Liquid Dickens Halifax, Nova Scotia 8-10 July 2015 In 1842, Charles Dickens visited several prominent cities in the United States and British North America. He subsequently published a travelogue, American Notes, detailing his experience in North American society. He arrived in Halifax Harbour in January of 1842, and the fledgling garrison town would be incorporated […]
Archives for 2014
2014-2015 Event Calendar
7:00 pm on 2nd ThursdaysCenter for the Visual Arts400 E. Hickory (Corner of Hickory Street & Bell Avenue)* Novel of the Year: American Notes for General Circulation September 11, 2014 “America in 1842” – E. R. Milner October 9, 2014 “What Bothered Dickens about America” – Chuck Gatlin November 9, 2014 Autumn Tea 2-4 pm […]
Memorial Wreath-laying at Westminster Abbey
Dr. Sandra Spencer, Secretary of the Denton Dickens Fellowship, will be at Westminster Abbey to lay the wreath commemorating the 144th Anniversary of the death of Charles Dickens. The annual ceremony is preceded by Evensong in the Abbey. Evensong is at 5:00 p.m. (GMT) Assembly for the Wreath-Laying is at 5:45 More information available at […]
Dickens and the Law
Dickens’ first experience with the law probably came in 1824 when his father, John Dickens, was arrested for debt and imprisoned in the Marshalsea Prison. After six months John Dickens was released , but Charles stored up events, people, and impressions in his memory and transformed them into materials for novels, particularly Little Dorrit. He […]
Chronology of Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens – An Extraordinary Life 1812 – Charles John Huffam Dickens, born on February 7 in Portsmouth, England. His father, John Dickens, was a clerk in the Royal Navy Pay Office. 1812-1824 — The family lives variously in Southsea, Sheerness, Chatham, as well as in a half-dozen houses in London, sometimes as John Dickens’s […]
Dickens and Philanthropy
When I think of Dickens, I think of him first as a novelist, but also as a reformer and a philanthropist. The first act of philanthropy I can find (outside of helping family members) is his effort to raise money to assist the family of his first publisher, John Macrone. After Macrone published Sketches by […]
The Victorian Poorhouse
The specter of the Victorian Poorhouse haunts both history and literature. The surviving image, although not entirely accurate, is a grim reminder that not everyone flourished during an era whose very touchstones were progress and prosperity. No single historically-accurate image of the poorhouse remains, however, as each poorhouse has its own history. Each facility differed […]
Dickens Journals Online Announces a New Literary Journalism Competition
Charles Dickens’s weekly periodicals ushered in an innovative look at Mid-Victorian life in England. In 2012, Dickens Journals Online (DJO) adopted a similar innovation when they introduced an Open Access website devoted to exploring articles in these periodicals. John Drew of the University of Buckingham, where the new journal is housed, remarks that the website […]
Loyola University Chicago Hosts International Conference
News Release from Central Dickens Fellowship, Chicago: The Chicago branch of the Dickens Fellowship will host the International Conference at Loyola University’s Lakeshore Campus, Wednesday, July 16 through Monday, July 21, 2014. Speakers include: Lillian Nayder, Catherine Dickens biographer Dr. Malcolm Andrews, Emeritus Professor, University of Kent Dr. Jennifer Conary, Assistant Professor of English, DePaul […]
19th-Century Seminar Opens Doors to Non-Members
The Dickens Universe announces an exciting opportunity for Victorianist faculty and graduate students whose colleges and universities are NOT currently institutional members of the Dickens Project Consortium. The 19th-Century Seminar is a working group of scholars led by two faculty members affiliated with the Dickens Project. Any independent faculty member or graduate student who plans […]