ABOUT US
- The Dickens Society
The Dickens Society was founded by forty participants during the Modern Language Association Convention in New York City on 29 December 1970. The following were present on the occasion:
William Axton, Philip Collins, Paul Davis, Richard Dunn, Donald Erickson, K. J. Fielding, Donald Fanger, Gordon Fleming, George Ford, David Foster, Joseph Gold, Wendell Harris, Bert G. Hornback, Merrit Y. Hughes, Louis James, Edgar Johnson, E. D. H. Johnson, Lauriat Lane, Steven Marcus, R. D. McMaster, Jerome Meckier, J. Hillis Miller, Sylvére Monod, Ada Nisbet, Robert Partlow, Robert Patten, Ladell Payne, E. Pearlman, Edgar Rosenberg, Lance Schachterle, Lionel Stevenson, Michael Slater, Michael Steig, Richard Vogler and George Wing.
The year before, thirty-seven people attending a Dickens Seminar at the 1969 MLA Convention in Denver expressed interest in several issues related to the study of Dickens. On a motion from Edgar Johnson, a panel consisting of Ada Nisbet, Joseph Gold, William Axton and Robert Patten, moderated by Robert Partlow, was elected as an ad hoc planning committee charged to investigate and report on possible future activities of the group. Among the proposals entertained, several came to fruition, including the establishment of a society to encourage and foster the study of Dickens and a newsletter to serve as a forum for exchanging scholarly information. The latter, which took shape as a quarterly newsletter, distributed its first issue in March 1970, edited by Robert Patten and under the auspices of Dickens Studies Annual. On 1 July 1970, The Dickens Society assumed control of the publication and continued henceforth, appearing in March, June, September and December as Dickens Studies Newsletter. In March 1984, a new series took over, when the title changed to Dickens Quarterly.
Past Presidents of the Society
| K. J. Fielding William F. Axton Michael Slater George Ford Philip Collins Robert Patten Angus Easson Harry Stone Sylvère Monod Richard J. Dunn James Kincaid Graham Storey George J. Worth H. M. Daleski Mark Spilka Barbara Hardy Edgar Rosenberg John Lucas |
Susan Horton Fred Kaplan Susan Shatto Jerome Meckier Paul Schlicke Bert G. Hornback Duane DeVries Joel J. Brattin Anny Sadrin Nancy Aycock Metz Malcolm Andrews Barry Qualls Grahame Smith David Parker Janice Carlisle John Bowen Robert Tracy Sally LedgerCatherine Waters |
Society Officers for 2011
President: Lillian Nayder (Bates College)
Vice President: Nicola Bradbury (University of Reading)
Secretary/Treasurer: Robert Heaman (Wilkes University)
Board of Trustees for 2011:
Joel J. Brattin (Worcester Polytechnic Institute),
James Buzard (MIT), Karen Chase (University of Virginia), Mark Cronin (St
Anselm’s College), Sean Grass (Eastern Texas Tech University), Jenny Hartley
(Roehampton University), Christine Huguet (University of Lille III, France),
Michael Levenson (University of Virginia), Chris Louttit (Radboud Univesity,
Nijmegen, Netherlands), Francesco Marroni (Gabriele d’Annunzio University),
Francesca Orestano (University of Milan), Nathalie Vanfasse (Université de
Provence)
Editorial Staff of Dickens Quarterly
David Paroissien, General Editor
Trey Philpotts, Review Editor
Elizabeth Bridgham, Bibliographer
Amanda Helm, Production Editor