Trollope and Gender

July 17 – 19 2006
Exeter University, UK.

Keynote Speakers:
Robert Polhemus, Stanford University
Deborah Denenholz Morse, The College of William and Mary
Mark Turner, King’s College, London
Plenary Chair: Regenia Gagnier, Exeter University

Speakers include:
Mary Jean Corbett (Miami at Ohio) on Trollope, Gender, and Ireland; Lauren Goodlad (Illinois, Urbana Champaign) on Trollope, Gender and Foreign Policy; Margaret Markwick (Exeter) on Trollope’s New Men; Kathy Psomiades (Duke) on Trollope and the Feminist Critique of Liberalism.

From the first gender-sensitive critique of Trollope’s women by Morse, through Polhemus’s erotically-charged account of Phineas Finn in love to Turner’s genderised reading of narrative technique differentiated according to audience, the last two decades have witnessed a diametric shift in how we read Trollope. Today John Stuart Mill’s articulation of liberalism sits well with Trollope’s open and frank approach to gender and sexuality. We invite papers drawn from re-readings of Anthony Trollope in the light of the most recent thinking in gender studies.

How have perceptions of his presentation of women changed over the last twenty years? How have the latest reframings of Victorian masculinities shaped the reinterpretations of Trollope’s men, and how have ideas of queer theory shifted perceptions of those Trollope characters who operate at the margins? In suggesting these possibilities, we do not seek to circumscribe the field of study of the conference; we wish to welcome a wide and diverse view of the significance of Trollope studies in the twenty-first century.

Further details of the Conference may be had from the organiser, Margaret Markwick ( This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it )

Supported by the Univ. of Exeter Centre for Victorian Studies,
and by grant from the British Academy.