Anna
@annaulrika75.bsky.social
Teacher, mother, wife
First-year Eng lit PhD student (Sherlock Holmes post Doyle) and former MA student (Victorian Gothic) at the University of Portsmouth
First-year Eng lit PhD student (Sherlock Holmes post Doyle) and former MA student (Victorian Gothic) at the University of Portsmouth
Got so much done during today's @vpfa.bsky.social virtual writing retreat and met some really nice people. Being a PhD student, esp a long-distance one, can be very lonely, but connecting with people online and chatting about research almost gives the impression of having 'course mates'.
October 11, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Got so much done during today's @vpfa.bsky.social virtual writing retreat and met some really nice people. Being a PhD student, esp a long-distance one, can be very lonely, but connecting with people online and chatting about research almost gives the impression of having 'course mates'.
Don't miss my account of what it was like for a first-timer at this summer's #vpfaextremes conference. A very exciting read indeed ;-)
Excited to announce that the VPFA blog has launched! Thanks to Emma Butler-Way for her hard work in getting it ready for today, for more information check out the blog at the link below:
victorianpopularfiction.org/the-vpfa-blog/
victorianpopularfiction.org/the-vpfa-blog/
The VPFA Blog
The VPFA Blog Welcome to the VPFA Blog! Here we will have ponderings, reflections, speculative readings, and more, for the reading pleasure of our fellow Victorianists. If you would like to submit …
victorianpopularfiction.org
October 9, 2025 at 9:06 AM
Don't miss my account of what it was like for a first-timer at this summer's #vpfaextremes conference. A very exciting read indeed ;-)
Reposted by Anna
Join us for a virtual writing retreat designed for VPFA members! Working on a conference paper, article, thesis, or admin tasks? this structured retreat offers dedicated time, body doubling, and proven productivity techniques inspired by Rowena Murray. Drop in or stay the full day!
September 11, 2025 at 1:37 PM
Join us for a virtual writing retreat designed for VPFA members! Working on a conference paper, article, thesis, or admin tasks? this structured retreat offers dedicated time, body doubling, and proven productivity techniques inspired by Rowena Murray. Drop in or stay the full day!
Back home after three glorious weeks in England and Wales, which began with the VPFA conference in Birmingham, ended with my graduation in Portsmouth and inbetween my time has been filled with hiking, sightseeing, food & drink and lots of quality time with hubby. Work for my PhD continues tomorrow!
August 3, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Back home after three glorious weeks in England and Wales, which began with the VPFA conference in Birmingham, ended with my graduation in Portsmouth and inbetween my time has been filled with hiking, sightseeing, food & drink and lots of quality time with hubby. Work for my PhD continues tomorrow!
It was my graduation for my MA on Tuesday and it was a great day which I got to celebrate worth mum and dad, my younger brother and my husband! In 3-4 years I hope to do it again, but with a doctor’s bonnet on my head instead!
July 31, 2025 at 7:41 AM
It was my graduation for my MA on Tuesday and it was a great day which I got to celebrate worth mum and dad, my younger brother and my husband! In 3-4 years I hope to do it again, but with a doctor’s bonnet on my head instead!
Thanks to everyone at @vpfa.bsky.social #VPFAExtremes for welcoming this first-timer with open arms. I’m unable to attend tomorrow but have had an absolutely lovely time, listened to several very interesting papers and met lots of friendly, intelligent and knowledgeable people. I’ll be back!
July 15, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Thanks to everyone at @vpfa.bsky.social #VPFAExtremes for welcoming this first-timer with open arms. I’m unable to attend tomorrow but have had an absolutely lovely time, listened to several very interesting papers and met lots of friendly, intelligent and knowledgeable people. I’ll be back!
I’ve just now presented my paper at #VPFAExtremes. It builds on the work I did for my MA dissertation and it was a lot of fun to re-visit these stories again.
third is Anna Stark talking about apocalyptic weather and apocalyptic society in late-Victorian disaster fiction. The environmental disaster tale is a new genre that arose in the late 19th century and is artistic expression that included and responded to human’s role in society #VPFAExtremes
July 15, 2025 at 3:57 PM
I’ve just now presented my paper at #VPFAExtremes. It builds on the work I did for my MA dissertation and it was a lot of fun to re-visit these stories again.
During the extended lunch break we have divided into different groups to learn more about Birmingham. A few of us have decided to stay in the BMI for a talk on Victorian Birmingham, the BMI and its library.
#VPFAExtremes
#VPFAExtremes
July 15, 2025 at 12:52 PM
During the extended lunch break we have divided into different groups to learn more about Birmingham. A few of us have decided to stay in the BMI for a talk on Victorian Birmingham, the BMI and its library.
#VPFAExtremes
#VPFAExtremes
Keynote 2 is Richard Fallon: Before De-Extinction: Encountering Prehistoric Animals in Victorian Popular Fiction.
#VPFAExtremes
#VPFAExtremes
July 15, 2025 at 10:37 AM
Keynote 2 is Richard Fallon: Before De-Extinction: Encountering Prehistoric Animals in Victorian Popular Fiction.
#VPFAExtremes
#VPFAExtremes
Our third paper in the Braddon panel is also on 'Lady Audley's Secret'. Anna-Maria Grill: "The Mad-Doctress and her Patients: Negotiating Female Medical Agency in Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s 'Lady Audley’s Secret'".
#VPFAExtremes
#VPFAExtremes
July 15, 2025 at 9:22 AM
Our third paper in the Braddon panel is also on 'Lady Audley's Secret'. Anna-Maria Grill: "The Mad-Doctress and her Patients: Negotiating Female Medical Agency in Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s 'Lady Audley’s Secret'".
#VPFAExtremes
#VPFAExtremes
The second paper in the Braddon panel is on one of my favourite novels of the Victorian Era: 'Lady Audley's Secret'. Marta Shevchenko's paper is delivered online from Kharkiv, Ukraine is called "Vanishing Women: Anorexic Metaphors and Psychological Extremes in 'Lady Audley’s Secret'".
#VPFAExtremes
#VPFAExtremes
July 15, 2025 at 9:04 AM
The second paper in the Braddon panel is on one of my favourite novels of the Victorian Era: 'Lady Audley's Secret'. Marta Shevchenko's paper is delivered online from Kharkiv, Ukraine is called "Vanishing Women: Anorexic Metaphors and Psychological Extremes in 'Lady Audley’s Secret'".
#VPFAExtremes
#VPFAExtremes
Good morning! This morning I'm tweeting from panel 11: Mental illness in Braddon. Our first paper is delivered online, Carina Koh Hui Ling's paper is about Subverting Gender-Specific Expectations of Grief and Mental Illness in M.E. Braddon’s The Fatal Three (1888).
#VPFAExtremes
#VPFAExtremes
July 15, 2025 at 8:45 AM
Good morning! This morning I'm tweeting from panel 11: Mental illness in Braddon. Our first paper is delivered online, Carina Koh Hui Ling's paper is about Subverting Gender-Specific Expectations of Grief and Mental Illness in M.E. Braddon’s The Fatal Three (1888).
#VPFAExtremes
#VPFAExtremes
Reposted by Anna
My favourite fact of the first day! #VPFAExtremes
The 1911 Prison Library Committee report names Ellen Wood as the most popular author read in prisons, especially with female inmates.
#VPFAExtremes
#VPFAExtremes
July 14, 2025 at 6:12 PM
My favourite fact of the first day! #VPFAExtremes
And that’s the end of the first-day panels! Such interesting papers and what a positive and friendly atmosphere there has been throughout. This is my first time at a VPFA conference, but it won’t be the last! And of course I’m returning to keep you updated again tomorrow!
#VPFAExtremes
#VPFAExtremes
July 14, 2025 at 4:31 PM
And that’s the end of the first-day panels! Such interesting papers and what a positive and friendly atmosphere there has been throughout. This is my first time at a VPFA conference, but it won’t be the last! And of course I’m returning to keep you updated again tomorrow!
#VPFAExtremes
#VPFAExtremes
Cecilia Fabaro is now speaking about George Egerton's last short story collection 'Fantasias' and the "extreme experiments will allegory" in these stories.
#VPFAExtremes
#VPFAExtremes
July 14, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Cecilia Fabaro is now speaking about George Egerton's last short story collection 'Fantasias' and the "extreme experiments will allegory" in these stories.
#VPFAExtremes
#VPFAExtremes
Jonathan Potter argues that certain authors were able to generate an illusion that they were depicting real life, for example Mary Russell Mitford in 'Our Village' and Charles Dickens in 'Sketches by Boz'.
#VPFAExtremes
#VPFAExtremes
July 14, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Jonathan Potter argues that certain authors were able to generate an illusion that they were depicting real life, for example Mary Russell Mitford in 'Our Village' and Charles Dickens in 'Sketches by Boz'.
#VPFAExtremes
#VPFAExtremes
My final panel for the day is Conventions and Innovations of the Literary Marketplace 2. The two papers by Jonathan Potter and Cecilia Fabaro are presented online.
#VPFAExtremes
#VPFAExtremes
July 14, 2025 at 3:11 PM
My final panel for the day is Conventions and Innovations of the Literary Marketplace 2. The two papers by Jonathan Potter and Cecilia Fabaro are presented online.
#VPFAExtremes
#VPFAExtremes
An interesting comment by the panel chair links the two papers: the 'seepage' from paper to mind Audrey Jaffe talked about and prisoners' limited access to reading material as their minds were not to be contamintated by the 'wrong' types of influence in Carolyn Oulton's paper #VPFAExtremes
July 14, 2025 at 2:16 PM
An interesting comment by the panel chair links the two papers: the 'seepage' from paper to mind Audrey Jaffe talked about and prisoners' limited access to reading material as their minds were not to be contamintated by the 'wrong' types of influence in Carolyn Oulton's paper #VPFAExtremes
The 2nd paper in the Literary marketplace panel is "Melodrama as Mental Theatre" by Audrey Jaffe. The concept of a "porous reader" who absorbs the subject of the read text in such a way that it becomes the reader's weakness and fears is discussed through a quotation from 'Oliver Twist' #VPFAExtremes
July 14, 2025 at 1:40 PM
The 2nd paper in the Literary marketplace panel is "Melodrama as Mental Theatre" by Audrey Jaffe. The concept of a "porous reader" who absorbs the subject of the read text in such a way that it becomes the reader's weakness and fears is discussed through a quotation from 'Oliver Twist' #VPFAExtremes
After a nice lunch break it's now time for panel 6: Conventions and Innovations of the Literary Marketplace 1. The first paper is by Carolyn Oulton and is called "Look at the Low Trash They are Always Reading: Going to Extremes in Victorian Popular Fiction".
#VPFAExtremes
#VPFAExtremes
July 14, 2025 at 1:04 PM
After a nice lunch break it's now time for panel 6: Conventions and Innovations of the Literary Marketplace 1. The first paper is by Carolyn Oulton and is called "Look at the Low Trash They are Always Reading: Going to Extremes in Victorian Popular Fiction".
#VPFAExtremes
#VPFAExtremes
A very interesting keynote lecture is now taking place at the VPFA conference: Dr Jimmy Packham’s ”Swimming with Snarks: Submarine Gothic and the Monstrous Deep” #VPFAExtremes
July 14, 2025 at 11:22 AM
A very interesting keynote lecture is now taking place at the VPFA conference: Dr Jimmy Packham’s ”Swimming with Snarks: Submarine Gothic and the Monstrous Deep” #VPFAExtremes
The third paper on Gothic horrors is Fiona Snailham’s on Eliza Lynn Linton’s ’Paston Carew, Millionaire and Miser’.
#VPFAExtremes
#VPFAExtremes
July 14, 2025 at 9:28 AM
The third paper on Gothic horrors is Fiona Snailham’s on Eliza Lynn Linton’s ’Paston Carew, Millionaire and Miser’.
#VPFAExtremes
#VPFAExtremes
The second paper in the Gothic horrors panel is Anna Shane’s ”A Cognitive Perspective on Arthur Machen’s Horror”. #vpfaextremes
July 14, 2025 at 9:06 AM
The second paper in the Gothic horrors panel is Anna Shane’s ”A Cognitive Perspective on Arthur Machen’s Horror”. #vpfaextremes
Ifill very interestingly compares office Gothic to traditional Gothic novels: where the heroine in a traditional Gothic novel can grow through conquering various trials, the office worker does the same through his daily trudge and problem solving. #vpfaextremes
July 14, 2025 at 8:54 AM
Ifill very interestingly compares office Gothic to traditional Gothic novels: where the heroine in a traditional Gothic novel can grow through conquering various trials, the office worker does the same through his daily trudge and problem solving. #vpfaextremes
Helena Ifill is presenting her paper about Charlotte Riddell’s novel ’George Geith of Fen Court’ and ”office Gothic”. The novel as such is not a Gothic one but there are a lot of ”Gothic rhetoric”. #VPFAExtremes
July 14, 2025 at 8:38 AM
Helena Ifill is presenting her paper about Charlotte Riddell’s novel ’George Geith of Fen Court’ and ”office Gothic”. The novel as such is not a Gothic one but there are a lot of ”Gothic rhetoric”. #VPFAExtremes