardian and late-Victorian themes - vampires, space
exploration, animal-characters, time-travel and image-manipulation - have
provided the material for countless TV dramas and Hollywood blockbusters.

In spite of this, academics have remembered the highbrow intricacies of
James and Conrad as the triumphs of pre-War British culture. This
conference aims to re-assess the period in the light of its huge quota of
enduring best-sellers. What did the newly literature public read? What did
they do with the texts they read and saw? Is praising the highbrow just
brow-beating? Is the mass audience crucial to a distinctly Edwardian
literature?

Among those addressing the topic will be:

Professor David Trotter (UCL) on Popular Representations of Empire

Professor John Stokes (KCL) on 'Raffles, Amateur Cracksman'

Dr Adrian Poole (Trinity, Cambridge) on 'A Short History of the Trilby'

Dr David Glover (Southampton) on Bram Stoker, Gothic and Nationalism

Bearing in mind the theme of popularity, all papers will aim to be lucid
and engaging, rather than dense and cryptic. The conference will be
informal, aiming to stimulate discussion and circulate ideas among
everyone interested in this pivotal period of English literature. If you
would like a ticket (£10/£5 students), please get in touch with Adam
Frost, Clare Hall, Cambridge ([log in to unmask]) or Peter Howarth at
Downing College, Cambridge on +44 1223 870185 (international) or (01223)
870185 (inland UK). If you know anyone you think might be interested,
please forward this email along. 






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