The German Society for Contemporary Theatre and Drama in English announces its 17th Annual Conference (May 01-04, 2008). It will be organized by the Chair of English Literature at the University of Siegen and held at the Akademie Biggesee, Attendorn.

Translation, transformation, appropriation, assimilation, adaptation: these processes of intertextual and intermedial contact have been part and parcel of theatre and drama since the very beginnings. In various guises, they have continued to play a major part in turning narratives into stage events. Linda Hutcheon argued in her recent study A Theory of Adaptation that "every live staging of a printed play could theoretically be considered an adaptation in its performance". While this is of course true in general terms we would like to bring into narrow focus the various processes and cultural issues at stake in converting or actualizing texts as theatre texts - and vice versa. For some time now, the academic sub-discipline of "Adaptation Studies" has been active in exploring adaptive processes, but we feel that this burgeoning research area has yet to make its full impact on theatre and drama studies. This has probably to do with implicit reservations against adaptive work and a bias towards the problematic idea of originality. The renowned adaptor Helen Edmundson has recently called upon the Bard to defend adaptation: "Shakespeare plundered other people's stories shamelessly. And people didn't say; 'That's not a play, it's an adaptation". Taking as our point of departure Kamilla Elliott's statement that adaptation is "theoretically impossible yet culturally ubiquitous" we will seek to theorize a number of significant cases from within this ubiquity of adaptations across media and genres.

(posted 27 Oct '07)

The first English opera libretti recreated and rewrote the mythical, literary and historical heritage of Greece and Rome, like John Blow's Venus & Adonis, sometimes considered as the first English opera. Davenant's Siege of Rhodes (1656), another contender for the title of first English opera, was followed in 1659 by A History of Francis Drake, which rewrote the history of the kingdom and dramatised one of its heroes in the same manner as Marlowe's or Shakespeare's histories. Theatre owners revived past hits dressed up as opera or semi-opera, like Shakespeare's Tempest. Later on, librettists drew upon famous English or continental best-sellers, like Richardson's Pamela or Fielding's Tom Jones. The nineteenth century was the apex for the rewriting of English history and literature. Plays and novels by Walter Scott, Byron and Shakespeare inspired as many libretti as the classical heritage and Tasso earlier on. Michael Balfe's great hit The Bohemian Girl was translated into Italian and the composer became known in Italy as Signor Balfi, while other British composers like Ethel Smyth had their operas first performed on the Continent.

Rewriting the nation's history or its great works for opera, which took place all over the English-speaking word, in the US as well as in Australia recently, raises several questions involving aesthetics, linguistics, politics and social and cultural studies. Do the libretti faithfully follow the models or do they adapt them for different audiences and times? Do they serve a particular agenda, exalting a national identity, turning the past into myth as a reaction to progress, expressing the fascination for a form of exoticism or building a common European or Western cultural heritage? What images of the UK or the US do they convey both to the natives and the foreign public and to what extent have they changed that vision?  The translation of English libretti into foreign languages also raises many questions: how far do they adapt, transpose or betray the original libretti?

This conference, devoted to the rewriting of the English-speaking world heritage, is opened to researchers in English as well as to comparative literature scholars and will a maximum of 15 papers. Send your abstracts before February 1, 2008 to Gilles Couderc <gcouderc@club-internet.fr>.

(posted 30 Oct '07)

Stanley Cavell's work has been influential for the theory and practice of literary criticism for many years. From his consideration of Beckett and Shakespeare in his first book, Must We Mean What We Say? (1969) to the recent collection of writing on Emerson, Emerson's Transcendental Etudes (2003), Cavell's philosophical concerns have consistently been grounded in the problems and challenges offered by literary texts. This conference, the first to consider explicitly the connection between philosophical practice and literary art in Cavell, will include major
scholars from both sides of the Atlantic. Professor Cavell has agreed to participate in the event.
An edited volume of specially commissioned essays arising out of papers given at the conference is also planned.
Possible topics for consideration include: literary ethics; speech act theory; literary and philosophical romanticism; the idea of America; Shakespeare; modernism and modernity.

(posted 17 Feb '07)

We are pleased to announce the First ELC Postgraduate Conference on English Linguistics (ELC1), to be held at the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain) between 10-11 May 2008. ELC1 aims to provide linguistics postgraduate students with an opportunity to present and discuss their research in an informal and intellectually stimulating setting.

Postgraduate students are invited to submit abstracts for oral presentations on all fields of linguistic research, whether synchronic or diachronic. Papers are to be 20 minutes in length plus 10 minutes for discussion. The conference language is English.

Abstracts will be reviewed anonymously by the programme committee and the authors will be notified of acceptance by 1 February 2008 (by e-mail).

Authors of papers accepted for presentation will be invited to submit their paper for publication (length to be determined) in the volume of conference proceedings. Papers will be subjected to refereeing.

(posted 17 Dec '07)

Within the framework of an ecocritical paradigm that is still constructing itself, this international four-day conference wishes to explore the multiple and changing forms of ecological and ecocritical consciousness in English-language verse, past and present. As such, it will not only interrogate the very notion of ecology and ask what actually constitutes "ecocritical" and ecologically-engaged poetic practice; various panels/sessions will also seek to shed light on the ever so complex issue of "Nature" versus "Text" and on the possible interrelationships between ecological  texts and textual ecologies, between  the systems of Nature and those of Culture. 
The conference invites papers from all English-speaking poetic traditions. Although poetry will be given precedence over other genres, papers devoted to texts breaking down the traditional boundaries between prose and verse or exploring poetry within the framework of multimedia experimentation (including digital and performance poetry) are also welcome. Contributions from poets addressing the questions of ecological/ecocritical aesthetics and compositional practice are equally encouraged.
Possible topics include: The shattering of the realist-naturalist "mirror of Nature"; experiments in "cooperative" writing with Nature; Bioregional sensibilities and the sense of place/space; Urban and suburban ecologies; Ecofeminist perspectives; Mysticism and "ecopieties" from First Nations to postmodernity; The interaction between "mindscape" and landscape; The interaction between scientific and poetic discourses; Eco-metaphors and the problem of translating Nature into Language
Twenty-minute paper proposals should be received no later than 31 October 2007. Please e-mail abstracts of approximately 250-300 words, together with a short biography, in rtf format to Dr. Franca Bellarsi, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Department of Modern Languages and Literatures. E-mail: <fbellars@ulb.ac.be>.

(posted 4 Aug '07)

The International Association for Literary Journalism Studies invites submissions of original research papers, abstracts for research in progress and proposals for panels on Literary Journalism for the IALJS annual convention on 15-17 May 2008. The conference will be held at the Instituto Superior de Ciências Sociais e Políticas at the Universidade Técnica de Lisboa (TULisbon), Lisbon, Portugal.
The conference hopes to be a forum for scholarly work of both breadth and depth in the field of literary journalism, and all research methodologies are welcome, as are research on all aspects of literary journalism and/or literary reportage. For the purpose of scholarly delineation, our definition of literary journalism is "journalism as literature" rather than "journalism about literature." The association especially hopes to receive papers related to the general conference theme, "Literary Journalism: Theory, Practice, Pedagogy." All submissions must be in English. Deadline for all submissions: no later than 31 January 2008.
For more information regarding the conference, please see the full CFP at http://www.ialjs.org (choose "May 2008 Conference"), or contact either: Dr John Bak (Nancy-Université) at <john.bak@univ-nancy2.fr>, or Dr David Abrahamson (Northwestern University, Chicago) at <d-abrahamson@northwestern.edu>.

(posted 15 Jun '07)

(posted 1 Oct '07)

The aim of this international symposium is to contribute to the study of metaphenomena in literature and other arts and media. This contribution should include:
•  reconceptualizing 'metafiction'/'meta-reference' as a concept that is applicable to literature as well as to works of other arts and media;
•  collecting and interpreting relevant examples of metareference (this concerns notably film, the visual arts and music, moreover, e.g., sculpture and architecture) and devising conceptual and terminological tools for these areas, where appropriate;
•  exploring major historical forms, functions and effects of meta-works as well as the general development of meta-referemce in cultural history, and finding possible reasons for it;
•  discussing the capacity for meta-reference of individual media and genres from a media-comparative point of view. Papers (in English) are welcome that deal with any of the above-mentioned topics, be it from a theoretical/systematic or a historical perspective. We especially encourage papers that go beyond 'metafiction', notably with reference to other literary genres, film, the pictorical arts, music etc., but also invite individual case-studies. However, all papers should address the wider concerns mentioned, in particular media-comparative aspects. Length of papers: 30 minutes.

(posted 24 Oct '07)

Dr. Eamon Maher,
Director,
National Centre for Franco-Irish Studies ,
ITT Dublin,
Tallaght,
Dublin 24
Eire
E-mail: <eamon.maher@ittdublin.ie>
Phone: + 353 (0)1 4042871.

Dr. Yann Bévant,
Centre d'Etudes Irlandaises
UFR Langues
Université Rennes 2
35043 Rennes cedex
France

E-Mail : <yann.bevant@uhb.fr>
Phone : + 0033 (0)299 141 628.

Pr Peadar Kirby (Dublin City University)
Pr Catherine Maignant (Université Lille 3)

(posted 7 jan '08)

Fundamentalism, which implies strict adherence to the fundamental principles of a set of beliefs, typically relies for guidance on one Book, spurning all other books, and rejects any equivocal plurality of interpretations: there is but one book, one truth, one meaning. Literature on the other hand implies a multiplicity of meanings and readings, a multiplicity of books, and endless intertextuality, with every new work providing new readings and a rewriting of many other previous works. In other words, literalness and literariness seem to belong to opposite poles. Our post-modern world takes multiplicity for granted, but it is also the locus in which fundamentalisms, especially of the religious kind, have multiplied and thrived. For instance, among Evangelicals in the USA, Islamist Muslims in many countries, Nationalist Hindus in India, orthodox Jews in Israel, etc., many are those who define themselves and/or act as fundamentalists. Their hatred of books can take the milder form of bans, or more radical forms such as harassment and murder of authors.
The aim of this conference is to enquire into the relationships between fundamentalism(s) and literature, an association that so far has been rarely studied: literature can be for fundamentalism a sophisticated propaganda tool, but in most cases literature becomes a privileged platform of resistance to fundamentalisms and all forms of essentialisms.
Contributors are encouraged to look into the different possible negotiations of literature with fundamentalisms, principally (but not exclusively) within the field of literature in English. In this context, could it be said that the functions of resistance and commitment within the literary text, hitherto fallen into the scorned category of the unfashionable and politically incorrect, are being given a new lease of life? The literary texts thus scrutinised need not be recent: proposals on John Milton, Voltaire, or Jonathan Swift are possible examples alongside contemporary authors such as Salman Rushdie. Contributors may wish to consult the following previous publications: Pesso-Miquel, C. and K. Stierstorfer (eds.). Fundamentalism and Literature. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. Cf. also the forthcoming issue of The Journal of Postcolonial Writing (43. 2 [August 2007]).
All papers must be delivered in English. Please send a provisional title and an abstract (300 to 500 words), by email, to <Catherine.Pesso.Miquel@univ-lyon2.fr>. Postal address: Université de Lyon (Lyon 2), Faculté des Langues, 74, rue Pasteur, 69365 Lyon Cedex 07.

(posted 3 Jul '07)

This is an international conference organized by ICTT ("Laboratoire Identité culturelle, textes et théâtralité").
Contemporary aesthetics is characterised by generic mixing on the level of both form and content.  The barriers between different medias and different genres have been broken down in all literary art forms, whether it be theatre, poetry, or the novel. While the publishing industry is increasingly keen to label novels according to genre or sub-genre (“Chick Lit”, “Lad Lit”, “Gay fiction”, “Scottish fiction”, “New Historical Fiction”, “Crime fiction”), the novel itself (and novelists) persist in resisting generic categorisations as well as inviting them. Is this a move towards a new artistic liberty or does it simply testify to a confusion of identity? The “aesthetic supermarket” evoked by Lodge in 1992 (“The Novelist Today:  Still at the Crossroads?”) does indeed seem to sum up the variety of choices open to writers of fiction today and a literary landscape characterised by crossover and hybridisation. The familiar dialectic of realism versus experimentation has segued into a middle ground of consensus which is neither radical not populist, but both at the same time.  The techniques of postmodernism have become selling points for novels and the Postmodern Condition itself seems little more than a narrative posture marketed for an increasingly wide audience. Whether they have recourse to a “repertoire of imposture” (Amis, Self, Winterson), as Richard Bradford would have it (The Novel Now, 2007), in other words “the abandonment of any obligation to explain or justify their excursions form credulity and mimesis” (65-66), or, like the New Puritans, make use of narrative minimalism in order to foreground their own peculiarities, contemporary novelists consistently draw attention to the fundamental instability of narrative process and genre.  The much-feared apocalypse of the novel has failed to take place with the arrival of the new millennium, but generic game-playing and flickering, narrative hesitation and uncertainty continue to pose the question of what constitutes a novel today and to challenge its identity in a world where all culture is increasingly public, increasingly contested and increasingly multifarious.
We invite papers on the concepts of generic instability and cross-fertilization, of narrative postures and impostures, and on their constant redefinition of identity, which contaminates the very concept of genre. Theoretical approaches as well as analyses of specific works are welcome.
The deadline for abstract submissions of 300 words from those interested in presenting papers to the organizers is January 31st 2008.
For further enquiries, please contact:
Madelena Gonzalez <madelena.gonzalez09@orange.fr> or Marie-Odile Hédon <mohedon@free.fr>.

(posted 31 Oct '07)

This conference expresses our interest in academic dialogue within the European cultural space. We aim at a transdisciplinary approach to the representations of the identity concept, a definitory one for a social, national or European community, bringing together aspects from linguistics, literature as well as cultural studies.

Papers will be presented within the corresponding section. Each paper presentation will be alloted 20 minutes for presentation and discussions. The languages of presentation will be Romanian, English and French. 

(posted 5 Jan '08)

The next Conference of the Hellenic Association for the Study of English will take place in Thessaloniki.
Within the global environment of late modernity, concepts of the mass are taking on new meaning. This conference aims to address the cultural and linguistic implications of theories of individual and collective identity, past and present, and to stimulate discussion on changing social bonds emerging from new tensions between the local and the global.
Participants are invited to consider the following possible areas: Individual and collective subjectivities; Topographies of the private and the public; Mass media(tions); Group psychology; Changing social bonds; Local and global organizations of meaning; Populism; Homogeneity, heterogeneity, hegemony; Agency and structure.
Plenary speakers include, among others: Moira Gatens (Univ. of Sydney), Arthur Kroker (Univ. of Victoria, Canada), Ernesto Laclau (Univ. of Essex), Mandy Merck (Royal Holloway, Univ. of London).
Abstracts of 300-350 words should be sent to: Fotini Apostolou <fapostol@enl.auth.gr>, Ruth Parkin-Gounelas <gounelas@lit.auth.gr>, Nicola Rehling <rehling@enl.auth.gr>.
Postal address for all 3: Department of English, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki 541 24, Greece.
Website: http://www.enl.auth.gr/hase/conf/

(posted 18 Apr '07, updated 18 Sep '07))

The Centre for Constructions and Identity at the University of Huddersfield is organizing a two day conference to be held on 5th-6th June 2008. The main theme of the conference is 'Britishness' within global contexts, addressing such issues as transnationality of identity, British diasporas and the implications of dual citizenship across the former Empire and beyond.
We seek papers from a range of contributors across disciplinary boundaries to build a coherent and cogent assessment of the importance of Britishness beyond the current borders of the UK
state. The conference will include the following themes:
* Philosophical considerations of post-colonial and post-imperial citizenship and identity.
* The historical legacy of empire: transnational constructions of Britishness.
* British Diasporas and the impact of dual citizenship on identity and governance.
* Representations of Britishness in non-British national media, education and culture.
* Contemporary debates on the value and legacy of Britishness across within the UK, the Republic of Ireland, the Commonwealth, Europe, United States and elsewhere.
Keynote speakers and plenary participants already confirmed include Professor Sir Bernard Crick (University of Edinburgh), Professor Krishan Kumar (University of Virginia), Shahid Mailk MP, Professor Christopher G. A. Bryant (University of Salford), and Professor Paul Ward (University of Huddersfield). Further details of keynote participants to be confirmed.
The conference will provide an integrated programme of presentations from invited keynote speakers, plenary sessions, and a number of themed invitational panels addressing the core themes (including a dedicated post-graduate poster presentation session). We are currently in negotiation with Palgrave with a view to producing an edited volume of selected papers from the conference.
We would invite abstract submissions of 300 words from those interested in presenting papers to the organizers by November 1st 2007.

(posted 10 Oct '07, updated 9 Nov '07))

FAAAM (CREA, EA 370) is organizing its annual colloquium on 6 and 7 June 2008, on the topic chosen last year: Rewriting the Canon in Women’s Literature in English.
Guest speaker: Cristina Bacchilega , author of several books, notably Postmodern Fairy Tales. Gender and Narrative Strategies (1997), discussed by Anne Chassagnol during our October seminar.
In her now famous article, "When We Dead Awaken: Writing as Re-Vision", Adrienne Rich wrote in 1971: "Re-vision - the act of looking back, of seeing with fresh eyes, of entering an old text from a new critical direction - is for women more than a chapter in cultural history: it is an act of survival". In this same pamphlet, she envisaged the rewriting of the Literature Canon as a necessary rupture from the past ("we need to know the writing of the past, and know it differently than we have ever known it; not to pass on a tradition but to break its hold over us.")
Rich was referencing a long tradition of masculin texts she had herself worked to "re-view" in her poems by using the famous works of Yeats, Wordsworth or William Blake for example, as critical metatextual commentaries. For her, "re-viewing" did not simply consist in a "transposition" or a "textual permutation" (to use the formulations of Julia Kristeva’s attempt to define intertextuality in La Révolution du langage poétique or in Séméiotikè). It was not either a purely recreational, postmodern endeavour. With the same ambition for stylistic creativity, Rich saw rewriting first and foremost as a political act.
Since the 1970s, other women writers have undertaken this re-reading, re-interpretation and re-writing of canonic texts, whether in Great-Britain (Angela Carter) or in the United States, where minority authors play with the double literary tradition (male and western) to counter it with their own double discourse (female and ethnic), for aesthetic and political purposes. Rewriting of the "master’s discourse" echoes the African American art of "Signifying".
Presenters will attempt, through detailed text analyses, to apprehend the various forms of rewriting, the specific relation between the hypertext and the hypotext, and the levels at which they operate. One question of interest is whether, like for Rich, rewriting necessarily implies a break from the old order or if, in certain cases, there is a form of continuity.
Abstracts should be sent by April 30 to Claire Bazin <cbaz1@wanadoo.fr> (British and Post-Colonial literatures) or to Marie-Claude Perrin-Chenour <marie-claude.chenour@wanadoo.fr> (American literature).

(posted 16 Jan '08)

This is an international conference organised by the Université du Maine with the participation of the Université de Rennes 2 and the Modernist Magazine Research Group based at the Université Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris 3. Its aim is to continue research already underway into the role and importance of magazines in the emergence and propagation of artistic and literary modernism on the international stage. The conference will examine the relations between modernist magazines - English, American and others - and the political context in the years 1900 to 1939, focusing on two fundamental questions:
How the development of modernist magazines is frequently related to political situations, affiliations, conflicts and commitments; how, although they may define themselves as purely "aesthetic" or officially "apolitical", such magazines are inscribed in the ideological contexts of their time.
These questions in turn raise others, such as:
The structural or dialogical links between modernist magazines and the political institutions, parties, currents, ideas or personalities of the time.
The insertion of political discourse into modernist magazines, and the exchanges, contradictions and conflicts which it entails.
The evolution of modernist magazines in the context of the emergence of overtly politicised literary or artistic practices, e.g., literature which conceives of itself as the aesthetic realisation of clearly defined ideological dogma.
Whether the evolution of modernist magazines can be historicised in terms of thresholds (e.g. 1914, 1917, 1919, 1929, 1936 or others) which put political questions in the cultural limelight.
Papers related to such themes or, more generally, to the forms, history and culture of modernist magazines as seen from a political perspective are welcome. They should be given in French or English and last around 20 minutes. Please send 150-word abstracts to both Hélène Aji <helene.aji@univ-lemans.fr> and Benoît Tadié <tadiebenoit@yahoo.fr> by November 1st, 2007.

(posted 1 Oct '07)

Brunel University's Centre for American, Transatlantic and Caribbean History (CATCH) is organising a one-day conference on 7th June 2008 to discuss transatlantic perspectives on American women's history. The conference will reflect on the contours of American's women's history research today, particularly amongst scholars and postgraduates working and studying in the UK, although papers are also welcome from those researching in the United States and elsewhere. The conference will include two plenaries. One will be given by Professor Jay Kleinberg, Director of CATCH and an editor of the recently published: The Practice of US Women's History: Narratives, Intersections and Dialogues, who will address US women's history practice and practitioners in the UK. Professor of Women's and American Studies at the University of Kansas, Ann Schofield, will discuss transatlantic approaches to American women's and gender history. The conference will consist of discussion panels, chaired by historians such as Dr. Inge Dornan (Brunel), where panellists will summarise the arguments of their pre-circulated papers and questions will follow. There will also be poster sessions where postgraduates and others can outline their research project. The conference organisers are aware of the need for greater discussion of American women's history within the United Kingdom where innovative research is taking place. It is hoped that the papers will be published and that a network and an annual conference will be established as outcomes of this conference.
Themes of the conference could include but are not limited to:
Papers are welcome from established academics, early career scholars and postgraduates. There will be no charge for the conference which will be held at Brunel University in Uxbridge, Middlesex. Lunch and refreshments will be provided.

This one-day conference is organized by GRAAT, Université François Rabelais, Tours, France.
The body is, no doubt, the first locus where a culture leaves its imprint on a person. From the very moment of our birth, before we become aware of ourselves, and long before we become subjects involved in the building of an identity for ourselves and caught in the complex, ambiguous game of representations, we are already comprised (but not always comprehended) in a gaze cast on our bodies.
Anglophone culture, from the Renaissance and then through the elaboration of Puritan and Victorian models in the UK as well as in the US, has developed a voice of its own and imposed a spiritual and philosophical questioning on the place to be assigned to the body˜that of man, woman, and child; but also that of the potentially monstrous and satanic Other, whose humanness is unclear, and those of the banished, stigmatized, enslaved or colonized.
We shall focus on discourses on and representations of the body and its assigned significances at distinct time periods and on each side of the Ocean, as well as in the transatlantic space of the Middle Passage. Official or "sinful" artistic representations of the body in high or low art, discourses on hygiene or esthetics; religious, anthropological or sociological discourses, with a focus on norms and subversion; discourses on moral and/or racial purity, on faces and masks, on societies as political bodies or body politics, or on physical representations of powerful men or women in a cultural space which has always valued the art of caricature˜these are some of the fields we hope to investigate together.
Organization:  Elise Brault  <braultel@wanadoo.fr>.
Cécile Coquet  <ngelele@noos.fr>.
Please send your proposals for papers before February 15, 2008 to the two addresses above. This being a rich theme, we'll consider a cycle of one-day conferences if we receive a large number of proposals.

(posted 3 Oct '07)

Four years ago, we began the call for papers for the "Whither Theory?" conference with a call to arms: "A spectre haunts English studies: the spectre of theory". Four years later, it appears the spectre is doing rather well, and that in the disciplines that make up English studies the need to assert the existence of theory, to defend its role, is no longer felt so strongly: what is needed today is less a political defence of the need for theory than an assessment of its relevance. The assessment  must work both ways: we must deal with both the strengths and the limitations of theory in our field. Our aim, therefore, is to chart the problems, the areas still in discussion, the visible or likely effects.
We would like to reflect on the generation gap and on the geographical and cultural gap between the Anglo-Saxon and French versions of theory.
We would like to reflect on the sheer resilience of theory and on its contribution, as a tool of critique, to the critique of society, of language, of art.
We would also like to survey the very diversity of theory. For theory today must be thought in the emphatic plural. Not merely because of the succession of theoretical fashions as because the relevance of theory is marked by a multiplication of the fields of research: we would like to map such diversity. Conversely, in the wake of the "Whither Theory?" conference, we would like to reflect on the feeling of unity of purpose among all practitioners of theory.
We welcome submissions on those questions, as on all questions related to the present relevance of theory.
The Conference is organized by the CREA (Tropismes, Théorie de la lecture/Lecture de la théorie) with a Committee composed of  S. Bauer, L. Benoît, C. Birks, C. Crowley, C. Delourme, F. Kral, J.J. Lecercle, R. Pedot.
Contact: Richard Pedot <richard.pedot@wanadoo.fr> or Françoise Kral <fkral@u-paris10.fr>.

(posted 30 May '07)

Vanessa Guignery (Sorbonne)
John Mullan (UCL, The Guardian)
Peter Childs (Gloucestershire)
Dominic Head (Nottingham)
Merritt Moseley (North Carolina)
Amanda Hopkinson (BCLT, UEA)

Julian Barnes is one of the most refined writers and distinguished intellectuals of his generation. Although primarily a novelist and essayist, the 'chameleon of British letters' has also written short stories, television scripts and a screenplay. While postmodern in its resistance to categorisation and humanist in his commitment to 'what is constant in the human heart and passions', Barnes's work also explores, unlike any other writer of his generation, the dislocated meanings of Englishness and Europe in the contemporary period.

This conference stages a unique opportunity to reflect on the significance of the author's accomplishments, bringing together the foremost Barnes scholars, critics working on modern and contemporary fiction, his translators - and Julian Barnes himself. A tour of Liverpool, Cultural Capital of Europe 2008, is part of the conference programme.

Short papers are invited on aspects of Barnes’s writing focusing on specific texts/periods, or addressing his relation to Genre and Hybridity; the Creative and the Critical; Intertextuality; European History, Trauma and Memory; (European) Literary Traditions, Postmodernism and the Contemporary; Morality and Ethics; Class and Englishness. Delegates are particularly encouraged to submit proposals for papers on Barnes’s relationship to European culture and history.

Send abstracts for papers of 250 words, together with a brief biographical note, to Sebastian Groes at the (email) address below, before 15 April 2008. A limited number of postgraduate student bursaries are available. Requests for early notification of acceptance for international delegates are welcome. For further information and registration details, please contact:

Sebastian Groes,
Julian Barnes Conference,
The Deanery of Arts and Humanities,
Liverpool Hope University
Hope Park
Liverpool L16 9JD           
United Kingdom               
Email: <GROESS@hope.ac.uk>
Tel.: 00-44(0)151-291 3560

(posted 25 Jan '08, updated 27 Mar '08)

The biannual International James Joyce Symposium, held in a European city to mark the anniversary of Bloomsday, is an occasion for Joyceans from all over the world to take stock of the latest research and methodologies in their field.
It has been over thirty years now since the last International Symposium took place in France. With an inaugural address by Jacques Lacan at the Sorbonne, the 1975 Paris Symposium marked an important step in the spread of what is now called "Post-Structuralism" in English-speaking countries.
For 2008, the Université François-Rabelais in the city of Tours has been selected as the venue for the XXIst Symposium by the International James Joyce Foundation.
For all information visit http://joyce2008.univ-tours.fr/.

(posted 9 Jul '07)

"Before Depression" is an interdisciplinary project arising from collaboration between the English departments at the University of Northumbria at Newcastle and the University of Sunderland and funded for three years by the Leverhulme Trust.
The project is designed to address the question: "what was depression like before it was called depression?" It is exploring the development and persistence of the "depressive" state within British culture of the long eighteenth century.
Speakers will include: Madeleine Desargues-Grant (Université de Valenciennes), Peter Sabor (McGill University), Janet Todd (University of Aberdeen).
This conference seeks to explore further the phenomenon of depression "before depression", and the problems that such an apparently retrospective construction might entail. The conference committee invites proposals on any aspects of the culture and representation of depression (however construed) in the period 1660-1800. Papers are acceptable in English or French.
Papers selected from the conference will be revised and published in Le Spectateur européen.
Proposals of 200-300 words are invited, to be sent no later than 31 January 2008,
- to Dr Clark Lawlor, Division of English for the papers in English: University of Northumbria at Newcastle Upon Tyne, Newcastle NE1 8ST, United Kingdom <clark.lawlor@unn.ac.uk>
- and to Valérie Maffre for the papers in French valerie.maffre@univ-montp3.fr>.
The conference is organised with the assistance of the Leverhulme Trust and in collaboration with Institut de Recherches sur la Renaissance, l'Âge Classique et les Lumières (I.R.C.L), U.M.R. 5186 du C.N.R.S., Université
Paul-Valéry, Montpellier, France.

(posted 2 Oct '07)

The aim of this conference is to explore audiovisual translation from an interdisciplinary perspective. We invite contributions on any form of audiovisual translation (audio description, dubbing, interpreting, narration, subtitling, subtitling for the deaf and the hard-of-hearing, surtitling, voice-over, etc.) from scholars working in the areas of film studies, translation and interpreting, linguistics, psychology, cultural studies and language teaching, as well as from professional translators, software engineers and broadcasters. We would like this conference to be an opportunity for people coming from different disciplines to exchange ideas and experience about audiovisual translation and to learn about new theoretical frameworks and research methods which could help answer some of the questions they are asking in their own research or practice. Papers discussing the role of the audience in shaping decisions about translation strategies are particularly welcome.

Topics might include, but are by no means limited to:
- filmmaking, screenwriting and audiovisual translation
- language and cultural policy and audiovisual translation
- linguistic approaches to audiovisual translation
- cognitive psychology and audiovisual translation
- new research methods in audiovisual translation
- the reception of translated audiovisual programmes
- language teaching and learning and audiovisual translation
- markets for audiovisual translation: trends, tools, needs, the industry
- new technologies and developments in audiovisual translation
- professional practice: working conditions, standards, quality assurance, project management
- audiovisual translation training
A selection of papers will be published after the conference.
Abstracts of 300 words accompanied by a brief bionote (75 words) should be sent to Adriana Şerban at <adriana.serban@univ-montp3.fr> and <adriana.serban@wanadoo.fr> no later than 12 December 2007.
Notification of acceptance of proposals: 3 February 2008.
Plenary speakers: Jorge Díaz Cintas (Roehampton University, London, UK) and Christian Viviani (Université Paris 1 La Sorbonne, France)
Working languages: English and French.
Information about how to register will be made available by the end of January 2008.
Please consult the Conference website: http://www.univ-montp3.fr/metice/_traduction_audiovisuelle/
Conference Advisory Committee:
Mary Carroll (Titelbild Subtitling and Translation, Berlin - Germany), Frederic Chaume Varela (Universitat Jaume I - Spain), Jorge Díaz Cintas (Roehampton University, London - UK), Pilar Orero (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona - Spain), Aline Remael (University College Antwerp - Belgium), Christian Viviani (Université Paris 1 - La Sorbonne - France).
Organising Committee:
Jean-Marc Lavaur (Université Montpellier 3 - France), Adriana Şerban (Université Montpellier 3 - France).

(posted 24 Jun '07)

This two-day conference offers an opportunity for practitioners from libraries, information services and education, researchers from a range of disciples, publishers, authors and policymakers from all sectors interested in to meet, network and share experiences. The conference will focus on the censorship of print, electronic and other literary and information resources for young people.

Reflective paper (approx 30 minutes plus discussion)
A case study (approximately 20 minutes plus discussion): a short report of a research activity or a practical project
A poster (a visual presentation of a case study or issue, with opportunities for informal discussion)

Young people, the Internet and censorship
Access to citizenship, health and other information for young people
Pressure groups and censorship
The role of information literacy
Publishers and censorship
Media literacy
Authors for young people and censorship
Media reaction to censorship
Graphic novels and manga and ‘crossover’ novels
Library selection policies
The history of censorship

Please send us an abstract of up to 200 words by email to <ffruit@hotmail.co.uk> or by fax to 08717 145 900. The closing date for submission of abstracts is 7th January 2008.

Please send us the following information: Title of presentation, Reflective paper/Case study/Poster, Name, Job title, Organisation, Address, Email, Telephone.

(posted 24 Nov '07)

The American University of Paris announces the International Richard Wright Centennial Conference. It will be held 19-21 June 2008 at The American University of Paris and at the Musée des années trente (Museum of the Nineteen Thirties), in Boulogne-Billancourt.
The Conference will encourage broad international and interdisciplinary explorations of Wright's life and writing, with a special emphasis on the Paris he inhabited (1947-1960), both what it was and what it is today as a result of the marks he left behind, and on his experiences in Africa. Stressing the importance of Richard Wright, the conference hopes to be an international point of intersection for all those interested in Wright's work from literary and cultural critics, to political activists, poets, musicians, publishers and historians. We seek the widest range of academic and public intellectual discussion around Wright’s work which has influenced so many and so much.
Topics may include, but are not limited to: Wright in the Black Atlantic: Transnationalism and Transatlanticism; Wright and expatriate Paris; Wright as exile and travel writer; The reception of Wright's work in various non-U.S. settings; Wright and African American Satire, Irony, and Comedy; Wright and the African American Literary Canon; Wright, Whiteness, and Black Masculinity; Wright and African American Confinement Literature; Wright, Gender, and the Political Use of Modernism; Wright's Cultural Criticism; Wright and Literary Friendships and Influences; Wright and Films; Wright and Teaching Pluriculturalism; Wright's Influence on the World Today.
Paper/presentation proposals should include: 1) a brief (250-300 word) abstract, and 2) a brief (1-2pp.) vita. The deadline is January 15, 2008. Submit abstracts to: <Alice.Craven@aup.fr> OR <William.Dow@wanadoo.fr>.

(posted 14 May '07)

In all eras, human societies have been faced with armed conflicts either within their territory or abroad. The way acts of collective violence are set up (aiming at unifying the community and thereby destroying the Other) has always been defined by specific cultural behaviours within a given group. One of the key focuses of this conference will be the rhetorical discourses elaborated by the promoters of a war which deliberately draw on "racial" difference, or discourses legitimising the start of hostilities which posit the Other as a scapegoat so as better to eliminate him. The aim will be to examine how the notion of "racial" difference has been - and is still " used as a prompting force as well as a sacrificial process, employed in different modes. Similarly, social-Darwinist and eugenist theories might be examined to explore how they are propounded to justify the pre-eminence of any one group in the context of martial propaganda.
The conference will take place at the University of Aix-Marseille from June 19 to 21 2008. It is being organised by the LERMA, the Anglo-American Area Studies Research Centre, by Gilles Teulié and Dominique Cadinot in collaboration with the GRER (Research Centre on Eugenism and Racism), headed by Michel Prum (University of Paris 7 - Diderot). Papers may be in English or French. Proceedings will be published in French in Michel Prum's collection "Eugenism & Racism". Papers in English will be translated by a team from the LERMA.
Please send an abstract, a title and a short cv to Dominique Cadinot <dominiquecadinot@yahoo.fr> for proposals concerning the United States, and to Gilles Teulié <teulie@up.univ-aix.fr> or <teulie7@club-internet.fr> for those concerning the British Isles and the Commonwealth, before October 30th 2007. An answer will be given by the end of November 2007.

(posted 30 May '07)

The organizers of the Tenth International Conference on the Short Story in English issue a "Call For Papers" to be presented at the conference; events will be held at the University College Cork (UCC), Cork, Ireland from June 19-23, 2008. The conference is jointly hosted by the English Department, UCC,  Dr. Colbert Kearney, Chair, and the Triskel Arts Centre, Ann Luttrell Education and Community Manager.