June 9, 1997

Dickens Universe to feature David Copperfield and Pride and Prejudice

By Barbara McKenna

The Dickens Project presents its 17th annual summer conference, the Dickens Universe, from August 3 to 9. The conference features seminars and lectures by distinguished Dickens scholars, films, videos, a book fair, daily workshops for teachers, Victorian teas, a full-scale Victorian dance, and other surprises. The program is designed for both teachers and the general public. The only prerequisite is a fondness for reading Dickens and talking about his books.

This year's conference will focus on Dickens's own favorite fictional child, David Copperfield (in the book by the same title), as well the favorite Jane Austen novel, Pride and Prejudice. The nonresident registration fee for the conference is $175.

Overlapping the Dickens Universe, from August 7 to 10, the Dickens Project will present a scholarly conference on "Reversions: 20th-Century Appropriations of 19th-Century Culture," to which all Dickens Universe participants are invited without additional fee.

Well-known scholars of 19th-century literature and culture will discuss the ways that the late 20th century seems to have "rediscovered" 19th-century culture, and the ways that rediscovery has led to appropriations, adaptations, and inheritances of the cultural capital of the Regency, Romantic, and Victorian periods.

Conference registration for non-Universe participants is $60 and includes lunch. For registration and more information, call (408) 459-2103.

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