California
Annual Dickens Universe: A Conference of 19th Century Literature
Program No. 4650RJ
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Annual Dickens Universe: A Conference of 19th Century Literature
Annual Dickens Universe: A Conference of 19th Century Literature
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Program
At a Glance
Duration
7 days
Program Begins
Santa Cruz, CA
Program Concludes
Santa Cruz, CA
Meals
17 (
6B, 5L, 6D
)
Activity Level
From
1,749The Dickens Universe is an annual gathering of scholars, teachers and members of the general public who share a love of Dickens’s novels and his era. The festive week-long program includes lectures by distinguished scholars, small seminars, films, teas and Victorian dancing. Enrollment is limited. Register early!
Best of all, you'll...
- Explore the novel in small discussion groups and lectures by distinguished international faculty.
- Enjoy afternoon tea served by the Friends of the Dickens Project.
- Immerse yourself in the world of Dickens at a grand party and an evening of Victorian dancing.
Featured Expert
All Experts
Mark Gordon
Mark Gordon, a retired children’s librarian from New York City Public Schools, moved to Santa Cruz in 1992. He has been active in educational work his whole adult life and earned a graduate degree from Pratt Institute in Library Science. In Santa Cruz, in addition to being on the board of the Friends of the Dickens Project, Mark is also a very active board member of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at UC Santa Cruz. He is married with two daughters and three grandchildren.
Please Note:
This expert may not be available for every date of the program
Please Note:
These experts may not be available for every date of the program
John O. Jordan
John Jordan is a research professor of literature at the University of California, Santa Cruz and the director of The Dickens Project. His primary research interests include Victorian literature and culture, Charles Dickens and narrative theory. John is the author of "Supposing Bleak House" and co-editor, with Robert Patten and Catherine Waters, of the "Oxford Handbook of Charles Dickens."
Mark Gordon
Mark Gordon, a retired children’s librarian from New York City Public Schools, moved to Santa Cruz in 1992. He has been active in educational work his whole adult life and earned a graduate degree from Pratt Institute in Library Science. In Santa Cruz, in addition to being on the board of the Friends of the Dickens Project, Mark is also a very active board member of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at UC Santa Cruz. He is married with two daughters and three grandchildren.
Sophia Hsu
Sophia Hsu is an assistant professor of English at Lehman College, CUNY. Her research has appeared in "Victorian Review" and "English Language Notes." She is currently working on a book project that focuses on representations of the population in the Victorian novel.
Beth Newman
Beth Newman teaches at Southern Methodist University. Her book "Subjects on Display: Psychoanalysis, Social Expectation, and Victorian Femininity" was published by Ohio University Press in 2004, and she has also produced teaching editions of "Jane Eyre" and "Wuthering Heights." More recently she has published on A.C. Swinburne and Alice Meynell, and is at work on a second book tentatively titled "Other People’s Creeds: Fin de Siècle Writing About Religious Difference." She likes to sing — especially in the shower.
Amy Wong
Amy R. Wong is an assistant professor of English at the Dominican University of California. Her research and teaching areas include Victorian literature, media theory, and critical race studies. She is working on a book on how the development of mass print media prompted new attention to everyday talk as an alternative space for communication.
Adam Abraham
Adam Abraham earned a doctoral degree in English at the University of Oxford. He is the author of three books: 'Attack of the Monster Musical: A Cultural History of Little Shop of Horrors' (Bloomsbury), 'Plagiarizing the Victorian Novel: Imitation, Parody, Aftertext' (Cambridge), and 'When Magoo Flew: The Rise and Fall of Animation Studio UPA' (Wesleyan). His writing has also appeared in Literary Hub and Dickens Quarterly. Now a lecturer at the University of Miami, he is from New York City.
Courtney Mahaney
Courtney Mahaney can frequently be found with scissors in her hand, from secateurs to dressmaker’s shears. When she is not gardening or sewing, Courtney takes her beagle, Millie, on therapeutic visits to area nursing homes, and serves as a court-appointed special advocate for a foster youth. She loves literature and exploring antiquarian bookstores. A native Vermonter, she now calls Santa Cruz home.
Logan Browning
Logan Browning is the publisher and executive editor of 'Studies in English Literature 1500-1900' and professor of English and humanities at Rice University. He is a specialist in Victorian literature and publishing history, and a contributor to the 'Oxford Reader's Companion to Charles Dickens,' 'The Oxford Handbook on Dickens,' and other scholarly journals and reference works. Professor Browning is a faculty member of the Dickens Universe, an advisory editor and occasional reviewer for the 'Hopkins Review,' and an occasional reviewer for the 'Houston Chronicle.'
Renée Fox
Renée Fox is Associate Professor of Literature and Jordan-Stern Presidential Chair for Dickens and Nineteenth-Century Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she co-directs the Dickens Project and the Center for Monster Studies. She is the author of 'The Necromantics: Reanimation, the Historical Imagination, and Victorian British and Irish Literature' (Ohio State UP, 2023), which received the Sonya Rudikoff Award for best first book in Victorian studies and honorable mention for the Donald Murphy Prize for best first book in Irish studies.
Sara Hackenberg
Sara Hackenberg is a professor of English at San Francisco State University. She specializes in 19th-century British and American literature and delves into narrative mystery, popular culture, and visual media. Her expertise spans Victorian literature, cultural criticism, and silent film. She offers courses on Victorian culture, women, the novel's history, literary theory, detective fiction, 19th-century mystery, and the vampire tradition in literature.
Carolyn Williams
Carolyn Williams is Distinguished Professor and Kenneth Burke Chair in English at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ. Before she devoted herself to melodrama – including melodrama as it appears in the novel – she wrote 'Transfigured World: Walter Pater’s Aesthetic Historicism' (Cornell University Press, 1989) and 'Gilbert and Sullivan: Gender, Genre, Parody' (Columbia University Press, 2010). In addition to publishing essays on Victorian novels, poetry, non-fiction prose, and theater, she edited the Cambridge Companion to English Melodrama (Cambridge University Press, 2018).
Barbara Leckie
Barbara Leckie is a professor in the Department of English and the Institute for the Comparative Study of Literature, Art, and Culture at Carleton University. Her work includes 'Open Houses: Poverty, the Architectural Idea, and the Novel in Nineteenth-Century Britain' (2018), 'Climate Change, Interrupted: Representation and the Remaking of Time' (2022), and the co-created podcast, "Commons Sense: Reclaiming Common Sense for a Livable Future" (2025).
Talia Schaffer
Talia Schaffer is a distinguished professor of English at Queens College, CUNY and the Graduate Center, CUNY, whose work focuses on gender, disability, care, and domesticity in Victorian fiction. Her books include 'Communities of Care: The Social Ethics of Victorian Fiction' (Princeton UP, 2021), 'Romance’s Rival: Familiar Marriage in Victorian Fiction' (Oxford UP, 2016); and 'Novel Craft: Victorian Domestic Handicraft and Nineteenth-Century Fiction' (Oxford UP, 2011).
Hilary Schor
Hilary Schor is a professor of English, comparative literature, and law at USC, where she co-directs the Center for Law, History, and Culture. A specialist in Victorian literature, contemporary fiction, and feminist theory, her research examines the intersections of law, gender, and narrative. She is the author of several influential books including 'Curious Subjects: Women and the Trials of Realism' (2013), 'Dickens and the Daughter of the House' (1999), and 'Scheherezade in the Marketplace: Elizabeth Gaskell and the Victorian Novel' (1992).
Activity Level
On Your Feet
Walking up to 1 mile per day over hilly terrain between apartment buildings, dining facilities and lecture rooms. Program will require approximately 7 miles of walking over 7 days. The UC Santa Cruz campus is built on an incline. Classrooms, dining and lecture halls are accessible via ramps or elevators. Apartments are not equipped with elevators. Must be physically capable of participating in all planned program activities.
Suggested Books and Resources
View Full List
You can also find many of the books we recommend at the Road Scholar store on bookshop.org, a website that supports local bookstores.
HAVE QUESTIONS?
Prefer to enroll or inquire by phone?
We can help. Give us a call, and we can answer all of your questions!
Call
800-454-5768
Helpful Links
Enroll with Confidence
Peace of Mind
We want your Road Scholar learning adventure to be something to look forward to—not worry about. That’s why we go to the ends of the earth to give you peace of mind, from the moment you enroll until the day you return home.
Assurance Plan
Road Scholar is committed to the well-being of every participant, whether on a program in the United States or abroad. That’s why all participants are covered under our Road Scholar Assurance Plan, which provides 24-hour assistance in the event of an emergency during your program, as well as insurance for emergency medical evacuation.
Want to Protect Your Investment?
Road Scholar is pleased to offer its Trip Protection Plan as a way to protect your program investment. You may purchase this optional trip protection plan when enrolling in your program.
Sustainable Travel
We offset a portion of the emissions created by your travel. Read about our commitment to a more sustainable planet.
- Peace of Mind
We want your Road Scholar learning adventure to be something to look forward to—not worry about. That’s why we go to the ends of the earth to give you peace of mind, from the moment you enroll until the day you return home.
- Assurance Plan
Road Scholar is committed to the well-being of every participant, whether on a program in the United States or abroad. That’s why all participants are covered under our Road Scholar Assurance Plan, which provides 24-hour assistance in the event of an emergency during your program, as well as insurance for emergency medical evacuation.
- Want to Protect Your Investment?
Road Scholar is pleased to offer its Trip Protection Plan as a way to protect your program investment. You may purchase this optional trip protection plan when enrolling in your program.
- Sustainable Travel
We offset a portion of the emissions created by your travel. Read about our commitment to a more sustainable planet.
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