Decadent Poetics
Centre for Victorian
Studies, University of Exeter, UK - 1-2 July 2011
Deadline for proposals: 10
November 2010
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Keynote speakers: Stephen
Arata (Virginia), Joseph Bristow (UCLA), Regenia Gagnier
(Exeter), Catherine Maxwell (Queen Mary, London)
The initial reception of
'decadent' writing in both France and England was characterized by a
focus on form and the importance of the poets of the late Roman Empire.
From Theophile Gautier's Preface to the 1868 edition of Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du Mal to Arthur
Symons's ‘The Decadent Movement in Literature’ and Paul Borget's famous
delineation of decadent writing attempts to articulate a 'decadent
poetics' were central to the definition of this new literature. Yet in
recent years our understanding of decadence has been occluded by the
focus on cultural politics and sexual transgression, which continue to
dominate academic criticism of the fin de siècle. This
conference seeks to return to the Victorian interest in language,
poetics and form as the key to understanding decadence and aestheticism
as literary phenomena. The focus here will be on both poetry and prose
of the period and we particularly encourage those interested in
marginal and forgotten writers of the period, along with the debates on
the relationship between poetics and a culture in decline. In an
attempt to outline a decadent poetics, we also seek to expand and
complicate the canon of ‘'ecadent' writers who dominate prevailing
versions of the Victorian fin de siècle.
Possible topics include, but are not limited to:
- education and language;
- Victorians and Roman literature;
- Decadent prosody;
- Decadent and Modernist poetics;
- Aestheticist poetics;
- transatlantic Decadence;
- fin-de-siècle philology/linguistics;
- politics of Decadence and Aestheticism;
- satires of Decadent form;
- print/visual cultures of Decadence;
- Decadence and new technologies;
- genetic readings of Decadence;
- archival Decadence;
- material Decadence
Abstracts of 300-500 words should be sent to Dr Alex Murray and Dr
Jason Hall via email at <decadent-poetics@exeter.ac.uk> by 10
November 2010.
Proposals for panels
(comprising three speakers) are also welcome -- please submit the title
and a brief description of the panel as well as abstracts for the
individual papers. Speakers (whether part of a proposed panel or not)
are asked to include a one-page CV with full contact details,
institutional affiliation (where applicable) and a list of relevant
publications.
Please bear in mind that final papers should take between 15 and 20
minutes (maximum) to deliver.
(posted 9 June 2010)
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Re-thinking the Monstrous:
Violence and Criminality in Society
Ludwig-Maximilians-University
Munich, Germany - 1-3 July 2011
Deadline for proposals: 1
Novembrer 2010
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Confirmed Keynote Speakers:
Prof. Dr. Peter Becker
(Johannes Kepler Universität Linz)
Prof. Dr. David Schmid (University of Buffalo)
Dr. Niall Scott (University of Central Lancashire)
Dr. Margrit Shildrik (Queen's University, Belfast)
n current theories of
violence and crime, the monstrous has come to signify the non-human or
the amalgamation of the human and its 'other', representing the
embodiment of socially deviant behavior, or associated with physical
disfigurement and mental disability, or excessive physical strength and
exceptional intellectual capacity. Consequently, the monstrous has
always played into the image/portrayal of the criminal, and has always
been in the centre of attention - generating fear, repulsion, as well
as fascination. Engaging with the prevailing antagonisms and
dichotomies that surround and the monstrous, this interdisciplinary
conference seeks to re-think, re-evaluate and reposition the
correlation of this concept with issues of criminality and violence. We
welcome proposals that consider the monstrous and its position in the
discourse of violence and crime in relation to contemporary theoretical
models, social and historical contexts, scientific developments, and
other fictional and non-fictional influences. We are particularly
interested in work that pursues an interdisciplinary approach.
Possible topics include:
The monstrous/monsters in
fiction and film
Neuroscience and criminal biology
Body-modification, mutilation, dismemberment and criminality
Cyborgs, androids, technophobia, and monstrous technologies
Gothic and the monstrous
Monstrosity and exclusion -- crime as stigma
Terror, trauma, anxiety, and (social) paranoia
Containment, repression and criminal intent
The (anti-)aesthetics of monstrosity
Monstrosity and gendered crime
(Forensic) pathologies of the monstrous
Abstracts in English
between 250-300 words for papers of 20 minutes to be given in English
are invited by 1 November 2010. The abstract should also include a
50-word biographical note and AV requests. We will send acceptances by
1 January 2011.
Conference Organisers: Malcah Effron, David Palatinus, and Ingrida
Povidisa
Supported by: Prof. Dr. Christian Begemann
(Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich)
Contact Details: <monsterconference2011_at_gmail.com>
Abstract Deadline: 1 November 2010
(posted 29 June 2010)
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Walter Scott: Sheriff and
Outlaw - The Ninth International Scott Conference
University of Wyoming,
Laramie, Wyoming, USA - 5-9 July 2011
Deadline for proposals: 15
November 2010
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Conference
website: http://www.uwyo.edu/scottconf2011
Deadline: November 15, 2010
To:
Caroline McCracken-Flesher
<cmf@uwyo.edu>
(307) 766-5113
fax (307) 766-3189 (attn cmf)
English Department, Box 3353
University of Wyoming
1000 East University Avenue
Laramie, WY 82071
USA
Panelists will be
notified immediately that their proposal has been received. Acceptances
will be emailed by December 31, 2010. Early submissions are welcome,
and early approval is possible. You must be registered by March 15,
2011, to appear in the conference program.
Individual Proposals:
200 word proposals are
invited on the theme: Walter Scott: Sheriff and Outlaw. The conference
welcomes proposals from the open range of Scott studies and beyond, as
we take the author into new cultural and critical territory. We
particularly welcome arguments about the many ways in which Scott broke
boundaries in his time, and the ways in which his work has redirected
literature and culture in the years since his death.
Because this conference
is all about breaking the rules, we also welcome proposals focused on
other aspects of Scott.
Topics might include:
Scott as innovative poet, novelist, letter writer, president of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh, agricultural improver, Romanticist, Scot,
traveler, historian, friend, medievalist, anthropologist, etc.; Scott's
contribution to ideas of landscape, architecture, or travel; his
contribution to ideas of Europe and America (South, West), etc. All
critical and theoretical approaches are welcome.
Panel proposals:
Include the convener’s
short description, and no more than four 200-word proposals. The
convener should have a reliable commitment from all participants.
Vitae:
Proposals should be
accompanied by a short C.V. Panel proposals should include the
convener's C.V., and a brief description of each speaker (university
and appointment, field, major publications).
Student Scholarships:
If you are a student, you
may apply for a scholarship toward expenses. Submit that application
along with your paper proposal.
Scholar Award:
Colleagues who will research in the University of Wyoming's Heritage
Center can apply for travel support at: http://ahc.uwyo.edu/eduoutreach/travelgrants/default.htm
(posted 27 March 2010)
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"Wildering Phantasies": an
inter-disciplinary conference devoted to the pre-raphaelites
University of Dundee,
UK - 7-10 July, 2011
Deadline for proposals: 15
January 2011
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This interdisciplinary
conference will bring together researchers from a range of backgrounds
to explore the work of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and assess their
legacy across several media. The conference will be held in
association with the Scottish Word and Image Group, and therefore
papers related to the interface between word and image in the work of
the PRB’s are particularly welcome. The confirmed plenary speaker
is Prof. Leonee Ormond (King's College, London).
Also of particular interest are papers exploring the following areas:
• the work of tangential or
marginal members of the PRB
• the PRB in Scotland
• the PRB and Victorian Mediaevalism
• influences on the PRB
• the influence of the PRB on painting, literature and crafts
• the PRB's relationship to parallel movements in art and literature
• the PRB as radicals and/or traditionalists
• the PRB and music
• the PRB and colour
• the PRB and design
• the PRB and publishing
• films about or influenced by the PRB
• the PRB in popular culture
Please note: there will be a dedicated panel for post-graduate students.
The conference will also
include an exhibition of Pre-Raphaelite paintings, with sketches taken
from Dundee University's own holdings and the surrounding area. In
addition, there will be an opportunity to see D.G. Rossetti's Dante’s
Dream, the finest Pre-Raphaelite painting in Scotland, works by Millais
and Joseph Paton at the newly renovated McMannus Gallery as well as
other Pre-Raphaelite gems, including the recently restored St.
Salvador's church, designed by George Fredrick Bodley.
Please submit abstracts of 300 words for 20 minute papers with a brief
biography or cv to:
- Dr. Jo. George
<j.a.george@dundee.ac.uk>
- and Dr. Brian Hoyle <b.p.hoyle@dundee.ac.uk>
no later than 15 January, 2011.
(posted 17 May 2010)
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Ninth World Shakespeare
Congress: Renaissance Shakespeare / Shakespeare Renaissances
Prague, Czech
Republic - 17-22 July 2011
Deadline for proposals: 28
February 2009
(closed)
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The Ninth World
Shakespeare Congress of the International Shakespeare Association in
Prague will mark the next phase in a journey through four continents.
Beginning in Vancouver, this international conference has travelled
every five years since 1971 to share Shakespearian scholarship,
performance, and pedagogy at another great site: Washington D.C.,
Stratford-upon-Avon, Berlin, Tokyo, Los Angeles, Valencia and Brisbane.
The culturally rich city of Prague, a new setting for the Congress in
central Europe, offers a wonderful opportunity to engage in dialogue
about Shakespearian reception both here and throughout the world.
The location of the
Congress in Prague, where Shakespeare's plays were
most probably performed during his lifetime, provides the opportunity
to approach Shakespeare's theatre in the context of cultural and
political relations between Elizabethan and Jacobean England and
Central Europe under the Habsburg Emperor Rudolph II and later on the
eve of the Thirty Years' War. Delegates will be able to trace the steps
of Dr. John Dee, Edward Kelley, Edmund Campion, and Elizabeth Weston as
they tour the Baroque theatres and Rosenberg castles of South Bohemia.
The Congress theme
'Renaissance Shakespeare / Shakespeare Renaissances' speaks to current
debates about 'Shakespeare as Cultural Catalyst' and 'Global
Shakespeare'.
Proposals are now invited for the seminar, workshop and short paper
(panel) sessions of the Congress.
Submission
Guidelines
·
Proposals should be as detailed as possible and include a rationale as
well as a list of problems or questions that the seminar, workshop or
short paper (panel) session seeks to explore. They should include brief
academic biographies of the proposed leaders and contributors of short
papers.
·
Preference will be given to proposals which, in their subject matter,
reflect the international nature of the Congress. Geographical
diversity in group leadership is actively encouraged so that the two
leaders of a seminar, for example, may come from different countries or
continents.
· Participants are
encouraged to interpret 'Renaissance Shakespeare / Shakespeare
Renaissances' geographically, historically, culturally, and to consider
text and performance in a full range of media.
All proposals will be reviewed by members of the ISA Programme
Committee.
Submission
Deadline
· Proposals of 500
words should be sent to Dr. Nick Walton, ISA Secretary, preferably by
email at: <isa@shakespeare.org.uk>
or to The Shakespeare Centre, Henley Street, Stratford-Upon-Avon,
Warwickshire, CV37 6QW, United Kingdom, to arrive by 28th February 2009.
Those submitting proposals should ensure that their membership of the
ISA is current.
(posted 23 Sep '08)
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John Gower in Iberia: Six
Hundred Years - II International Congress of the John Gower Society
Valladolid, Spain
- 18-21 July 2011
Deadline for proposals: 1
December 2010
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The John Gower Society is holding its second International Congress at
the University of Valladolid, Spain, in July 2011.
Spain has been chosen as
a site for this Congress in recognition of Gower's unique transnational
presence, as Confessio Amantis
was the first English work ever translated into Continental languages
-- first Portuguese, and then Castilian, both in the fifteenth century.
The II International Congress of the John Gower Society has therefore a
double purpose, the study of John Gower in his historical, political,
social, cultural and literary context, and the promotion of a more
in-depth knowledge of the Spanish and Portuguese translations of Confessio Amantis as well as the
Anglo-Spanish historical, political and cultural relations in the Late
Middle Ages.
Brief proposals (250 words max.) are invited for 20-minute papers
addressing any aspect of Gowerian studies. Email the submission form
below BOTH:
- to the Organizing
Committee <jgs.valladolid2011@gmail.com>
- and to RF Yeager <rfyeager@hotmail.com>.
Topics include -- but are not limited to -- the following areas:
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Biographical aspects
Manuscripts
French works
Latin works
English works
Antiquity and classics
French influence and contemporary French authors
Chaucer
Linguistics, literary language and dialects
Influence in later authors
Influence in Iberian authors
English politics and usurpation
Iberian (historical) context
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Literary theory and
critical approaches
Narratology
Women and gender
Multilingualism
Cinema and theatre
Animals
London
Aesthetics
Law
Philosophy and theology
Gower and the Mediterranean
Gower and the Other
Gower and the material
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Participants may also
propose thematic panels, to include papers delivered by 3 or 4
participants. Please contact directly RF Yeager
<rfyeager@hotmail.com>.
The abstracts will be evaluated by the Scientific Committee, and the
authors will be notified the results of the selection process.
Submission deadline: Dec
1st 2010
Confirmation of acceptance: Jan 15th 2011
Registration period: April-June 2011
The following plenary speakers have already confirmed their attendance:
· Winthrop Wetherbee
(Cornell University)
· Alastair Minnis (Yale University)
· Mª Luisa López-Vidriero Abelló (Biblioteca
Real, Madrid)
· Fernando Galván Reula (Universidad of Alcalá de
Henares)
For further information, visit the John Gower Society website: http://www.johngower.org
The organising committee - II International Congress of the John Gower
Society
Dept. Filología Inglesa - Universidad de Valladolid
Pza. del Campus s/n - 47011 Valladolid (Spain)
<jgs.valladolid2011@gmail.com>
(posted 30 August 2010)
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Natio Scotica: The
Thirteenth International Conference on Medieval and Renaissance
Scottish Language and Literature
Università degli
Studi di Padova, Italy - 22-26 July 2011
Deadline for proposals: 31
August 2010
(closed)
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The definition of a
literary canon in medieval and early modern Scotland is closely
connected with the definition of the Scottish nation. Attempting an
assessment of medieval and early modern Scottish literature means above
all dealing with a definition of this literature within a strongly
defined national context: literature and nation grow together, and each
contributes to the other’s definition.
Following these
suggestions, we welcome papers addressing (but not necessarily
restricted to) the following topics:
-
Redefining the canonical in early Scottish literature
- One nation, many languages: issues of language and
time range
- New canons of neo-Latin and Gaelic poetry
- Defining Older Scots
- The ongoing circulation and adaptation of Older
Scots literature
- A tale of two nations: Scotland and England
- Scottish-Italian relations
- Local cultural centres: the influence of religious,
educational, and legal institutions
- The invention of literary tradition in
seventeenth-century Scotland
- Literary and linguistic theories and practices in
seventeenth-century Scotland
- Building a national epic
- Poetry deriving from strands of Protestantism
- Personal and political satire
- The poetry of quietism
-
Medieval universities and the progress of learning
Papers should be twenty minutes long. Please send a 500-word abstract
and brief curriculum vitae by 31 August 2010 to:
Alessandra Petrina
Dipartimento di Lingue e Lett. Anglo-Germaniche e Slave
Via Beato Pellegrino, 26
35100 Padova - Italy
Or as an email attachment to <alessandra.petrina@unipd.it>.
Further information about the conference will be available in Spring
2010.
(posted 9 February)
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11th International
Connotations Symposium: Poetic Economy: Ellipsis and Redundancy in
Literature
Eberhard Karls
Universitaet Tuebingen, Freudenstadt, Zollernblick-Lauterbad,
Germany - 31 July - 4 August 2011
Deadline for proposals: 1
October 2010
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What is it that
distinguishes poetic language from ordinary kinds of utterance? We
probably wouldn't listen to poets if they weren't any better at using
language than we are. But then poets have always striven to speak the
"real language of man," or, as T. S. Eliot put it, "Every revolution in
poetry is apt to be […] a return to common speech." Accordingly, we
wouldn't listen to poets either (at least poets seem to think so) if
they wouldn't use language the way we do. In the history of poetics,
the question of poetic language has frequently been addressed in what
one might call economic terms. Sir Philip Sidney points out that the
(musical) nature of verse demands "the words […] being so set as one
cannot be lost, but the whole woorke failes," which implies not only
that there is, ideally, one right way of choosing and placing words but
also that there is a right number: too many or too few words would
destroy the work. This seems plausible and may provide an answer to our
initial question: whereas most of us need too many or use too few words
to make a point, poets get the number exactly right.
But in practice, things
aren't perhaps quite so obvious. For what about the fact that poetry
and other forms of literature) is frequently elliptical? Only think of
Emily Dickinson's fragmentary syntax, which often lacks the function
words that might establish a coherent utterance. And what about the
notion that literary art deletes, condenses and compresses elements of
language, that Dichtung is Verdichtung (as Kafka and others
put it)?
But there is also the contrasting notion that literature, and poetry in
particular, is marked by an excess, superfluity and redundancy of words
and other elements of language. There are not only baroque ideals of
style with their emphasis on copia
verborum, there is also Keats's
dictum that poetry "should surprise by a fine excess," or there is the
notion held in pragmatics that the effect of an utterance which is not
primarily due to the proposition put forward but to a wealth of "weak
implicatures" (such as attitudes, feelings and states of mind) should
be called poetic.
One way of resolving
these apparent contradictions would be to consider the question of "too
little" or "too much" not in absolute but in relative terms. An
aphorism may have too many
words and a Victorian novel may lack the very words needed for a reader
to regard it as a success. But this leaves us with the tricky question
of decorum: what is the idea
or purpose to which a particular number of
words is appropriate and by which we measure the verbal economy of a
literary work of art?
The venue will be a beautifully situated hotel in the Black Forest
(near Freudenstadt), which is partly owned by Tuebingen University (see
http://www.zollernblick-lauterbad.de).
As the emphasis of the Connotations
symposia is on critical debate,
talks will be 30 minutes, leaving another 30 minutes for discussion.
Please send your proposal by October 1, 2010 to
<symposium2011(at)connotations.de>.
(posted 16 June 2010)
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Crime, Violence and the
Modern State III: Law, Order and Individual Rights - Theory, Intent and
Practice
Université Lyon 2
Lumière, France - 8-10 September 2011
Deadline for proposals: 29
October 2010
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Organised by SOLON
((Universities of Nottingham Trent, Plymouth, Oxford Brookes and
Liverpool John Moores) and Université Lyon-2 Lumière.
The third conference in
this series will explore comparative, historical and transnational
perspectives on crime and violence through a focus on Law, Order and
Individual Rights, aiming to contextualise the concepts of individual
or ‘human’ rights in the modern state utilising a range of
interdisciplinary methodologies, but with a particular interest in
promoting the historical dimension. We invite papers that, for example,
seek to:
•
explore state agendas and the use of law to define 'deviance' etc
• explore the changing comprehensions of an 'orderly'
society, across chronological and territorial boundaries
• map differences, interconnections and movements
through space and time.
• explore the differentiated social, cultural or
political meanings of violent or criminal acts and ways in which
violence is legitimised (or not) by states
• explore the impact of gender, race/ethnicity and
other forms of social identification/exclusion
• religion, blasphemy and heresy, and other moral
challenges to state authority
• the role of moral panics and other tools for
voluntary or involuntary social control
• the management of crime and violence by the state,
particularly reflecting on responses by individuals.
In line with the previous
two conferences (Crete, 2007, University of Rethymno; St Petersburg,
2009, Herzen State University) the impact of social imaginaries of
cultural identity, as well as conceptualisations of nations and
empires, will be important considerations. We will also pay particular
attention to comparative national or regional dimensions, and papers
exploring the extent to which the actions of the modern state may clash
with traditional cultural perceptions of deviance and violence in
different communities will be of particular interest.
Please sent proposals to <soloncvmsconferences@gmail.com> by 29
October 2010.
Please send any enquiries to:
- Judith Rowbotham
<judith.rowbotham@ntu.ac.uk>,
- David Nash <dsnash@brookes.ac.uk>,
- or Neil Davie <ndavie@mail.univ-lyon2.fr>.
(posted 12 August
2010)
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The William Golding
Centenary Conference
University of Exeter,
Cornwall Campus, Tremough, UK - 16-18 September 2011
Deadline for Proposals: 31
March 2011
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 Born in Cornwall, William
Golding returned to his native county late in life, finding what he
called "a little bit of heaven" at Perranarworthal, a hamlet just a few
miles from what is now the University of Exeter's Cornwall campus. In
September 2011, the campus will mark the centenary of his birth by
holding a major conference in his honour. Events will include a tour of
his family home, a film screening, and an exhibition of
unpublished manuscripts and memorabilia.
Although he is still best
remembered for Lord of the Flies, Golding wrote across a variety of
genres. His published works comprise a dozen novels, a play, short
stories, essays, poems, and a travel book. Interest in Golding is now
undergoing a strong revival, most recently marked by John Carey's
biography.
Papers are invited on any
aspect of William Golding's life and work. Topics which may be covered
include, but are not restricted to:
Lord of the Flies and its
afterlives
Golding and women
Golding among his contemporaries
The rational and the religious
Golding and the state of the nation
Golding's non-fictional writings
Childhood and innocence
Golding and war
Golding's narrative techniques
Golding and travel
Golding's influence/influences on Golding
Further details are available on the conference blog:
http://golding2011.blogspot.com
Please submit
proposals (approximately 250 words for 20-minute papers)
before 31 March 2011 to the conference organisers:
Tim Kendall
<t.kendall@exeter.ac.uk)
and Adeline Johns-Putra <a.g.johns-putra@exeter.ac.uk>.
(posted 22 Sep '09)
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