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When Words Fail: Shakespeare, Dickens, and Lacan
Wayne Batten, Friends of the Dickens Project Board Member, points us to a passage from David Copperfield to demonstrate how the Inimitable conveys the inexpressible.
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Editorial Metaphysics
Priti Joshi, Professor of English at the University of Puget Sound, directs viewers to an exchange with a minor character in The Pickwick Papers to illustrate the early “Dickensian brilliance in capturing hot air, the sheer absurdity and hollow profundity.” TRANSCRIPT Hello. My name is Priti Joshi, and I teach at the University of Puget Sound in…
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Race, Power, and Performance in The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Sharon Aronofsky Weltman, the William E. “Bud” Davis Alumni Professor of English at Louisiana State University, uses the occasion of a performance to describe the complex power dynamics where “hierarchies of race, gender, pedagogy, performance, and sexual attraction” are at play in The Mystery of Edwin Drood. TRANSCRIPT Hi. I’m Sharon Aronofsky Weltman, speaking to you…
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We must marry ’em
Sophia Jochem, a Ph.D. candidate at Freie Universität Berlin, points us to an interaction between the beadle and the pew-opener in Dombey and Son, to explore issues of money, status, gender, and marriage in Victorian England. She attended the Dickens Universe in 2017. VIDEO TRANSCRIPT Hello, I’m Sophia Jochem. I’m really pleased to take part in…
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Virtual Dickens Universe to spotlight link between Victorian and African American studies
For nearly four decades, the Dickens Project at UC Santa Cruz—the largest multi-campus consortium on Victorian studies in the world—has presented the Dickens Universe, a week of intense study and festivities among the redwoods. But this year, due to the pandemic, it will instead be hosting a weeklong “Virtual Dickens Universe.”
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Choose Your Own Adventure with ‘Dombey and Son’
Longtime Dickens Universe attendee, Christian Lehmann, hosts a Choose Your Own Adventure approach to Dombey and Son, diving into the mechanics of how to read the novel as a Victorian, or a Modern. VIDEO TRANSCRIPT Hello, I’m Christian Lehmann, and I want to welcome you to Dickens-to-Go, brought to you by my beloved Dickens Project from the…
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The Dickensian Reader as Detective
Friends of the Dickens Project Board Member and filmmaker, Michael Stern, discusses how the uncovering of connections between seemingly unconnected places and people in Bleak House can help us to understand societal epidemics. VIDEO TRANSCRIPTHi, I’m Mike Stern with a favorite passage from Dickens that we’re sharing as part of the Dickens Project’s Dickens-to-Go series. The passage is…
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The Best of Times, the Worst of Times
Friends of the Dickens Project President and former Dickens Project Assistant Director, JoAnna Rottke, discusses how the opening paragraph in the first novel she read after joining the Dickens Project remains relevant today. VIDEO TRANSCRIPT Hi, my name is JoAnna Rottke. I’m the former Assistant Director of the Dickens Project and currently President of the Friends…
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Even Supposing
Renée Fox, the Dickens Project’s Co-Director at UC Santa Cruz, reflects on what Esther Summerson’s experience during the smallpox epidemic in Bleak House might teach us about social distancing and intimacy in the era of COVID-19. VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: Hi everybody! My name is Renée Fox and I’m the co-director of the Dickens Project here at Santa Cruz.…
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Partings Welded Together
Dickens Project Director, John O. Jordan, reflects on partings welded together in the first installment of Dickens-to-Go. VIDEO TRANSCRIPT Hi, I’m John Jordan from the Dickens Project and I’m speaking between you from home during the coronavirus pandemic. This year, because of the pandemic, we’ve been forced to cancel our annual summer conference, which means that…
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Dickens Universe 2020 postponement: message from the Director
Out of concern for the health and safety of all our participants, especially the more vulnerable among us, we have decided to cancel the Dickens Universe planned for this coming July and postpone it until the summer of 2021.
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Tom Savignano: Furthering the Cause of English Literature in Schools
Tom Savignano is passionate about ensuring students from any level of financial means are able to learn about and read English literature. His donation to the Dickens Project is part of his larger goals to enable students to read English literature.