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British Women Writers Conference Panel
Binghamton University
June 19-21, 2014
Deadline: December
15, 2013
The Brontës’ collective oeuvre
simultaneously represents and explodes the boundaries of the Victorian period’s
historical, ideological, and stylistic concerns. Their writing engages the most
significant cultural issues of their time and has helped to define subgenres
and an array of formal techniques since the nineteenth century. Perhaps this begins
to explain why major critical shifts have often centered on the work of
Charlotte, Emily, and Anne—consider, for example, Gilbert and Gubar’s The
Madwoman in the Attic and Spivak’s “Three Women’s Texts and a Critique of
Imperialism.” In anticipation of the bicentennial of Charlotte Brontë’s birth in
2016, we invite paper proposals for a panel reflecting on how the field of
Victorian studies has been shaped by the work of any or all of the three
sisters, analyzing how their prose and/or poetry provide a mirror for
understanding the critical issues of the era. Papers might alternatively
address how the shifting critical fortunes of the Brontës’ work reflect the
dynamic changes in the field of Victorian studies. Proposals should clearly
situate the paper within the larger British Woman Writers conference theme of
“reflections.”
Please submit a 300-word abstract and a short bio (in a single .doc or .pdf attachment) to Lauren Hoffer and Elizabeth Meadows at brontereflections2014@gmail.com no later than December 15, 2013. Panel subject to approval.
