Dickens and America: Literature, Industry, and Culture
An Interdisciplinary Conference to Commemorate the 160th Anniversary of Charles Dickens's Visit to the Mills of Lowell, Massachusetts
April 4-6, 2002
Paper and panel/workshop proposals welcome on a wide variety of topics, including, but not limited to, the following subjects:
- All aspects of Dickens's attitudes towards, experience with, or writings about America
- The social, political, and economic landscape that Dickens encountered in America, including the rise of the working class and middle class, the struggle over slavery, the increase in factory production, and the condition of immigrants
- European tourists and their perceptions of America; Americans and their encounters with Europeans here and abroad, trans-Atlantic culture and travel literature
- American reactions to Dickens, his work, and his celebrity
- The America Dickens saw in 1842 versus his 1868 visit
- Mass culture, literature and popular writings in the America visited by Dickens
- Dickens and the celebration of American technology
- The use of Dickens's works in the classroom
Special events at the conference will include:
- Four different performances by actor Gerald Dickens
- An exhibit of Dickens prints at the Whistler House Museum of Art
- A concert by folk musician Alexander Demas, performing music of the 19th century mill hands
- A special Lowell National Park Dickens walking tour of Lowell, tracing his footsteps throught the city
Other tours and museums: The Boott Textile Mill, the American Textile History Museum, The New England Quilt Museum, and the Historic John Nesmith House.
|
