Nineteenth-Century Legacies
Tuesday 3rd June 2025
09:00 - 18:00
Royal Holloway, University of London (Egham)
No registration fees
On Tuesday 3rd June Royal Holloway, University of London, in collaboration with the British Association of Victorian Studies and the British Association of Romantic Studies, will host an in-person colloquium examining realisms across literary, artistic, theatrical, and critical forms, and considering the continuing influence of nineteenth-century thought on our current moment.
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There are no registration fees and we particularly welcome scholars with an interest in the nineteenth century, postgraduates, and early-career researchers. A light lunch and refreshments will be provided and there will be opportunities for in-person networking and research sharing throughout the day.
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In the morning and early afternoon, delegates will present 15-minute papers attending to nineteenth-century realisms (broadly conceived). These diverse and interdisciplinary discussions will lay the foundation for an interactive roundtable event during the afternoon structured around the topic "Managing Difficult Legacies". We will reflect upon how nineteenth-century ideas, understandings, and problems raised during the paper presentations continue to influence university courses, institutions in the GLAM sector, as well as contemporary cultural and political discourses.
Registration has now closed.
Programme
09:00 – 09:45: Registration
(McCrea- 2 -01)
09:45 – 10:00: Welcome in the Moore Annex Lecture Theatre
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Hole, William Brassey. The History of Scotland, Processional Frieze, Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Fresco Mural No.4. 1897 – 1898, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh
10:00 – 10:45 Plenary Speaker
Moore Annex Lecture Theatre
Professor Ruth Livesey
(Royal Holloway, University of London)
10:45 – 11:15 Coffee Break
Moore Lobby
11:15 – 12:15 Parallel Panel Sessions
1.1: Building the Real
Moore Annex Lecture Theatre
Helen Goulston (University of Birmingham/Oxford University Museum of Natural History)
“Oxford University Museum of Natural History 1854-1914: Creation and Use”
Jennifer Rabedeau (Cornell University)
“Read the Stones: Thomas Hardy and the Limits of Preservation”
Beatrice Spengou (University of St. Andrews)
“Local and Imported Realisms: Representing Antiquities in Greece 1837 – 1843”
1.2: Realist Perspectives
McCrea – 2 - 01
Emma Raby (University of Amsterdam)
“Anterooms and Winding Passages: Sympathy and Space in George Eliot’s Middlemarch”
Xi (Bonnie) Liu (Royal Holloway, University of London)
“A Realism Created in the ‘Make It New’ Era: Viewing Nineteenth-Century Legacy through Chinese Eyes”
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Tony Howe (Birmingham City University)
“Keats’s Realistic London”
12:15 – 13:15 LUNCH
International Building (IN244)
13:15 – 14:15 Parallel Panel Sessions
2.1: Realism: Its Limits and Afterlives
McCrea – 2 – 01
Paolo D’Indinosante (Sapienza University of Rome and the University of Silesia)
“Colonial Realism Rewritten as Neo-Victorian Poetry: The Case of Daljit Nagra’s ‘The Legend of Lisbeth’”
Olivia Wrafter (University of Cambridge)
“George Eliot’s Catholic Imagination”
Alexander Lynch (University of Cambridge)
“‘God watch that sail!’ Brontë’s Villette and the Vagueness of Realism”
2.2: Literary Realisms
Moore Annex Lecture Theatre
Fabia Buescher (University of Cambridge)
“Charlotte Yonge’s Tractarian Realism”
Jingyi Ouyang (University of Bristol)
“The Silver Fork School and Nineteenth-Century Realisms: The Case of Catherine Gore and Benjamin Disraeli”
Cleo O’Callaghan-Yeoman (Universities of Stirling, Glasgow, and Edinburgh)
“Bridging the Nineteenth-Century Gap: Evolving Realism in the Novels of Susan Ferrier and George Eliot”
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14:30 – 15:15 Parallel Panel Sessions
3.1: Fin de Siècle Realisms
McCrea – 2 - 01
Asher Gibbens (The University of Edinburgh)
“Late Nineteenth-Century Recession and British Literary Naturalisms: The Economic Legacies in Gissing’s The Whirlpool”
Casey-May Reeves (University of Birmingham)
“Literary Lesbians: Taboo Legacies of Michael Field”
3.2: Acts of Interpretation
Moore Annex Lecture Theatre
Cecilia Neil-Smith (University of Exeter)
“A Fishy Tail: The Victorian Mermaid Revival”
Heathcliff Newman (Royal Holloway, University of London)
“May the Mad Reader Read – Dissociative Realism and the Boundaries of a Mad Way of Reading”
15:15 – 15:45 Coffee Break
Moore Lobby
15:45 – 16:30 Plenary Speaker
Moore Annex Lecture Theatre
Liz Louis (National Galleries of Scotland)
16:30 – 18:00 “Managing Difficult Legacies” Roundtable Discussion
Moore Annex Lecture Theatre
Useful Information
Travel
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The colloquium is being held at Royal Holloway, University of London's Egham campus. You can find information about how to get here by following this link.
If you are planning to drive to campus, please ensure that you contact Amy Waterson directly, and in advance of your arrival to arrange parking. Failure to do so may result in a ticket.
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Accommodation
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The Hub Guesthouse is on campus and extremely convenient. You can access booking here. This accommodation is located near a late-night student venue so can sometimes be noisy.
There is also a Travelodge in Egham and AirBnB options in both Egham and Staines.
Address​
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​Egham Hill
Egham
Surrey
TW20 0EX