Religion and Victorian Popular Literature and Culture
The category of the popular has played a significant role in the ‘religious turn’ in Victorian studies over the last two decades. Historians of Victorian religion have turned to popular culture and folklore to challenge traditional paradigms of decline and secularisation. Amongst scholars of Victorian literature and visual culture, there has been an upsurge of interest in the influence of new religious movements on popular literary and visual forms. This study day aims to extend our understanding of the relationship between religion and popular culture in the Victorian period by bringing together scholars from a range of disciplinary backgrounds, including literature, history, art history and religious studies, to explore popular manifestations of religion and the expression and representation of religion in popular culture texts of all kinds.
We seek proposals for 20-minute papers, or a themed panel of three papers, from scholars at all levels including undergraduate and postgraduate students, ECRs and independent researchers.