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the dickens universe

Held every year at the beginning of August on the beautiful UC Santa Cruz campus, the Dickens Universe brings together scholars, graduate students, high school teachers, and members of the general public for a week of study and Dickensian conviviality. The program includes formal lectures by internationally distinguished scholars, seminars, small discussion groups, films, performances, exhibits, and a variety of informal social activities. Regularly attended by more than 200 participants of different ages and backgrounds, the Universe provides a relaxed and supportive environment in which to pursue serious intellectual inquiry.

Each summer, the Universe program focuses on a different Dickens novel and on a related theme. Previous gatherings have featured such topics as "Dickens and America" (in conjunction with Martin Chuzzlewit), "Dickens and Women" (in conjunction with Dombey and Son), "Dickens and the Law" (in conjunction with Bleak House), and "Dickens and Victorian Publishing" (in conjunction with The Pickwick Papers). Papers presented at the Dickens Universe are published regularly in Dickens Studies Annual: Essays on Victorian Fiction.

Dates for the 2008 Dickens Universe, featuring Hard Times and Elizabeth Gaskell's Mary Barton, are Sunday July 27 to Saturday August 2.

The Dickens Universe is available as a regular UCSC Summer Session course for 5 undergraduate units in Literature, transferable to UC. Students interested in these units should register with Summer Session. We also offer post-graduate units through UC Extension. Please contact your institution to determine if these units are transferable. The program is also offered through Elderhostel, although not eligible for credit. For more details please contact the Dickens Project.

In conjunction with the Dickens Universe, the Project holds an adjunct scholarly conference on a related topic. International in scope and multidisciplinary in focus, the adjunct conference addresses wider issues in Victorian literature and culture. In 2006 the topic was "Urbanism, Urbanity, and the Nineteenth-century Novel." Dates for the conference in 2007 will be Thursday August 2 to Sunday August 5. The title will be "Victorian Genres: A Symposium."

READ about past Dickens Universes.

A rapt audience at the
1994 Dickens Universe

Former graduate students Emily Klein
and Gordon Bigelow

The Victorian Dessert Party:
A Dickens Universe tradition