Conference Review: European Society for Periodical Research, “Periodical Counter Cultures: Tradition, Conformity and Dissent”

Conference Review:European Society for Periodical Research, “Periodical Counter Cultures: Tradition, Conformity and Dissent” Gemma Outen (bio) In July 2016, periodical scholars from across Europe attended the fifth annual conference of the European Society for Periodical Research (ESPRit) at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU). Held across two days, the conference was the largest gathering of ESPRit to date, with sixty-five speakers, nineteen panels, two keynotes, and presentations of two digital periodical projects. After a warm welcome from Brian Maidment on behalf of the organising team, the conference began in earnest in the able hands of Ruth Hemus, who delivered the first keynote address, “Projecteur: A Dada ‘lantern for the blind.’” After being treated to a French poetry reading, delegates attended the first panel sessions of the conference. A breadth of topics was neatly demonstrated in these sessions, as attendees could choose between the diversities of “Interwar European Modernisms,” “The ‘Zine Scene’: UK Counter Cultures in the 1970s and 1980s,” and finally, “Victorian Radicals.” These panels included scholars whose work crosses geographical and cultural borders and covers a wide range of topics, producing a conference that was as varied and interesting as could be hoped for. From the first session, the “Victorian Radicals” panel deserves special mention. Papers on this panel ably considered representations of working women in the press via two case studies, Ellen Johnston and G. W. M. Reynolds, arguing that working-class femininity was not easily reconciled with the ideals of domesticity. Refreshments and lunch were served in the ornate surroundings of the Moot Room, a charming space where attendees could gather, network, and follow up on ideas from panel sessions. It was also the setting for [End Page 248] two presentations on digital periodical projects held over lunch each day, providing delegates with even more food for thought. Of likely interest to RSVP members was the soft launch of the index for the Lady’s Magazine (1770–1818). The session outlined the project’s aims and progress before presenting an annotated index of over 15,000 text items from the Lady’s Magazine, now fully searchable and available for use. Two further panel sessions were held in the afternoon, which included noteworthy papers by Laurel Brake and Fionnuala Dillane, who discussed gay and queer discourse in the Victorian press and the correspondence pages of the Pall Mall Gazette, respectively. Brake considered the ubiquitous nature of queer and gay discourse in periodicals, calling for more work to be undertaken on men and periodical journalism in specifically gendered terms. Dillane offered a reading of correspondence pages within the Victorian press, arguing that they were public spaces with questionable agendas due to the anonymity of contributors and the practice of inventing correspondents. After the final panel sessions had concluded, delegates made their way through Liverpool to attend the conference reception at the Liverpool Racquets Club. Founded in 1874, the club provided a unique setting for the launch of the Journal of European Periodical Studies, the official journal of ESPRit. The journal is a bi-annual online journal dedicated to the study of periodicals and newspapers across Europe, from the seventeenth century to the present day. The editorial team anticipates that it will create a space in which contributors can share interdisciplinary ideas and research and that its contents will be of interest to scholars of cultural history, literary studies, art history, gender studies, media studies, digital humanities, and the history of science. The first issue, published in summer 2016, includes articles from Brian Maidment, Laurel Brake, and Fionnuala Dillane. It seems clear that the journal will be of great interest to RSVP members who work across critical, theoretical, and methodological modes of inquiry. Over the course of the two days, a special exhibition provided attendees with an opportunity to explore the special collections of the LJMU Library. Curated by Val Stevenson and the special collections team, the exhibition drew together items from the Victorian periodical press, including the Strand Magazine and Punch, alongside items from the femorabilia, punk, and Everyman Theatre collections. The breadth of material on show provided a small insight into the vast array of high-quality archival material held in the LJMU special collections. The second...

Récupéré en direct depuis OpenAlex et désinversé. Les résumés ne sont pas conservés dans cette base de données : les index inversés représentent 8,6 Go des 9,3 Go de texte de la base, et le serveur dispose de 13 Go libres.