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The Reception of Dickens in Europe 17-19 October 2008 Madrid, Spain |
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Seminar - Second Circular
Dear Participants,
Here is a second mailing to all those who have indicated they will attend this event, together with those who have not yet indicated definitively that they are unable to come. We are very pleased with the response - there will be over 30 participants, including nearly all the contributors and a number of distinguished gurus - and the meeting promises to be highly profitable and enjoyable.
Please read what follows carefully. The main thing that needs explanation is the make-up of the draft programme. We have organised this by means of a number of groupings, some of them, we freely admit, a little arbitrary, dictated by the needs of the volume and the number of people from the various areas of Europe who plan to attend the conference. At present all we have done is to allot a certain amount of time in the programme to each grouping. We do not specify the amount of time for each individual contribution, nor the precise format of each session. This is for a number of reasons, but essentially because we anticipate (and welcome) a variety of forms of presentation. Some participants might be well advanced in their work, and want to speak for half an hour, or even in exceptional cases longer. The 'work in progress' of others may be less advanced, and may be presented informally as a seminar talk or dialogue. Some will be working quite closely together, and want to present in tandem, etc. The only absolute of each session is that there be sufficient time available for discussion and comment from the audience in general and other members of the panel in question.
Now that you have this draft programme, we would very much like to encourage you to contact other members of your group. This would be for a number of purposes, of course, not only that of helping us to organize the individual sessions. Scandinavians, for instance (to name only one group) may find similarities as well as differences in the reception of Dickens in the various countries concerned, and be able to exchange hints and suggestions for researching this. Of course we hope this collaborative spirit will strengthen very considerably after the meeting, but there would be every advantage to commencing it beforehand.
Preferably after having done this, and in any case NOT LATER THAN SEP 15, could you please let us know how long you want to talk for and in what form so we can concoct a more detailed programme to include in the 3rd and final circular to be sent in the first few days of October.
One other thing. As you will see, the conference will be spread over three days, including Sunday morning. Ideally it would be nice if everybody could attend every session, but we realise that people are busy and for all sorts of reasons this may not be possible. If you must arrive late or depart early, please let us know, especially of course if this means you cannot attend the session for which you have been provisionally scheduled. This applies even more to those who have been scheduled for Sunday morning - we have to be sure that you will in fact be with us then.
Then finally for gurus only (David, Elinor, Florian, Jeremy, John, Mario, Miguel, Vic): we will shortly be contacting you to ask if you are willing to chair a session or two.
TRAVEL
Once your travel plans are set, please e-mail them to Paul Vita, especially your arrival information. Our plan is to meet as many people as possible at the airport to help them get to their hotels and/or campus, if we can (Paul's lining up a team of grad student helpers). And, of course, if you have any questions related to getting to or from campus, feel free to contact Paul directly. The information about arrival in Madrid and how to get the university has been posted on-line at this link.
Conference Check-in: Avenida del Valle, 34 (Padre Arrupe Hall – University Reception). Thursday, from 3 pm – 6 pm. At 6, the plan is to head off to a restaurant near the university for an early (especially by Spanish standards) dinner, but we'll have someone at the reception til 8 pm. If you can't get to the university before 8 pm on Thursday, head directly to the Conference Site (Avenida del Valle, 30) on Friday morning. Please remember at registration we will collect the fee for the banquet, which takes place on FRIDAY, at registration (25 euros, payable by credit card or cash).
Conference Site: The conference will be taking place on the ground floor reading room of the library (Avenida del Valle, 30). If you have Audio/Visual requests that you did not indicate on your registration form, please let Paul know.
Coffee will be available all day during the conference; there will be a lunch service available on the Friday and Saturday as well. Paul is finalizing these details.
SPECIAL EVENTS
Madrid is a great city with a lot going on at any time. E.g., during the conference there is the Pina Bausch Tanztheater from Wuppertal on each night, and on the Thursday at 8 and the Saturday at 6, Verdi's great opera Un Ballo in Maschera at the Royal Opera House.
A number of people (including both organizers and the general editor of the series!) have already indicated that they would like to attend the opera performance on Saturday Oct 19. The programme has been arranged to make this possible, and Paul is willing to try to obtain tickets in Madrid as soon as these go on sale on September 3. You must probably expect to pay 95 euros for an unrestricted view of the stage if you wish to attend, in which case you MUST let him know by sending him an email by SEPTEMBER 1, and undertake to reimburse him on arrival. He will then confirm your booking by return.
This is all we can think of for the moment, but as before, please do not hesitate to contact us if you have further questions.
RELEVANT TELEPHONE NUMBERS
University Telephone +34 915 54 58 58
Paul's Móvil Phone: +34 630 16 06 83
Yours Sincerely, Michael Hollington and Paul Vita
