The novelist Henry James lived and worked in an increasingly materialist culture. This conference, which gathers over one hundred James scholars from around the globe, explores the work of this key writer from a range of disciplinary perspectives. It examines his fiction in relation to visual art, sculpture, publishing practice, architecture, food, design, travel and technology—the whole realm of real things which made up the Victorian and Edwardian cultural and domestic landscape.

Plenary lectures will be given by art-historian Alexander Nemerov, Stanford University; literary scholar Clare Pettitt, Kings College London; and novelist, Tessa Hadley, Bath Spa University.

You are also invited to Writing Henry James on Wednesday 16th July at King’s College Conference Centre, University of Aberdeen, 4.00-7.00pm. This public event includes Tessa Hadley’s plenary lecture, Story and Character in The Golden Bowl , followed by A Writer’s Writer: Henry James Among the Novelists. In this round-table discussion, three international novelists, Philip Hensher, Lynne Alexander and Michiel Heyns, explore the impact of James’s work on modern-day fiction including their own. Wine reception included. Price £5.