Notices

Announcing Special Issues

The editors of Dickens Quarterly, in consultation with members of the Editorial Board, are pleased to issue a call for contributions to a series of special issues of the journal. Three topics have been designated, each with a particular focus broad enough to offer opportunities for engagement from a variety of literary and non-literary perspectives.

Dickens and Wills

Wills in the novels, literally and metaphorically: their role as a narrative device, their importance and symbolic function; Dickens’s personal and professional exposure to and knowledge of wills as a formal declaration of an intention to dispose of property; his arrangements for the distribution of his estate; the sociological and cultural implications of will-making during the nineteenth century and the treatment of the subject in his journalism.

Engaging Dickens

New ways to engage Dickens by making use of technological innovation: the digitalization of texts, digital humanities and Dickens; reviews of the best online websites; new opportunities presented by Dickens Journals Online and the consequences of this valuable facility; engaging with Dickens in different pedagogical contexts–in the classroom, in public spaces such as exhibitions, museums and festivals.

Obscure or Under-read Dickens

Neglected novels and other works, including Dickens’s short fiction and miscellaneous pieces, under-scrutinized areas of his journalism, his non-fictional historical, theatrical and poetical writing.

Instructions for Authors

Copy should be submitted in two forms: an electronic version to paroissien@english.umass.edu and a hard copy to the journal’s address: 100 Woodstock Road, Oxford, OX2 7NE England. Essays should range between 6,000 and 8,000 words, although shorter submissions will be considered.

Submission date: 1 September 2018. For further instructions, see ‘Dickens Quarterly: A Guide for Contributors’, available as a PDF file from the website of the Dickens Society <dickenssociety.org>.

Erratum

Vol. 35.2 June 2018 printed edition

DQ would like to apologise for an error in the table of contents on p. 97. The author of “Tweeting Tippings: Using Digital Media to Recreate” in the Notes section is Lydia Craig, not Linda as printed.

Dickens Society 24^th Annual Symposium

July 26–28, 2019, Salt Lake City, Utah

Call for Papers

In July 2019, Dickens goes west, and into the mountains! The 24^th Annual Dickens Society Symposium will be held in Salt Lake City, Utah, cosponsored by the Dickens Society and Utah Valley University. Proposals from scholars, independent researchers, and graduate students on any topic related to Dickens’s life or work are welcome. One-page (250–300 word) abstracts for papers deliverable in 20 minutes, plus 150-word bios, may be submitted Sept. 1–Nov. 1, 2018, through a link at dickenssociety.org. Please contact Program Committee Chair, Natalie Cole (cole@oakland.edu), for more information about proposals.

Salt Lake City is the capital of Utah, nestled between two mountain ranges, a gateway to some of the most spectacular geological formations on the planet. Though Dickens himself never visited Utah, the region is explored several dozen times in his journals, referred to variously as an “unknown land,” a “New Jerusalem,” “a flat desert,” out of which rise “a number of parallel ridges of considerable elevation.” Conference participants are encouraged to encounter the western wonders that Dickens only ever imagined: within one hour, they might travel to Park City or Antelope Island State Park; a little further, to Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty, Goblin Valley State Park, the Golden Spike National Historic Site, Arches National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, Zion National Park, or Capitol Reef National Park (where UVU has a field station). Another hour or two would take the road-tripper north into the Tetons and Yellowstone (WY) or south into the Grand Canyon (AZ). Salt Lake itself is a small, lively city: summers are host to farmers’ markets, festivals, and outdoor music concerts, and hiking trails for hikers of all skill levels can be accessed directly from downtown. The SLC International Airport (Delta hub) offers direct flights to many American–and several European–cities. Details about accommodations, events and excursions, as well as conference sessions will...