he University of Buckingham is proud to host a two-day conference on 20-21 June 2024 exploring the dynamic between Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens to commemorate the bicentenary of Collins’s birth.
The two authors were not only great friends but also collaborated together a number of times in their work, with Collins frequently contributing to Household Words and All the Year Round. But their friendship often spilled into annoyance and rivalry, with Dickens becoming frustrated at Collins’s apparent pomposity during their trip to Italy, and Collins dismissing Dickens’s last work as ‘the melancholy work of a worn out brain.’ Critics have subsequently argued over to what extent each can be said to influence the other. We welcome paper proposals from academics, postgraduates, and enthusiasts to discuss aspects of Collins and Dickens’s works, collaborations, and influences upon one another.
Topics may include, but are not limited to:
- Collaborative works such as The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices, The Frozen Deep, and No Thoroughfare
- Dickens's influence on Collins as friend, mentor, protegee, mentor, and/or editor
- Collins's influence on Dickens as friend, protegee, and upcoming writer
- The legacy of Dickens and Collins's work
- Dickens and Collins's journey abroad
- Gender portrayal in Dickens and Collins's work
- Sensation and Domesticity in the works of Collins and Dickens
- Autobiography and life influences in the works of Dickens and Collins
- Friendship and rivalry
- Theatrical and screen adaptations
- Mutual friends and family
Proposals should be c. 250 words and sent with a short author bio to be received by 31st January, 2024. Submissions should be sent to: collinsanddickens@gmail.com
The conference is supported by the Dickens Society, Wilkie Collins Society, Dickens Fellowship and Charles Dickens Museum. For more information about the conference, click here.
Created 9 January 2024