The Sociability of Scottish Women Writers, c. 1782-1854

Celebrating 200 years of Susan Ferrier’s The Inheritance (1824)

Symposium Schedule

A Joint Event organised by Walter Scott Research Centre (University of Aberdeen) and Scottish Writing in the Nineteenth Century (The University of Edinburgh)

Friday 23rd February 

4:30pm–7:00pm (Project Room 1.06, 50 George Square) 

Keynote: Dr Ainsley McIntosh, ‘“That circle of chosen friends for whom alone they are design’d”: Social Authorship and Scottish Women’s Writing,’

Dr McIntosh’s lecture will be followed by a reception.

Saturday 24th February 

All sessions will take place in room G.01, 50 George Square

9:15am–10:45am  SESSION 1: Scotswomen in the English Drawing Room

Chair: Cleo O’Callaghan Yeoman

Nataliia Voloshkova, ‘An addition to the Vesey Society’: Anne Hunter in the Bluestocking Drawing Room

Hilary Clydesdale, The Sociability of Scandal: The Secret Histories of Anne Hamilton (1832) and Charlotte Bury (1838–39)

Elad Carmel, The Sociability of Scottish Women Writers: The Case of Elizabeth Hamilton

10:45am–11:15am: Break 

11:15am–12:45pm: Women Writers Walking Tour (1hr, led by Ruth Boreham)

12:45pm–1:30pm: Lunch. Anyone attending the symposium who requires lunch should contact Prof. Penny Fielding as soon as possible.

1:30pm–3:00pm SESSION 2: Mapping Literary Sociability in Romantic-era Scotland

Chair: Elad Carmel 

Natalie Tal Harries, ‘our sister in the muses’: Joanna Baillie, Walter Scott and Romantic Literary Networks

Amy Wilcockson, The Social Life and Gothic Poems of a Scottish Gothic Novelist: Helen Craik’s Manuscript Poems Rediscovered

Kate Ferrier, ‘sistership in her craft’: Uncovering the Literary Networks of Susan Ferrier 

3:00pm–3:15pm: Break 

3:15pm–4:45pm SESSION 3: Tracing Networks of Meaning and Influence

Chair: Natalie Tal Harries

Gem Kirwan, ‘Did ever anybody see such a picture of passion!’: The influences of The Cottagers of Glenburnie on Jane Eyre

Ruth Boreham, The Edinburgh Networks of Mary Somerville

Cleo O’Callaghan Yeoman, ‘In examining others we know ourselves’: spectatorship and moral self-improvement in Joanna Baillie and Mary Brunton

4:45pm–5:00pm: Closing comments