Liverpool, 8th-10th May 2024
The Transitional: George Moore at the Fin de Siecle
This Liverpool conference will focus on the multiple transitions which coincided with, and characterised, Moore’s life and career. These include transitions between the nineteenth and the twentieth centuries; naturalism, realism and modernism; poetry, prose and drama; Catholicism and Protestantism, English and Irish identities; public and private morality. Transitions and related rivalries involved vigorous and often fruitful exchanges with numerous luminaries including Thomas Hardy, Arthur Symons, Max Beerbohm, Michael Field, Arnold Dolmetsch, the National Vigilance Association, Virginia Woolf, James McNeill Whistler, W. H. Smith & Mudie’s, George Bernard Shaw, W.B. Yeats, and many other contemporaries in the artistic, journalistic, political and social scenes. Transition is also characteristic of the themes of Moore’s writing: between secular and religious; between male and female; between wealth and poverty; between constrained and liberated. Papers may include, but are not limited to, considerations of transitions of all types in relation to George Moore and to his contacts and contemporaries.
For George Moore, Liverpool was a place of transition. It was a point of arrival and departure for friends, acquaintances and publishers travelling between America and Europe. Most notably, this important location recalls a milestone in Moore family history: it was their landing point on a momentous 1846 journey that culminated in a victory for a horse called Coranna.
The final day of the conference will offer an opportunity to visit Chester racecourse where in 1846 George Moore’s father’s horse won the Chester Cup. This brought G. H. Moore £17,000, enabling him to offer relief to his tenants during the first year of the Famine, and settle his gambling debts. Our visit will coincide with the 2024 running of this famous race.
Our online shop for racecourse tickets has now closed, but it is still possible to buy tickets for the Boodles May Festival Chester Cup Day 2024 directly from Chester racecourse:
https://www.chester-races.com/race-days/fixtures/boodles-may-festival-chester-cup-day-2024/
Conference dinner now avaiiable to book here.
Programme
Download the provisional conference programme
Plenary Speakers
Professor Frank Shovlin
University of Liverpool, UK
'George Moore and the Irish Short Story'
Student Essay Competition
Deadline extended to April 30th 2024.
The conference is pleased to announce The 1st George Moore Student Essay Competition, first prize 100 euros (Sponsored by the George Moore Association). The competition is open to undergraduate and postgraduate students. Full details can be found here:
George Moore Student Essay Competition
Call for Papers
Following a number of requests, the deadline for receipt of proposals has been extended until January 30th 2024.
Abstracts should be up to 200 words, should include a title and should be accompanied by a short biographical note of up to 100 words, plus email address and institutional affiliation (if applicable).
Abstracts should be sent as email attachments to: GM2024@liverpool.ac.uk
Inquiries
Back to: Department of English