September 27, 2024
Thanks to Peter Ponzio, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
The forty-fourth annual Dickens Universe was held at the University of California, Santa Cruz during the week of July 21 through the 27th. Each year, one novel is selected to be read and discussed in depth. This year’s selection was the novel Great Expectations. The novel examines the fortunes of Phillip (Pip) Pirrip, an orphan who is raised by his sister and her husband, the blacksmith, Joe Gargery. Originally destined to become a blacksmith like his brother-in-law, Pip’s fortunes take an auspicious turn when he is apprised of his great expectations—a fortune which he is scheduled to receive upon his reaching adulthood. His benefactor remains anonymous and is revealed in startling fashion near the end of the novel. The narrative also examines his unrequited love for Estella, a girl adopted by a reclusive spinster, Miss Havisham. The novel ends with Pip’s great expectations dashed—his benefactor turns out to be a prisoner (one Magwitch, exiled to Australia for his crimes) he helped when a boy, and his love interest in Estella seemingly rebuffed.
The conference is unique in that it attracts a wide audience which includes high school students, undergraduates, graduate students, Dickens scholars and the general public. This year’s conference attracted over 200 visitors to the campus, as well as some 20-odd virtual attendees.
The daily format of the conference includes a faculty-led discussion group to begin the day, followed by a lecture by a prominent Dickens scholar. Next, a graduate student discussion group is held, followed by a Dickensian seminar hosted by another Dickens scholar. A second lecture or special presentation is held before the dinner break, followed by a final lecture or screening of a film adaptation of the novel.
The scholarly lectures explored a diverse set of topics related to the novel, including the notion of forgiveness in the narrative; the theme of aboriginal life and exploitation in Australia; the notion of shame explored in the novel; the notion of partings welded together (taken from a speech Joe Gargery gives to Pip); a lecture on Dickens’s entrepreneurship and his great expectations; and Dickens’s use of humor in the novel. Two presentations were given during the week. The first was a dance recital titled Havisham, presented by Hannah Baumgarten. The second was a piano recital, accompanied by a reading of Victorian poetry, presented by Lura Johnson, resident pianist of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Principal pianist of the Delaware Symphony with readings performed by Jason Rudy.
The penultimate event features a fireside chat given on Friday night by the co-directors of the Dickens Universe, John Jordan and Renee Fox. The chat discusses the week’s activities, developments in the Universe, and scholarship programs sponsored by the Universe for both high school and college students.
The final event is an auction of Dickens memorabilia which helps to fund the activities of the Universe, followed by the announcement of the 2025 novel, The Old Curiosity Shop.
Photo credit: Shutterstock/ chrisdorney
