The Invasion Network

SUMMARY OF THE PAPERS Conference report for ‘Britain Afraid: Imperial Insecurities and National Fears, 1798-1945’, organised by Dr James Crossland and hosted by Liverpool John MooresUniversity in collaboration with the Invasion Network, 21–22 June 2022 Anxieties related to the maintenance and expansion of the Empire, fear of internal radicalism,international extremism, and the invasion in Great... Continue Reading →

“BRITAIN AFRAID: IMPERIAL INSECURITIES AND NATIONAL FEARS” Liverpool John Moores University, 21-22 June 2022 CONFERENCE SCHEDULE KEYNOTE Kim A. Wagner (Queen Mary, University of London) The Imperial Imagination and the Politics of Fear SPEAKERS Ailise Bulfin (University College Dublin) William Le Queux, Master of Misinformation: Populism, Invasion Scares and War Propaganda in Britain, 1880–1920 This... Continue Reading →

Britain Afraid: Imperial Insecurities and National Fears, 1798-1945 Liverpool John Moores University 21-22 June 2022 Keynote Speaker: Professor Kim Wagner (Queen Mary, UCL) LJMU History, in partnership with the Invasion Network, is holding a two-day conference on the interplay between cultures of anxiety and fears in British national and imperial life at Liverpool John Moores University,... Continue Reading →

We are very excited to promote a double special issue of Critical Survey guest edited by Ailise Bulfin and Harry Wood. ‘William Le Queux, Master of Misinformation: Populism, Invasion Scares and War Propaganda in Britain, 1880–1920’ is an authoritative collection of contemporary Le Queux research, and has contributions from several members of the Invasion Network. This... Continue Reading →

Britain Afraid: Imperial Insecurities and National Fears, 1798-1945 Liverpool John Moores University 11-12 June 2020 postponed till June 21-22 2022  Keynote Speaker: Professor Kim Wagner (Queen Mary, UCL) LJMU History, in partnership with the Invasion Network, invites papers discussing the interplay between cultures of anxiety and fears in British national and imperial life, for presentation... Continue Reading →

A potentially relevant Victorian Popular Fiction Association study day/mini-conference will be held in Dublin in September. It’s on representations of threatened children in Victorian popular culture and there is potential cross-over with the invasion scare phenomenon in terms of looking at how children are represented in invasion fiction/used for propaganda purposes. CFP for Victorian Popular... Continue Reading →

I think it’s fair to say the Invasion Network successfully invaded the excellent 2018 Victorian Popular Fiction Association conference, and many thanks to the organisers Janine Hatter, Helena Ifill and Jane Jordan for hosting us. From an invasion fiction reading group to two panels devoted to the invasion theme, the network’s key area of interest... Continue Reading →

We are delighted to announce that the Invasion Network is hosting a special panel at the 10th annual Victorian Popular Fiction Association conference, themed ‘War and Peace’, at the Institute for English Studies, University of London, Senate House this July 3rd – 7th. Special Panel 1: Invasion, Empire and Popular Anxieties 1880-1918 – in association with the... Continue Reading →

We are delighted to share this piece by Invasion Network member Antony Taylor (Sheffield Hallam). It is based on a paper first delivered at the ‘War of the Worlds’ workshop in Lancaster (September 2017). — Before Los Angeles was routinely subject to destruction in fiction and cinema, most fantasies of urban collapse in the United... Continue Reading →

Workshop & Meeting report for ‘War of the Worlds: Transnational Fears of Invasion and Conflict 1870-1933’, Invasion Network workshop at Lancaster University, 8th September 2017 Summary of the papers and discussion Overall the workshop met its core aim of broadening the focus on the invasion scare phenomenon to consider how invasion was represented outside Britain and... Continue Reading →

‘War of the Worlds: Transnational Fears of Invasion and Conflict 1870-1933’ Invasion Network workshop funded by the Irish Research Council and hosted by the Department of History at Lancaster University. All talks take place in the Storey Institute, Meeting House Lane, Central Lancaster. 8th September 2017. 9.45 – 10.00 Opening remarks by Ailise Bulfin and... Continue Reading →

Words to that Effect Literary Podcast series by Dr Conor Reid. Episode 1: Invasion Fiction, William Le Queux, and Fake News with Dr Ailise Bulfin What is invasion fiction? Who was the mysterious William Le Queux? Why did a group of famous British authors secretly meet at the outbreak of World War I? And what did “fake... Continue Reading →

Extended CFP Deadline 31st July War of the Worlds: Transnational Fears of Invasion and Conflict 1870-1933 One-day international workshop organised by the Invasion Network at Lancaster University, 8th September 2017. Key-note speaker: Professor Emeritus David Glover Call for Papers Deadline: 31st July 2017 Hosted by the Department of History, Lancaster University and supported by the... Continue Reading →

In the following, I want to share some recent bibliographical findings and musings about William Le Queux. While planning the Invasion Network’s forthcoming special issue on Le Queux in Critical Survey, I committed myself (rashly) to trying to establish the veracity of the often-cited, but never substantiated claim that The Invasion of 1910 (1906) sold... Continue Reading →

We are delighted to promote the below conference co-organised by Peter Keeling, an Invasion Network member and blog contributor. To download a copy please use the below link: Invasion_to_Integration

Eleventh months on from our inaugural conference, the Invasion Network met at Lancaster University on 2nd May to discuss ongoing research and future projects. Hosted by the Head of Lancaster’s Department of History Mike Hughes, attending IN members included Ailise Bulfin, Michael Matin, Pete Mills, Tony Taylor, and Harry Wood. The primary topic of conversation... Continue Reading →

This post by Peter Keeling (University of Kent) is adapted from a paper delivered at the recent Social History Society Conference in Lancaster, as part of the ‘Popular Invasion Scares’ panel. pmk22@kent.ac.uk —- In 1883 the Liberal journalist Sir Francis Lawley penned an essay reflecting upon the contemporary invasion ‘scare’ aroused by a project to... Continue Reading →

I am delighted to report that three members of the network will be speaking at the Social History Society annual conference at Lancaster University next week (21-23 March). The panel details and abstracts are included below. Please make an effort to come if you are attending the event.   Popular Invasion Scares: The Creation, Manipulation,... Continue Reading →

Christian Melby’s account of how invasion fiction portrays all four official nineteenth century British nationalities – English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh – as being inextricably bound to each other in the context of future armed conflict fits well with my perspective that colonial factors were very important in the production of invasion fiction (read Christian’s post).... Continue Reading →

This piece by Harry Wood (University of Liverpool) comes to the Invasion Network from the archive of his research blog Island Mentalities. Originally posted 14th January 2015. — Although Edwardian invasion-scare fiction was written by people from a range of backgrounds, the genre’s authors can be neatly divided in two, between civilians on the one... Continue Reading →