Talks
Conference Papers
"'Things were pressing to be said; and [...] I was the person to say them': Harriet Martineau, Celebrity Activism, and Authorial Autobiomyths""
Celebrity Studies Journal Conference 2024, University of Amsterdam, 1-3 July 2024 (Panel „Politics and Celebrity in an Era of Revolution and Reform, 1830-1870“).
"Revealing 'Invisible' Poetry by W. H. Auden through Computer Vision"
(with Timo Frühwirth and Simon Brenner), 2022 Digital Humanities Conference, Tokyo (online), 25-29 July 2022.
"Digital Edition as Life Writing: The Auden Musulin Papers"
(with Timo Frühwirth), XII International Association for Biography and Autobiography World Conference, University of Turku, 14-17 June 2022.
"A Computer-Vision Approach to Visualizing 'Indented' Poetry by W. H. Auden"
(with Timo Frühwirth and Simon Brenner), Workshop on Computational Methods in the Humanities, University of Lausanne, 9-10 June 2022.
"Celebrity in the Long Nineteenth Century"
(with Barbara Straumann), DACH Victorianists: An Online Workshop, 3 December 2021.
"The Booker Prize and Celebrity Performance: Authorial Cross-Field Migrations Between Literature and Politics."
XXII Congress of the International Comparative Literature Association, University of Macau, China, 29 July-2 August 2019.
"Making Mischief: David Hare and the Celebrity Playwright's Political Persona."
International Persona Studies Conference, Newcastle University, 25 June 2019.
"Harriet Martineau and the En/Disabling Potential of Celebrity Authorship."
BAVS 2018 Annual Conference “Victorian Patterns,“ University of Exeter, 30 August 2018.
"'The Most Brilliant of Paradoxes': Benjamin Disraeli, Oscar Wilde and Cross-Field Performances of Celebrity."
Third Celebrity Studies Journal Conference, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 28-30 June 2016.
"Autobiographisierungsstrategien im Nachlass Benjamin Disraelis."
Workshop “Autobiographisches Leben – Autobiographical Lives.“ Vienna Biography Research Network, University of Vienna, 6 November 2015.
"A Romantic Legacy: Benjamin Disraeli and Early-Victorian Celebrity Culture."
BAVS 2015 Conference “Victorian Age(s),“ Leeds Trinity University, 27-29 August 2015.
"'Continental Reputation Equalling Posthumous Fame'? Disraeli's Literary and Political Celebrity in an International Context."
Workshop “World Authors and Translators in the Circulation of Global Capital,“ Authors and the World Project, Lancaster University, 2-3 July 2015.
"‘What is He?" – Victorian Images of Benjamin Disraeli as Literary Celebrity and Celebrity Politician.
Conference “Victorian and Edwardian Lives and Letters,“ University of Hertfordshire, 10-11 July 2014.
"Victorian Images of Benjamin Disraeli as Literary Celebrity and Celebrity Politician."
Second Celebrity Studies Journal Conference, Royal Holloway University of London, 19-21 June 2014.
See my conference report.
“‘En-Nobeled’ Irishmen in Vienna: Nobel Prize Winners W. B. Yeats and Bernard Shaw in the Austrian Media.”
International Association for the Study of Irish Literatures (IASIL) Conference “Urban Cultures,” Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland, 22-26 July 2013.
“Disparate Images: The ‘Work vs Life’ Topos in Contemporary Biofictions of Victorian Authors.”
with Julia Lajta-Novak. Annual Conference of the Austrian Association of University Teachers of English (AAUTE), Salzburg, Austria, 26-27 April 2013.
“En-Nobeling Literary Celebrity: Authorial Self-Fashioning in the Nobel Lectures of Elfriede Jelinek and Harold Pinter.”
Inter-Disciplinary.net 2nd Global Conference: “Celebrity: Exploring Critical Issues,” Lisbon, Portugal, 10-12 March 2013.
“The Importance of Being a Literary Commodity.”
Conference “Reconfiguring Authorship,” Ghent, Belgium, 15-18 November 2012.
“The Importance of Commemorating a Literary Celebrity.”
Conference “Ireland and Popular Culture,” University of Reims, France, 19-20 October 2012.
“‘Practically Rewritten – and Sexually Reoriented’: The Critical Controversy Surrounding the Viennese Première of Elfriede Jelinek’s Adaptation of The Importance of Being Earnest.”
IASIL Conference “Conflict and Resolution in Irish Literatures,” University of Leuven, Belgium, 18-22 July 2011.
“(Re)Politicised and Over(Sexualised) – Wild(e) Treatments on Twenty-First-Century Viennese Stages.”
6th Irish Society for Theatre Research (ISTR) Conference “Interfaces Between Irish and European Theatre,” University of Pécs, Hungary, 29-30 April 2011.
“London Dandy Meets Viennese Bonvivant: The Cultural ‘Other’ in Oscar Wilde’s Society Comedies on Viennese Stages.”
IASIL Conference “Irish Literatures and Culture: Old and New Knowledges,” NUI Maynooth, Ireland, 26-30 July 2010.
“Two Irishmen Abroad: Constructions of National Identity and Its Impact on the Theatrical Reception of Oscar Wilde and Bernard Shaw in Vienna”
with Barbara Pfeifer. European Federation of Associations and Centres of Irish Studies (EFACIS) Conference “Ireland in/and Europe: Cross-Currents and Exchanges,” University of Vienna, 3-6 September 2009.
“A ‘First-Rate Theatrical Fashion Article’: Trading Wilde in the Fin-de-Siècle Viennese Literary Marketplace.”
IASIL Conference “Irish Literatures – World Perspectives,” University of Glasgow, Scotland, 27-31 July 2009.
“‘They actually succeed in spelling his name right’: The Viennese Fin-de-Siècle Image of Oscar Wilde.”
Conference “Century’s End: Re-Evaluating Literature, Art and Culture at the Fin de Siècle (1880-1914),” Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland, 12-13 September 2008.
“The Importance of Commemorating a Literary Celebrity.”
Conference “Ireland and Popular Culture,” University of Reims, France, 19-20 October 2012.
“‘Practically Rewritten – and Sexually Reoriented’: The Critical Controversy Surrounding the Viennese Première of Elfriede Jelinek’s Adaptation of The Importance of Being Earnest.”
IASIL Conference “Conflict and Resolution in Irish Literatures,” University of Leuven, Belgium, 18-22 July 2011.
“(Re)Politicised and Over(Sexualised) – Wild(e) Treatments on Twenty-First-Century Viennese Stages.”
6th Irish Society for Theatre Research (ISTR) Conference “Interfaces Between Irish and European Theatre,” University of Pécs, Hungary, 29-30 April 2011.
“London Dandy Meets Viennese Bonvivant: The Cultural ‘Other’ in Oscar Wilde’s Society Comedies on Viennese Stages.”
IASIL Conference “Irish Literatures and Culture: Old and New Knowledges,” NUI Maynooth, Ireland, 26-30 July 2010.
“Two Irishmen Abroad: Constructions of National Identity and Its Impact on the Theatrical Reception of Oscar Wilde and Bernard Shaw in Vienna”
with Barbara Pfeifer. European Federation of Associations and Centres of Irish Studies (EFACIS) Conference “Ireland in/and Europe: Cross-Currents and Exchanges,” University of Vienna, 3-6 September 2009.
“A ‘First-Rate Theatrical Fashion Article’: Trading Wilde in the Fin-de-Siècle Viennese Literary Marketplace.”
IASIL Conference “Irish Literatures – World Perspectives,” University of Glasgow, Scotland, 27-31 July 2009.
“‘They actually succeed in spelling his name right’: The Viennese Fin-de-Siècle Image of Oscar Wilde.”
Conference “Century’s End: Re-Evaluating Literature, Art and Culture at the Fin de Siècle (1880-1914),” Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland, 12-13 September 2008.
“The (Not So) Secret Fall of Oscar Wilde: Literary Celebrity and Its Afterlives in Contemporary Biofiction and Popular Culture.”
“En-Nobeling Literary Celebrity: Authorial Self-Fashioning in the Nobel Lectures of Jelinek and Pinter.”
“Literary Cosmopolitans and Agents of Mediation: Oscar Wilde and Fin-de-Siècle Viennese Artistic Networks.”
“Wild(e) Imaginings: Reinventing Oscar Wilde in Contemporary Theatre and Popular Culture.”
“The Art of Creating (and Remaining) a Great Sensation: Canonising and Reinterpreting Oscar Wilde on Twentieth- and Twenty-First-Century Viennese Stages.”
“An Artefact of Commodified Culture: Trading Oscar Wilde in the Viennese Literary Marketplace.”
“An Irishman in Vienna: The Viennese Theatrical Reception of Oscar Wilde in the Twentieth Century.”
“When Critics Disagree the Artist Survives. Oscar Wilde: An All-Time Favourite of the Viennese Stage in the Twentieth Century.”
“The United Kingdom – Facets of British National Identity.”
Invited Talks
“A Writer in Search of a Political Subject (and Himself): Stephen Spender's Literary Engagement with 1930s Vienna"
Writing1900 Workshop “Authorship, Authority, and Activism”, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, 27-28 September 2024.
“A Bridge Between England and Austria: Literary Love Letters and Nineteenth-Century Female Authorship"
Writing1900 Workshop “Literary Love Tourism in the Nineteenth Century”, University of Copenhagen, 23-25 May 2024.
“Encoding Semantics, Doubt, and Interpretation in Scholarly Digital Editing"
With Timo Frühwirth. Workshop “Recent Advances in Digital Philology”, University of Vienna, 15 December 2023.
“Modeling Content and Uncertainty in the Auden Musulin Papers”
With Massimiliano Carloni, Daniel Elsner, Timo Frühwirth, Dimitra Grigoriou. Workshop “Life Narrative and the Digital 2023”, Austrian Centre for Digital Humanities and Cultural Heritage, Austrian Academy of Sciences, 26 September 2023.
“'To give a word of sympathy' - Women Writers Speaking Out: Agency, Activism, and Authorial Autobiomyths”
International Conference „Transforming Victorian Orality“, University of Regensburg, 13-15 July 2023.
“Formalisierte Darstellung von Unsicherheit im speziellen Fall einer digitalen Brief-Edition: Die Auden Musulin Papers”
with Timo Frühwirth, „Biografieforschung und -vermittlung im digitalen Raum“, Workshop Biography Research Network, Austrian Centre for Digital Humanities and Cultural Heritage, Vienna, 5 May 2023.
“The Author as Activist: Refugee Tales and the Politics of Literary Celebrity.”
„Refugee Tales: An Interdisciplinary Workshop“, University of Vienna, 20-21 May 2022.
“Digitale Edition als Life-Writing-Projekt: 'Persona' als Schlüsselkonzept?”
(with Timo Frühwirth), workshop Biography Research Network, Vienna City Library, 6 May 2022.
“Auden Musulin Papers: A Digital Edition of W. H. Auden's Letters to Stella Musulin”
(with Timo Frühwirth, Peter Andorfer and Daniel Stoxreiter), ACDH-CH Research Lunch, Austrian Center for Digital Humanities and Cultural Heritage, Austrian Academy of Sciences, 7 December 2021. Online, via Zoom.
“The Author as Activist: Literary Celebrity and Authorial Autobiomyths.”
MA Seminar “The History and Theory of Celebrity“, English Department, University of Zurich, summer term 2021, 2 June 2021. Pre-recorded / online Q&A.
“Life Writing, Celebrity, Cultural Memory.”
(With Julia Lajta-Novak). Lecture Series “Literary and Cultural Theories and Concepts“, English Department, University of Vienna, winter term 2020/21, 8 January 2021. Pre-recorded / online Q&A.
“Celebrity Studies: A Historical Perspective.”
Lecture Series “Celebrity & Memory: Victorian & Neo-Victorian Perspectives“, English Department, University of Vienna, winter term 2020/21, 15 October 2020. Pre-recorded / online Q&A.
“Art & Action: Literary Authorship, Politics, Celebrity Culture.”
“Art & Action: Literary Authorship, Politics, Celebrity Culture.”
Art & Action webinar series opening address, Zoom online event, The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities, 3 July 2020.
"Art and Action: Authorship, Celebrity, Politics."
“Art and Action: Authorship, Celebrity, Politics.“ Digital Research Forum, Oxford Centre for Life-Writing, 7 April 2020.
“Auto/Biography, Gender, Celebrity.”
"Performing the Celebrity Self: Benjamin Disraeli and Oscar Wilde."
“Performing the Celebrity Self: Benjamin Disraeli and Oscar Wilde.“ Guest Lecture British Studies Faculty Seminar, Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin, 27 September 2019. Recording available here.
"Lionism, Home Stories, Birthday Books: The Politics and Poetics of Victorian Celebrity Culture."
“Lionism, Home Stories, Birthday Books: The Politics and Poetics of Victorian Celebrity Culture.“ Guest Lecture English Seminar, University of Zurich, 10 April 2019.
"An Artefact of Commodified Culture: Trading Oscar Wilde in the Fin-de-Siècle Viennese Literary Marketplace."
“An Artefact of Commodified Culture: Trading Oscar Wilde in the Fin-de-Siècle Viennese Literary Marketplace.“ AHRC Decadence and Translation Network Workshop “Publishing Decadence in Translation,“ Birkbeck/Senate House, University of London, 12 February 2019.
"I wish to act what I write': Disraeli's 'Autobiographical Life' and Cross-Field Performances of Celebrity."
Workshop “Celebrity Cultures,“ English Seminar, University of Zurich, 2 December 2017.
"'My Secret Life': Victorian Erotic Memoir as Life-Writing Genre."
Distinguished Lecture Series “Screening Pleasure,“ University of Vienna, 28 March 2017.
"Celebrity and Life-Writing in Dialogue: An Introduction."
Colloquium “Celebiography: Celebrity and Life-Writing in Dialogue,“ The Oxford Centre for Life-Writing, Wolfson College, 19 November 2016.
"Disraeli's 'Spectre of Unsatisfied Ambition': Literary Celebrity in/and Political Office."
Symposium “Art and Action: The Intersections of Literary Celebrity and Politics,“ The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities, University of Oxford, 24 March 2015. Podcast available here.
"Approaching Celebrity across Periods and Disciplines."
Distinguished Lecture Series “Cultures of Celebrity,“ University of Vienna, 15 October 2015.
"Pegasus and Carthorse: The Many Shades of Disraeli's Celebrity."
Symposium “The Many Lives of Benjamin Disraeli: Fame, Legacy, Representations,“ The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities, University of Oxford, 24 March 2015.
"A 'Strange Mingling': Disraeli as a Literary Celebrity and Celebrity Politician."
Life-Writers of London Postgraduate and Early-Career Researcher Colloquium in conjunction with the Centre for Life-Writing Research, King’s College London, 9 March 2015.
"The Prime Minister as Celebrity Novelist: 'Lothairmania' and Disraeli's 'Double Consciousness'."
"A 'Nineteenth-Century Richard Burton'? Disraeli as a Victorian Celebrity."
Wednesday Winter Lecture, National Trust Hughenden Manor, High Wycombe, 21 January 2015.
"Following the Primrose Path: Intersections of Literary and Political Fame in Commemorations of Benjamin Disraeli."
OCLW Seminar “The Author in the Popular Imagination: Authorship, Fame and Politics in Nineteenth-Century Britain,“ The Oxford Centre for Life-Writing (OCLW), Wolfson College, 14 November 2014.
“On the Reception of Irish Drama in Vienna.”
“Literary Biography and Celebrity: Re-Evaluating Victorian Authors from the Perspective of Celebrity Studies.”
“The (Not So) Secret Fall of Oscar Wilde: Literary Celebrity and Its Afterlives in Contemporary Biofiction and Popular Culture.”
“En-Nobeling Literary Celebrity: Authorial Self-Fashioning in the Nobel Lectures of Jelinek and Pinter.”
“Literary Cosmopolitans and Agents of mediation: Oscar Wilde and Fin-de-Siècle Viennese Artistic Networks.”
“Wild(e) Imaginings: Reinventing Oscar Wilde in Contemporary Theatre and Popular Culture.”
“The Art of Creating (and Remaining) a Great Sensation: Canonising and Reinterpreting Oscar Wilde on Twentieth- and Twenty-First-Century Viennese Stages.”
“An Artefact of Commodified Culture: Trading Oscar Wilde in the Viennese Literary Marketplace.”
“An Irishman in Vienna: The Viennese Theatrical Reception of Oscar Wilde in the Twentieth Century.”
“When Critics Disagree the Artist Survives. Oscar Wilde: An All-Time Favourite of the Viennese Stage in the Twentieth Century.”
“The United Kingdom – Facets of British National Identity.”
Roundtables &
Panel Discussions
"Exploring the Scandalous"
Seminar co-organised with Sylvia Mieszkowski and Barbara Straumann, ESSE Conference 2024, University of Lausanne, 26-30 August 2024 (chair; speakers: Charlotte Boyce, Stephan Karschay, Meredith Malburne-Wade).
TORCH Book at Lunchtime: Authorship, Activism and Celebrity
Recorded panel discussion with Ruth Scobie, Simon Morgan, and Hannah Yelin, „TORCH Book at Lunchtime“, The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities, 31 January 2024 (speaker).
Life Narrative and the Digital: Roundtable Discussion
Roundtable discussion with Caitríona Ní Dhúill, Anna Spitzbart, Christian Wachter, and Florian Windhager, „Life Narrative and the Digital 2023: An Interdisciplinary Workshop and Conference“, Austrian Centre for Digital Humanities and Cultural Heritage, 27 September 2023 (chair).
Interview with Anna Pincus and David Herd (Refugee Tales project)
Interview with Anna Pincus and David Herd, „Refugee Tales: An Interdisciplinary Workshop“, University of Vienna, 20 May 2022. (chair, together with Sylvia Mieszkowski)
"The Writers' Activism of PEN"
“The Writers‘ Activism of PEN,“ online panel discussion with Peter D. McDonald, Rachel Potter, Laetitia Zecchini, Carles Torner, and Margie Orford. Art & Action webinar series, The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities, 18 September 2020. (chair)
"Auto/Biographie, Gender und Celebrity"
“Auto/Biographie, Gender und Celebrity,“ with Julia Lajta-Novak. Workshop Biography Research Network, University of Vienna, 15-16 November 2019. (speaker/chair)
"Persona Studies and Theatre"
with Mary Luckhurst and Matt Hargrave. International Persona Studies Conference, Newcastle University, Newcastle, 25-26 June 2019. (speaker)
"Die Aktualität von W.H. Auden"
with Timo Frühwirth and Helmut Neundlinger. W.H. Auden Begegnungstag, W.H. Auden Memorial, Kirchstetten, Lower Austria, 15 June 2019. (speaker)
"Oscar Wilde in Vienna"
“Oscar Wilde in Vienna,“ with Stefano Evangelista, Mary Luckhurst, and Dominic Janes. The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH), 8 February 2019. (speaker)
"Victorian and Neo-Victorian Patterns of Celebrity"
with Charlotte Boyce, Danielle Dove, and Patricia Pulham. BAVS 2018 Annual Conference “Victorian Patterns,“ University of Exeter, Exeter, 29-31 August 2018. (speaker)
"Life-Writing across Disciplines: Theory and Practice"
with Hermione Lee, Elisabeth Bronfen, Gesine Krüger, Svenja Goltermann. University of Zurich, Switzerland, 1 June 2018. (speaker)
"Literary Celebrity and Political Persona"
with P. David Marshall, Rachel Potter, and Kirsty Gunn. The Oxford Centre for Life-Writing, Wolfson College, 14 May 2018. (chair)
"Transnational Lives and Cosmopolitan Biographies"
with Stefano Evangelista, Laura Marcus, Claudia Olk, Jürgen Schlaeger. The Oxford Centre for Life-Writing, Wolfson College, 17 March 2018. (chair)
"Celebrity and Life-Writing: Theoretical and Practical Perspectives"
with Hermione Lee, Philip Bullock, Ruth Scobie, Lindsay Shapero. The Oxford Centre for Life-Writing, Wolfson College, 16 November 2016. (chair)
