I have written a Blog Post for @vpfa.bsky.social about my time at @chawtonhouse.bsky.social as a Visiting Fellow! To read about the value of organisations like Chawton House to scholarly associations like VPFA, and an amusing snippet from a woman's diary: victorianpopularfiction.org/in-which-i-s...

The final paper of the conference is Hayley Smith discussing Thomas Anstey Guthrie's Tourmalin’s Time Cheques as an early time travel narrative #VPFAExtremes

Next we have Marijke Vale, who is discussing the fascination with radium's rejuvenating properties that led it to be known as the “elixir of life” #VPFAExtremes

In the final science and imagination panel, Adam Baldwin is talking about tales of Venus. In these stories, the contemporary imperial assumption that other worlds are there to be conquered is subverted #VPFAExtremes

in the Third Sex Reading group conference session we were discussing Nebedita Sen's Ten Excerpts from an Annotated Bibliography on the Cannibal Women of Ratnabar Island. A very poignant commentary on literal, intellectual, cultural, and literary consumption #VPFAExtremes

Now for our final keynote of the conference, Corinne Fowler with her talk 'The Impact of Empire on the Countryside, 1837-1901' #VPFAExtremes

finally we have Helena Esser discussing Ouida's spy fiction! Ouida is often discussed as a sensation writer, but Esser says that discussions are lacking with regards to her as a writer of adventure fiction #VPFAExtremes

Second we have Claudia Capancioni discussing Margaret Collier's writings on the Sibylline range of the Apennines. Collier married an Italian Lieutenant #VPFAExtremes

Last day of @VPFA1 conference :( I'm attending the Adventures Abroad panel, and first speaker is Alison Dingle talking about representations of the Holy Land in early Victorian fiction and society more broadly #VPFAExtremes

finally in this panel is Justyna Jajszczok talking extremes in Fergus Humes' The Year of the Miracle. In this novel a plague is intentionally transported to England from Arabia in order to have the sinful Victorian society repent and change their ways #VPFAExtremes

third is Anna Stark talking about apocalyptic weather and apocalyptic society in late-Victorian disaster fiction. The environmental disaster tale is a new genre that arose in the late 19th century and is artistic expression that included and responded to human’s role in society #VPFAExtremes

next we have Sarah Lennox talking about monstrous plants in 19th century popular fiction. Carnivorous plants have frequently been infused with the imagery of mythical and supernatural creatures #VPFAExtremes

first in the panel on ecological extremes is Charlie Toogood talking about utopia and hybridity in After London; or, Wild England, which he calls 'a triumphant rejection of literary anthropocentrism' #VPFAExtremes

The biotech company Colossal speaks to the geographical aspects of bringing back extinct animals. Their intention is to bring back long lost ecosystems to combat climate change.#VPFAExtremes

The depiction of prehistoric animals in fiction was mediated through anti-realist tropes like hallucinations and dreams, but in the 1860s depictions began to be legitimised as it became clear that humans had co-existed with certain prehistoric animals #VPFAExtremes

Our second keynote is Richard Fallon with 'Before De-Extinction: Encountering Prehistoric Animals in Victorian Popular Fiction' #VPFAExtremes

Finishing off the panel is a paper from Irina Morozova and Valeriia Nikolaienko talking about spaces of social hierarchy and power dynamics in Wuthering Heights. They are explaining the conceptual metaphor theory to us and the concept of image schemas #VPFAExtremes

next we have Tamiris Hallez looking at literary and historical perspectives on East Midlands Luddism (a movement of textile workers who protested against the use of new machinery in the wool and cotton industries) in Forest Folk and Writings of the Luddites. #VPFAExtremes

#VPFAExtremes! Asher Gibbens discussing economic extremes and psychological precarity. He says 'in the late 19th century, the development of naturalist literature in Britain, its themes, preoccupations, and paradigms, are inextricable from the late 19th century economic backdrop

I'm sadly missing out on attending @VPFA1 conference in person this year, but at least my catsitting duties have given me a friend while I attend from home! #VPFAExtremes

The final paper of boyhood and Manhood is Maria Granic talking on Daniel Deronda, excruciating pain and self-pity. Granic says that Daniel’s evolution: masked self-pity and tragic vision -> sympathy and ethical commitment and collective purpose #VPFAExtremes

next we have Yurie Ochi talking about bachelorhood, canine companions, and masculine order in Wilkie Collins's No Name. The dogs in the novel are substitutions for children. Dogs in the Victorian era were expected to participate in domestic rituals #VPFAExtremes

At the panel Boyhood and Manhood, Jamie Bowman is exploring the University fiction The Adventures of Mr Verdant Green and the limited critical consideration given to the sheer volume of illustrations included in the novel #VPFAExtremes

Brandi Burns is talking about medical school and vivisection. Throughout the 19th century, many became concerned about the dehumanisation and desensitisation process of experimentation #VPFAExtremes

Packham says that Gothicised encounters with the depths of the ocean resonate with Freudian notions of the uncanny. An uncanncy notion is created when something is familiar and yet removed. The seabead becoming land through the removal of saltwater is very uncanny #VPFAExtremes

we have our first keynote, Jimmy Packham, discussing submarine Gothic and the monstrous deep! He is interested in how we capture 'unsettlement' linguistically #VPFAExtremes

finally, we have Jeremy Newton talking about hypnotism and mesmerism and the psychic link in Trilby and The Martian. #VPFAExtremes

Now we have Janette Leaf talking about Hypnotic Gothic and Mesmeric Medics, exploring how hypnotism and mesmerism were often abused and led to a loss of volition #VPFAExtremes

I'm covering the panel 'Probing the Hypnotic Depths' at the VPFA conference. Gordon Bates is currently delivering his paper on using hypnotism to explore the soul, believed to be true by The Society for Psychical Research, founded in 1882 #VPFAExtremes