The Godwin Diary: Reconstructing London's Culture 1788-1836
On 23-24 July 2010 the Leverhulme sponsored research project responsible for editing the diary of William Godwin will hold a two-day conference to introduce scholars to the new resource and to explore how that resource provides a distinctive light on our understanding of late eighteenth and early nineteenth century social and political culture. The Godwin Diary conference will mark the culmination of three years' effort to edit the diary and publish a digital and fully searchable edition. Accompanying the searchable text will be a complete scan of the original diary.
The conference organizers have invited a number of speakers but would also welcome proposals for paper from those interested in exploring the light that the resource can shed on their own research interests. Those speaking include: John Barrell, Luisa Calé, Julie Carlson, Greg Claeys, Pamela Clemit, Beth Lau, Jon Mee, Jane Moody, and Philip Schofield.
We should state at the outset that the conference format, and the nature of the papers presented, is a little unusual. The objective of the conference is to launch the diary website and to illustrate its potential as a research tool for the study of the period 1788- 1836. It is not, therefore, a 'Godwin conference' but is concerned with how the diary illuminates various aspects of London's cultural and material worlds with particular emphasis on the manifold networks of relationships that Godwin mapped in his diary.