The London Network for Modern Fiction was founded jointly by Dr. Richard Lane and Dr. Philip Tew
in 1999. The purpose of the organisation was to promote activities and research in literary studies,
criticism and theory focused on creative and cultural contexts after 1890.
The Network soon became well known for its activities and in particular its relaxed and supportive academic events.
Events organised by the Network have attracted participants from Britain, Europe, North America and elsewhere, and
contributions from research-students as well as internationally well-known research professors, including:
Prof. Mary Bryden, Prof. Simon Critchley, Prof. Andrew Gibson, Prof. Stanley Gontarski, Prof. Peter Lamarque,
Prof. Christopher Norris, Prof. Lois Oppenheim, and Prof. Patricia Waugh.
Significantly, the Network has created links and a number of publication opportunities for academics in the humanities
and social sciences. After the departure of Dr. Richard Lane, to Canada to continue his research career, the London Network
reformed and elected and co-opted a number of new officers and instituted its first website. There was a perception that the
geographical base of the Network had become broader: it was therefore thought that it would be appropriate to rename the
organization the UK Network for Modem Fiction Studies (incorporating the London Network for Modem Fiction Studies).
Two further events in 2003, organized jointly with universities in London and the Midlands, were a great success. In 2004
the Network has helped to organize a conference on Teaching Contemporary British Fiction hosted by the University of Westminster
in association with the British Council (the proceedings are currently being considered for publication by a European refereed
journal) and a summer seminar series on theory and philosophy for scholars who were carrying out research in London during 2004.
On Saturday November 20th, 2004 the Network has assisted in the organisation of the first conference on BS Johnson and his
contemporaries, to be held in London:
Recovering the Truth: B .S. Johnson and Literature in the Late 50s to the Early 70s
Keynote Speaker: the novelist and B. S. Johnson biographer Jonathan Coe
Please contact Dr. Philip Tew for further details (co-organized with Dr. Peter Wilson of LMU)
Plans are already underway to organise several forthcoming conferences and symposia in 2005 Other activities will include
web-networking, and the promotion of further academic interactions.
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