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Tess of the d'Urbervilles - Annual THS Study Day 2021
Saturday 10 April, 10.00am at the Rear Hall of the United Church, Dorchester (registration from 9.15am)
2021 will mark the 130th anniversary of the publication of Tess of the d'Urbervilles, arguably the most widely loved of Hardy's novels, containing one of the most memorable heroines in all of English literature. While contemporary society was scandalized by the concept of a fallen woman being championed as pure, the novel was scathing in its exposure of hypocritical nineteenth-century sexual and social mores. Subjects depicted that remain in continual debate to the present day are the question of rape/seduction, who is the true villain of the story – Alec or Angel?, was Tess justified in murdering Alec?, and was it right that Tess received the death penalty for her crime? This is a story that has transcended time and place, still resonating with audiences around the globe.
***Please be aware that due to current Covid restrictions on travel a number of these papers will be presented virtually via a pre-recording. We thank you for your understanding***
Programme
9.00 – 9.45: Registration
9.45 – 10.00: Welcome and Introduction
10.00 – 10.45 Keynote Lecture: Professor Roger Ebbatson (University of Lancaster): 'The d'Urberville Portraits: Faciality and Identity'
10.45 – 11.00: Morning Break
11.00 – 11.45 Plenary: Dr Oindrila Ghosh (Diamond Harbour Women's University): 'Hardy's Tess: Adaptations, Cultural Transpositions and Engendering Notions of Alternative Modernity'
11.45 – 1.05 Panel A: 'Fallen Tess'
Yurie Watanabe (University of Durham): 'Sympathy and the Plurality of Purity in Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles'
Dr Sukanya Bhadra (Vivekananda College for Women): 'Tess and Lois: Only Women; Neither Angels Nor Demons'
Céleste Callen (University of Edinburgh): 'The Experience of Marginality and Rejection in Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles'
Dr Bahar Inal (Ondokuz Mayis University): 'Elegy to Emancipation: Desire and Restraint in Tess and Hedda Gabler'
1.05 – 1.45: Lunch
1.45 – 2.15: 'Retelling Tess' – Devised and Performed by Tim Laycock (Director of The New Hardy Players)
2.15 – 3.35: Panel B: 'Morality, Senses and Decay'
Emily Vause (University of Edinburgh): 'The Dissolultion of the Human/Natural Divide in Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles'
Helen Ingham (University of Birmingham): 'Soundscapes in Tess of the d'Urbervilles'
Natasha Anderson (Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz): 'Sensory Sympathy: Shared Experiences of Embodiment in Tess of the d'Urbervilles'
Carolina Elices (Independent Researcher): 'Sites of Ruin in Tess of the d'Urbervilles'
3.35 – 3.50: Afternoon Break
3.50 – 4.35 Plenary: Dr Tony Fincham (Thomas Hardy Society Chairman): 'Tess's Tracks: The Perambulations of a Pure Woman'
4.35 – 5.20 Plenary: Canon Richard Franklin (Honorary Curator of the Thomas Hardy Collection at the Dorset Museum): 'Evangelicalism in Tess of the d'Urbervilles'
5.20 – 5.40: Peter Villiers (Independent Researcher): 'Religious Hypocrisy in Tess of the d'Urbervilles'
5.40: Close and Thanks
Tickets: £30 or Student/Unwaged £15
(To include all refreshments and a buffet lunch)
*** This event will be held in strict compliance with Covid-19 regulations, including social distancing, sanitation measures, and track and trace procedures.
To book tickets: https://https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/tess-of-the-durbervilles-annual-ths-study-day-2021-tickets-140502072481www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/tess-of-the-durbervilles-annual-ths-study-day-2021-tickets-140502072481
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