Call for Papers

Work and Leisure 

Research Society for Victorian Periodicals

43rd Annual Conference

Canterbury Christ Church University,  UK,  22 - 23 July 2011

 

Much of the nineteenth-century press was built on an interdependency of
work and leisure. Texts designed for consumption in leisure hours were
created by armies of workers: authors, illustrators and editors, of
course, but also printers' devils, water-colourists, photographers, ad
agents, newsvendors, street sellers and a host of others. Who exactly
were these labourers and how were they organised? 

Then, what was the "leisure" that they promoted and how different was it
from work? Reading the press is obviously an insufficient answer.
Reading could be work for teachers, reviewers, proof-readers or those
trying to entertain children or colleagues. To what extent, indeed, was
leisure a ruse? How far did the Victorian press inscribe women's
domestic labour as a form of leisure, or male work as pleasurable? More
generally, how did the press fit into the wider context of the
entertainment industry: the theatre, travel, music, exhibitions, sport -
and shopping? 

Not all of the press was devoted to leisure and its limits. What of that
enormous sector that unashamedly named their focus as work-related: the
trade and professional press, newspaper pages devoted to the stock
market and commodity prices, articles worrying over women in the
workplace, over the masculinity of the civil servant, or over the
demands of labourers on strike? 

Finally, what of the "cultural work" of the nineteenth-century press?
What was the function of the press in and on society? How might that
cultural work relate to the pleasures of leisure?

Suggested themes include but are not limited to:

 

*         Technologies and economies of production, distribution and use

*         The cultural work of the Victorian press

*         Trade and professional publications

*         The nature and locations of labour and leisure

*         The culture industries, including travel, theatre, concerts,
exhibitions, sport

*         Holiday Supplements 

 

As always, the Research Society for Victorian Periodicals invites
proposals for papers that address any aspect of nineteenth-century
British magazines or newspapers, although those dealing with the
conference theme are particularly welcome.

 

Please e-mail two-page (maximum) proposals for individual presentations
or panels of three to Dr Clare Horrocks ([log in to unmask]) and Dr
Andrew King ([log in to unmask]).  Please include a one-page
C.V. with relevant publications, teaching, and/or coursework.  Final
papers should take 15 minutes (20 minutes maximum) to present.  The
deadline for submissions is February 1st 2011.

 

 
 
 
Dr. Clare Horrocks
Senior Lecturer in Media, Culture, Communication 
(LJMU Early Career Researcher Fellow 2010-2011)
Office 105B Dean Walters Building 
Liverpool John Moores University 
St James Road 
Liverpool L1 7BR 
Tel: 0151 231 5035