The Dickens Universe held its 20th anniversary party at Kresge College at the University of California at Santa Cruz. The party was in the form of the weeklong conference itself, which has included, for the past 20 years, meetings with old friends, inspired conversation, lots of new ideas, and, of course, true Dickensian measures of food, wine, and dancing.
This is the first time the Universe has repeated a Dickens novel without pairing it with something else. Our Mutual Friend, the book Henry James called "a loose, baggy monster," was first treated in 1986. There is of course no danger of repeating ideas: there is always something new to find in Dickens. This year's conference raised many questions about identities, the role of the river in the novel and in London, marriages, money, and waste, of several kinds.
The week began Sunday night with a fascinating lecture titled "Imperial Dirt" by Joseph Childers of UC Riverside. Monday morning's lecture by Anne Humpherys of the City University of New York explored one of the more memorable metaphorical images in the novel; it was titled "Waste Management: Sorting and Sifting in Our Mutual Friend."
Veteran Universe speaker and entertainer Philip Collins of the University of Leicester spoke Monday evening on "Dickens's London and its River," pointing out that in this, the last novel set in London, has very few non-city scenes. Although the London of the time was larger and richer than American and European cities, Collins pointed out, people were dying in the streets of starvation, and Dickens, accustomed to people being unaware of the seamy side of London life, called attention to this inequity with his portrayal of the river and those who made their living on it.
On Tuesday morning, Rosemary Bodenheimer of Boston College spoke on "Dickens and the Identical Man," addressing the question of identities and the idea that the novel is about "men who are and men who arrange to be mistaken for others." Everyone in the novel, Bodenheimer pointed out, is impersonating someone else or is present under false circumstances. Tuesday evening's lecture was the Herb Furse Memorial Lecture, this year given by Brian Cheadle of the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, who spoke on "Work in Our Mutual Friend." Cheadle noted that "Dickens does not noticeably write about work, although everyone has a job; it is a value, not an experience."
On Wednesday morning, Helena Michie of Rice University, who returns as a Universe speaker after several years, presented an absolutely fascinating paper titled "Honeymoon Gothic: Carnal and Other Knowledges." Michie is conducting a study of 57 actual English honeymoon couples who took trips to Europe, England, and the United States between 1830 and 1898. Michie's research has taken her down some truly gothic-like paths; her criteria is that there must have been some "secret" revealed on the honeymoon. Her subjects include John Ruskin's 1848 honeymoon to Scotland and the nuptial trip of Martha Rolls, of the family that eventually became famous for its Rolls-Royce. We look forward to the publication of Michie's completed study.
A graduate student panel took the place of the Wednesday evening lecture; we were treated to the views of the next generation of Dickens scholars, including Jill Rupert of Tulane University; Megan Early and Dierdre McMahon, both of the University of Iowa; and Corie Schweitzer of Rice University. These students presented abstracts of their dissertations, which ranged from the relationship between literature and the performing arts to the changing constructions of race across the 19th century. The panel was moderated by Carol MacKay of the University of Texas.
Project co-founder Murray Baumgarten made a rare speaking appearance Thursday morning, with "Revelation and Reading: Boffin, Our Mutual Friend, and Theatrical Man." Baumgarten's rousing lecture did for the audience what he argued Dickens did for his readers: Baumgarten seamlessly incorporated theatrical readings into his talk, even using prepared readers from the audience to further his point about the reader/listener being a part of the text itself.
A 20th-anniversary celebration came Thursday night in the form of Regenia Gagnier of the University of Exeter, the first graduate student nominated to the Dickens Project, in 1981. She gave the keynote lecture for the weekend conference, "An Anatomy of Waste and its Opposite: Money."
Angie Mason of the BBC, who has been attending the Universe for several years, called the Friday morning lecture, presented by Dame Gillian Beer of Cambridge University, "the best talk I have heard here, ever," and her sentiments were echoed by many. The lecture was titled "Arctic Wastes: Franklin and Traumatic Excess," and it traced the Victorians' fascination with exploration of the Arctic, particularly the final expedition of Sir John Franklin. The expedition was lost in 1848; the remains were found in 1849; and in 1854 an Inuit report of cannibalism among the members of the expedition surfaced. Beer tied this notion of "waste" in neatly to the weekend's theme, and she also reminded the audience of Dickens's play based on this expedition, The Frozen Deep. The play, she said, was "catastrophe as romance," omitting and thus denying the "starvation, horror, and waste" that the expedition experienced. She raised the vision of the English Gentleman as a savage when everything is stripped from him, and in general impressed the audience immensely.
This writer was lucky enough to be assigned to the morning discussion section led by Teresa Mangum of the University of Iowa. The University of Iowa is a new member of the Dickens Project, which sponsors the Universe, and Teresa is a wonderful addition to the lineup of morning lecturers. From 8:30 to 9:30 each morning, we explored the Thames River and its embankments, Victorian weddings and decorating schemes, and other information that helped put the book's narrative into context.
Monday through Thursday afternoons, the Victorian Teas were given by the Friends of the Dickens Project, facilitated by Monterey Fellowship member Barbara Keller of Redwood City, Joyce Emrick of the San Francisco Fellowship, and yours truly. Each evening at 9:15, a segment of the new BBC production of Our Mutual Friend was screened for lucky Universe participants, hosted by none other than the producer herself, Catherine Wearing of the BBC. Catherine was on hand to visit with participants throughout the week; she also gave a Thursday-afternoon talk titled "From Page to Screen: How the Dickens do you film Our Mutual Friend?"
Patrick McCarthy of UC Santa Barbara (and D-L) presented a fascinating Monday afternoon workshop, "Computers, Criticism, and Our Mutual Friend," during which he was embarrassed that his own computer broke down! The Tuesday afternoon workshop, "Working with Victorian Literature and Visual Culture," was presented by Jeffrey Spear of New York University, and John Glavin of Georgetown University directed a very well received reading of an 1866 play of Our Mutual Friend on Wednesday afternoon, using conference participants as readers.
There were also the nightly postprandial potations and a bookfair, and a lavish sherry party sponsored by the Friends of the Dickens Project on Thursday night. The annual Friday night auction featured Ed Eigner of UC Riverside as Mr. Boffin, who had found (mirabile dictu!) an auctionable full set of Dickens' books in his dust heap. (The set was not of course found in a dustheap; it was donated to the Friends by Wayne Batten of Tennessee.) The grand finale was Friday's Victorian Dance. The Santa Cruz-based Brassworks Band started off with "Rule Brittania," as costumed dancers mingled with 20th century partners in a promenade, and the dance went on late into the night.
The weekend conference this year was "Victorian Waste." For many Universe participants, our only regret is that we are too tired after a full week's events to stay through the weekend! Next year's book, announced to long and loud applause, will be Bleak House, and the weekend conference will be on "Victorian Exhibition." Here's to the next 20 years!
-- Beth Penney