Papers invited on Swinburne for conference in July 2009 - closing date for proposals 28 Feb 2009

The Institute of English Studies, Senate House (London) is holding a conference on Friday 10th and Saturday 11th July, 2009 on the works of Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837-1909, poet, dramatist, novelist and critic).

The organizers – Stefano Evangelista (Trinity, Oxford), Catherine Maxwell (Queen Mary, London), and Patricia Pulham (Portsmouth) – welcome papers on all aspects of Swinburne’s life and works (poetry, essays, dramas and novels), but are keen to receive proposals relating to writing produced after 1866.

Possible subject areas include: Swinburne and Classicism, Swinburne and Medievalism, Swinburne and the Arts (painting, music, sculpture), Swinburne and Aestheticism/Decadence, Swinburne and Modernism
Swinburne and France/Italy, Swinburne and Politics, Swinburne and his Influences, Swinburne and his Contemporaries, Swinburne and his Successors
Swinburne, Gender, and Sexuality, Swinburne and the Body/Senses, Swinburne, Style, Form, and/or Metre, Swinburne and Controversy, Swinburne’s Reception

Please email proposals (500 words maximum) for twenty-minute papers to all three organizers at the following addresses, stating your academic institution and status (if applicable) - c.h.maxwell@qmul.ac.uk, Patricia.Pulham@port.ac.uk, stefano-maria.evangelista@trinity.ox.ac.uk

Closing Date for proposals: 28 February 2009

Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837-1909), poet, dramatist, novelist and critic, was late Victorian England’s unofficial Poet Laureate, admired by his contemporaries for his technical brilliance, his facility with classical and medieval forms, and his courage in expressing his sensual, erotic imagination. This international centenary conference aims to reclaim Swinburne’s position as the pre-eminent late nineteenth-century poet, to draw attention to the breadth and diversity of his oeuvre, to re-evaluate his considerable achievements, and to assess his impact on those who came after. In addition to the three distinguished plenary speakers – Jerome McGann, Terry Meyers, and Yopie Prins – the conference aims to attract both those with specialist interests in Swinburne and those keen to extend their knowledge of one of the most exciting literary figures of the Victorian age. It aims to stimulate further academic scholarship on Swinburne, with the specific intention of producing an edited collection of the best papers resulting from the conference. The conference is also timed to allow delegates to attend the joint BAVS/NAVSA conference 13-15 July 2009, Churchill College, Cambridge.