The nineteenth century was an era that changed the way people experienced time on both sides of the Atlantic. New modes of transportation such as the railroad and the steam engine shortened the time spent traveling across long distances, while new forms of communication such as the telephone and the transatlantic cable promoted faster and more reliable transatlantic exchange. As time speeds up, distances shrink—enabling new opportunities and disabling old ones for both men and women. The fast tempo of factory work and groups such as the “Ten Hours Movement” fixed new importance on the relation between a man’s work and his time, while debates about “redundant women” were based on the threat posed by a large number of women who, according to Florence Nightingale, had nothing to do with their time. On the other hand, the scientific theories of Charles Darwin, Charles Lyell, Herbert Spencer, and John Fiske complicated the understanding of temporality by emphasizing the experience of “deep” geological time and “natural” evolutionary patterns.

This panel questions how changes in temporal experience influenced the perception of race, gender and class in 19th-cent. British and American contexts, especially with regard to theories of transnationalism and cosmopolitanism, and the genres of realism and naturalism. We are interested in papers that open the geography of transatlantic studies to a discussion of time across literary, political, and scientific contexts. Please send a 300-word abstract and a bio to Jacob Jewusiak (jmjewusiak@valdosta.edu) and Myrto Drizou (mdrizou@gmail.com).

45th Annual Convention, Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA)
April 3-6, 2014
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Host: Susquehanna University

Deadline: September 30, 2013
Please include with your abstract:
Name and Affiliation
Email address
Postal address
Telephone number
A/V requirements (if any; $10 handling fee with registration)