Reading Miscellanies/Miscellaneous Reading: Interrelations between Medial Formats, Novel Structures, and Reading Practices in the Nineteenth Century

 International Conference of the DFG-Research Unit "Journal Literature" (FOR 2288), 29−31 August 2019, University of Cologne

The conference “Reading Miscellanies/Miscellaneous Reading” is dedicated to reading practices of miscellaneous media formats and novel structures as well as to their theoretical reflection during the ‘long’ nineteenth century. Our initial observation is that the success of miscellaneous media formats such as journals (i.e., the spectrum of periodical print publications from newspapers to pocketbooks, gift books, or annuals) and anthologies has significantly changed historical reading practices. In reconstructing these changes, the conference is interested in the transformation of "expected expectations" (Siegfried J. Schmidt) that also affect novel structures within as well as outside these media formats and thus contribute to the development of the modern novel.

We invite proposals on the following sections. The focus of the conference will be on German media formats and novels, but due to the diverse transfer processes at both the media and the literary level, a comparative, international extension is very desirable.

More info after the jump—

Workshop Stereotypes in Motion. On changing letterpress/image relations in illustrated magazines and books (1830-1860)

22-23 May 2019, Ruhr Universität Bochum

  • hosted within the DFG-funded research unit “Journal Literature: Rules of Format, Visual Design, and Cultures of Reception” by the sub-project “Text and Image in ‘Konkurrenz’”
  • coordinated by PD Dr. Andreas Beck (Universität Bochum), in cooperation with PD Dr. Madleen Podewski (Freie Universität Berlin)
  • submission deadline February 15, 2019

In the early and mid 19th century, the increasing adoption of wood engraving and the booming transnational trade in stereotypes (casts from wood engravings) effect a popularization of pictures throughout western culture. Moreover, this mediated migration of xylographic illustrations pushes forward the formation of new modes of combining letterpress and images on pages and on openings. This development becomes obvious on any reading-viewing of illustrated periodicals (of the Penny Magazine and of the Illustrated London News genre, of caricature magazines, and later on of ‹Familienblätter›: family magazines such as Gartenlaube) and books (for example Laurent’s/Vernet’s Histoire de l’Empereur Napoléon or Old Nick’s/Grandville’s Petites misères de la vie humaine). Nevertheless, little research has been done to investigate the changes that stereotyped wood engravings brought to the visuality of print culture. There are some studies in manufacturing processes (paper stereotyping, electrotyping), but little in marketing strategies and their logistic and economic aspects. And almost no attention has been paid to the important role that stereotyped wood engravings play in the ambitious and dynamic visual culture of the 19th century.

We expect our Workshop to continue and/or initiate detailed explorative research in this field. Studies in stereotypes are particularly suitable to grasp the specificity of the print-media aspect of the visual culture of the period. Transnational trade in stereotypes provoked a cascade of changes in the relationship between letterpress and image in Europe and beyond. Both in terms of technical possibilities and in terms of the economics of publishing, it makes possible the emergence of the phenomenon, and of the term, ›illustration‹. In the process, the transnational flow of stereotypes encourages rearrangements of pictorial and verbal elements which are recombined and paratextually framed in convergent or divergent ways in different magazines and/or books in different locations. These recombinations alter the visual qualities of both typeset text and images, and draw attention to the flexibility of their relations, ranging from strictly word-governed pictures to typography with emphatic visuality. Analyzing these layout practices offers the opportunity to observe the emergence of a transnational verbal-visual syntax, as well as to witness the formation of local verbal-visual idioms.

We call for proposals for papers (in English or German) from book and media studies, from art and literary history, concerned with these or related topics. Papers should focus on the migration of stereotypes (principally of wood engravings), and its effects on the relations between letterpress and picture, or word and image, in the print-media culture of this period. Studies in economic aspects and market strategies of stereotype trading are most welcome, for example investigations of trade networks, or of logistic aspects of export/import practices. We will welcome studies which explore the impact of stereotype trading’s economic dimension on the visual design of illustrated magazine pages/openings.

Contributions will be published in the research unit’s e-journal PeriodIcon. Studien zur visuellen Kultur des Journals / Studies in the visual culture of journals.

Please submit your proposal (max. 500 words) and a short CV by February 15, 2109 latest to:

PD Dr. Andreas Beck: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

PD Dr. Madleen Podewski: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Women’s Press – Women of the Press

Women’s Periodicals and Women Editors in the Ottoman Space

House of Culture, Rethymno, November 9-11, 2018

 The Exhibition and Conference entitled Women’s Press – Women of the Press are organized bthe Department of Philosophy and Social Studies of the University of Crete in collaboration with the Hellenic Open University (Master’s Program in Public History), under the auspices of the Regional Unit of Rethymno. They concern women’s publishing activity during the late Ottoman period, and more precisely during the period extending from the first women’s periodical publication year (1845) to the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire (1923).  They include both women’s press of all genres and its impact in the public space, and women as editors, contributors and readership.

See more at the Conference website : http://ottomanwomenspress.fks.uoc.gr/

The 2018 Dora Marsden Lecture, hosted by the University of Manchester’s Modernism Research Group, will be held on Wednesday 5 December at 5pm in room A112 of the Samuel Alexander Building, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, M13 9PL.
 
The lecture will be given by Dr Catherine Clay, Senior Lecturer in English Literature at Nottingham Trent University, and is entitled ‘“Men and Books” and Female Critics: Time and Tide and the Intellectual Weeklies (1920-1939).’
 
The lecture will be followed by a drinks reception.
 
All welcome!
 
Any queries, please email Ben Harker (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

Naamloos

 

8th ESPRit Postgraduate Workshop on Periodical Studies
National Library of Greece
Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center
11 September 2019


Applications are invited for a day-long postgraduate workshop on periodical studies in Athens, at the National Library of Greece, Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center, on 11 September 2019 as part of ESPRit’s Eighth Annual International Conference, ‘Periodicals and Visual Culture’ (Athens, 12-13 September 2019 at the National Library of Greece, Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center, see the corresponding CFP at http://www.espr-it.eu/).

About ESPRit
The European Society for Periodical Research is an international scholarly organisation that promotes, fosters and disseminates research on all aspects of European periodical cultures from the seventeenth to the twenty-first century. It has a thoroughly interdisciplinary agenda and multilingual approach, and transcends specific thematic interests. Though its emphasis is on European periodical research, it also welcomes research extended to other related cultural areas (the Americas, East Mediterranean, Maghreb, etc.) ESPRit’s core publication, the Journal of European Periodical Studies (http://ojs.ugent.be/jeps), a biannual peer-reviewed online journal, publishes research from a broad range of critical, theoretical and methodological perspectives, including, but not limited to, cultural history, literary studies, art history, gender studies, media studies, history of science, and digital humanities. As the official journal of ESPRit, the Journal of European Periodical Studies offers scholars a forum for sharing their
research and exchanging ideas across disciplinary borders.

About the Workshop
The Workshop is for Masters and PhD candidates. Sessions will focus on: (1) the development or application of innovative research methodologies, (2) the benefits of applying digital humanities approaches to periodical and journalism studies, (3) examples of recent research on visual culture in the periodical press; and (4) papers that explore the many meanings of ‘the popular’ in relation to the periodical press.

Selected candidates will have the opportunity to present their work and may benefit from helpful feedback on their presentations during the sessions. Workshop moderators may include leading periodical scholars. The workshop will offer the opportunity to connect with people who are at a similar stage in their career as well as support and advice from later stage scholars and experts in the field.


Application Process
Please forward the following in English and/or in Greek via email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by 15 April 2019:

  • a cover letter explaining your reasons for applying to the workshop (max. two pages)
  • a brief CV (max. two pages, min. 11 point)
  • an abstract of your major research project (max. 500 words)
  • a paper on the role of periodical studies in your research (max. 1000 words).

We regret that we are not in a position to offer travel bursaries at this point but the conference fee will be waived for selected participants to the workshop. Participants will be selected by a specific scientific committee with the agreement of the ESPRit Steering Committee. Their decision will be communicated to all applicants by 15 May 2019.