Monthly Archives: May 2018

I will be giving several public talks this summer, ranging from Alice in Wonderland and asylums, to psychology in Victorian fantastic literature, the psychology and sociology of recently rediscovered Arts and Crafts objects, insect metamorphoses and morality tales for children, and Automata, E.T.A. Hoffmann and Frankenstein. If you’re nearby, come and say hi!

My talks:

• “‘More than a figment of scientific fancy’: Redefining the Victorian fantastic through the history of science”, Scholars’ Forum on Literature and the History of Science, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, 29 June.
• ‘Alice in Psychology-land: Dreams, Asylums and Fantasy’, Alice’s Day, Bodleian Library Oxford, Alice’s Day & Tolkien: Maker of Middle-Earth Exhibition, 7 July.
• ‘A bug-hunt in Wonderland: the symbolism and science of Alice’s insects and their transformations’, with Christopher Jeffs, ‘Insects Through the Looking Glass‘ Exhibition & Alice’s Day, Story Museum, Oxford, 7 July.
• ‘Pattern, Ecology and the Fantastic Imagination of George MacDonald and William Morris’, British Association for Victorian Studies Conference, University of Exeter, 29-31st August.
• ‘A Common Denominator: Reassessing the Carroll-MacDonald friendship through their science’, Lewis Carroll and George MacDonald: An Influential Friendship, Sussex Centre for Folklore, Fairy Tales and Fantasy, 1 September.
• ‘A Machine as wonderful and complex as Man: Automata in Literature and Culture’, ‘Marvellous Mechanical Museum‘ Exhibition, Compton Verney,  9 September.
• ‘Alice’s Adventures in Oxfordshire: How Oxford inspired the Lewis Carroll’s Wonderland’, Abingdon Arms, Beckley, 25 November.

If you fancy reading more from me, essays of mine will appear in the Journal Of Scottish Thought as well as the exhibition catalogue of the Marvellous Mechanical Museum Exhibition. Don’t miss the Insects Through the Looking-Glass Exhibition at The Story Museum which runs throughout the Royal Entomological Society’s National Insect Week until Alice’s Day!