Date/Time
Thursday, September 23, 2021–Saturday, September 25, 2021
9:00 am – 1:00 pm
–Organized by Sophie Coulombeau (University of York) and Felicity Nussbaum (UCLA)
Co-sponsored by the University of York Centre for Eighteenth Century Studies
Online Event via Zoom
Register online: https://ucla.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_rbS-hbbqToOWAuYxPaWXnQ
This conference celebrates the life and writings of Hester Lynch Salusbury Thrale Piozzi upon the bicentenary of her death. The conference will contribute to the ongoing reassessment of her much-neglected and seriously underestimated writings; illuminate her relationships with the Bluestockings; and explore how she bridged private and public spheres by translating informal conversation, improvisational dialogue, and performative sociability into text. As well as scholarly papers, the conference will feature the debut reading of Witty Woman, a new play about Hester Thrale Piozzi’s life, written by Felicity Nussbaum (UCLA) and directed by directed by Michael Hackett, Head of Directing Program in the Department of Theater at UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television.
Speakers
Lisa Berglund, Buffalo State College
Sophie Coulombeau, University of York
Elizabeth Edwards, University of Wales Trinity St. David
Emily C. Friedman, Auburn University
Mascha Hansen, University of Greifswald
Devoney Looser, Arizona State University
Kathleen Lubey, St. John’s University
Jon Mee, University of York
Gillian Russell, University of York
Lindsay Rose Russell, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Cassandra Ulph, University of Manchester
Program Schedule
(All times listed are Pacific Daylight Time)
Thursday, September 23, 2021
9:00 a.m.
Bronwen Wilson, University of California, Los Angeles
Welcome
Sophie Coulombeau, University of York and Felicity Nussbaum, University of California, Los Angeles
Opening Remarks
9:15 a.m.
Session I
Moderator: Helen Deutsch, University of California, Los Angeles
Jon Mee, University of York
“Impossible Friendship?: Hester, Samuel, and James too!”
9:50 a.m.
Lisa Berglund, Buffalo State College
“The Paratextual Persistence of Hester Lynch Piozzi”
10:25 a.m.
Discussion
10:45 a.m.
Break
10:50 a.m.
Session II
Moderator: Felicity Nussbaum, University of California, Los Angeles
Lindsay Rose Russell, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
“Piozzi’s Parlor-Window Lexicography”
11:20 a.m.
Emily C. Friedman, Auburn University
“Unpublished, Uncensored: Hester Thrale Piozzi’s Manuscripts”
11:55 a.m.
Elizabeth Edwards, University of Wales, Trinity St. David
“‘Made to Observe’: Hester Piozzi’s Home Tourism”
12:30 p.m.
Discussion
1:00 p.m.
Program adjourns
Friday, September 24, 2021
9:00 a.m.
Session III
Moderator: Mary Fairclough, University of York
Gillian Russell, University of York
“’Frightful hand-bills’: Political Ephemera in Hester Thrale’s Letters”
9:35 a.m.
Mascha Hansen, University of Greifswald
“’Who is to keep America?’: History in the Poetry of Hester Thrale Piozzi”
10:10 a.m.
Discussion
10:30 a.m.
Break
10:35 a.m.
Session IV
Moderator: Sarah Tindal Kareem, University of California, Los Angeles
Sophie Coulombeau, University of York and Elizabeth Edwards, University of Wales, Trinity St. David
“Brief Remarks on Recent Discoveries”
11:20 a.m.
Devoney Looser, Arizona State University
“Advanced Style Piozzi: The Later Works”
11:55 a.m.
Cassandra Ulph, The University of Manchester
“Gender, Genre and Memory: Genre Crossings in Hester Piozzi’s Later Work”
12:30 p.m.
Discussion
1:00 p.m.
Program adjourns
Saturday, September 25, 2021
9:00 a.m.
Session V
Felicity Nussbaum, University of California, Los Angeles
Introductory Remarks
“Witty Woman: A Two-Act Play” by Felicity Nussbaum
A dramatic reading by UCLA MFA graduates
Directed by Michael Hackett, Head of Directing Program in the Department of Theater at UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television
Program PDF
Michael Hackett
Closing Remarks
11:05 a.m.
Break
11:15 a.m.
Session VI
Moderator: Helen Smith, University of York
Kathleen Lubey, St. John’s University
“Hester Piozzi’s Feminist Use of the Book”
11:50 a.m.
Sophie Coulombeau, University of York
“The Death Writing of Hester Thrale Piozzi”
12:25 p.m.
Discussion
12:45 p.m.
Closing Conversation: What’s next for Thrale Piozzi studies?
Moderators: Sophie Coulombeau, University of York and Felicity Nussbaum, University of California, Los Angeles
1:15 p.m.
Conference adjourns
Image:
Joshua Reynolds (British, 1723–1792)
Mrs. Thrale and her Daughter Hester (Queeney), 1781
Oil on canvas
140.3 x 148.6 cm
Gift of Lord Beaverbrook
Beaverbrook Art Gallery, accession number 1959.178