14th International Symposium of the German Society for English Romanticism
Gesellschaft für englische Romantik e.V.
(Society for English Romanticism)
CALL FOR PAPERS
14th International Symposium
"Romantic Cityscapes"
University of Duisburg-Essen, October 6 - 9, 2011
The 14th international conference of the Gesellschaft für englische Romantik will be hosted by the University of Duisburg-Essen, October 6 - 9, 2011.
The contrast of country and city as well as a number of central Romantic texts representing the city have long been the subject of intense scholarly debate among Romanticists. Only more recently, however, have scholars in the field more systematically begun to explore the centrality of the city to British and European Romanticism. Thus, James Chandler and Kevin Gilmartin have taught us to weigh the implications of Wordsworth's contention that "the increasing accumulation of men in cities, where the uniformity of their occupations produces a craving for extraordinary incident" was a major impetus behind the writing of the Lyrical Ballads. We therefore invite papers addressing Romantic poetry, drama, fiction, non-fiction, visual representations and urban popular culture in their cultural contexts. Building on recent work on the Romantic city and in urban studies, we also welcome papers attempting a more systematic application of key concepts and approaches in urban studies to Romantic texts and contexts. In this vein, it might be fruitful to conceptualize engagements with the city on three interrelated spatial scales: (1) Individual city-dwellers and their responses to their immediate urban environment, (2) Perceptions of the city as a whole and urban Romanticism in a more general and metaphorical sense, and (3) The city as a node in early globalization.
However, we propose to explore "Romantic Cityscapes" and their literary representation from a variety of angles. Topics may include but are by no means limited to
- Romantic definitions and negotiations of urbanity
- Structures, strategies and tactics of urban communication
- The politics of urban representation
- Representations of urban complexity: simultaneity, multiplicity and chaos in Romantic writing
- Centre and periphery in Romantic England: London and beyond
- British Romantics as travellers to cities abroad
- Fresh readings of classic texts as well as new discoveries
- Urban popular culture in the Romantic period
- Representations of the Romantic city in present-day literature and culture
If you would like to present a paper addressing these or related matters, please send in an abstract of no more than 500 words, accompanied by a short biographical sketch. The deadline for proposals is 10 January, 2011. Presentations (in English) are limited to 30 minutes. As usual, a selection of papers and lectures will be published in the conference proceedings.
Detailed information about accommodation, travel and registration and a provisional conference programme will be provided on our website: www.uni-due.de/romanticism2011
The conference will take place in the heart of the Ruhr Metropolis at the beautifully situated Catholic Academy Die Wolfsburg (www.die-wolfsburg.de). Since it also offers very pleasant and inexpensive accommodation, we propose that all participants reside there to make for a wonderfully congenial and concentrated conference atmosphere. Expect an ambitious and thought-provoking academic programme and an equally fascinating social one in the Ruhr Metropolis, European Capital of Culture in 2010.
Note: By special agreement, members of BARS and NASSR do not have to become members of the German Society for English Romanticism to take part in this conference - they only pay the regular conference fee of 35 Euros (10 Euros for students).
Please send your abstracts to the local organizers:
Prof. Dr. Jens Martin Gurr and Prof. Dr. Frank Erik Pointner
Department of Anglophone Studies
Universität Duisburg-Essen
Universitätsstraße 12
45117 Essen
Germany
jens.gurr@uni-due.de
frank.pointner@uni-due.de