Close
Newsletter 61
By Alexander Samson, on 27 June 2016
Conference Notices
The Importance of Being Earnest. Ethics, Politics and Law in Relation to Dante
Common Ground Room, UCL Institute of Advanced Studies, London,
9th July 2016, 09.00-18.30
A Plenary Conference, Marking the 140th Anniversary of the Barlow Bequest for Dante Studies at UCL (Henry Clark Barlow † 1876)
Further Details about Venue and Registration: UCL Online Store http://tinyurl.com/zfzwovp
Encounters with the Orient in Early Modern European Scholarship
Keynes Lecture Theatre, no. 4 (KLT 4), Keynes College, University of Kent, Canterbury.
1-2 July 2016
A conference to celebrate the drawing to an end of the HERA project on ‘Encounters with the Orient in Early Modern European Scholarship’ will be held at the University of Kent on Friday and Saturday, July 1 and 2, 2016. It will bring together all the scholars, from several European Universities, who have been engaged on the project, and who will present some of the results of their research over the last three years. Their number will be augmented by further scholars who have made valuable contributions to the fields covered by the project.
www.kent.ac.uk/ewto/projects/Final%20Conference/final_conference.html
“Life of the Muses’ day, their morning star!” The Cultural Influence of Lucy Harington Russell, Countess of Bedford
11–12 August 2016, Lincoln College, Oxford
Please see https://ladybedford.wordpress.com/ for conference information, a draft schedule, and full registration details. Please direct any enquiries to daniel.smith@ell.ox.ac.uk
Early Modern Wales: Space, Place and Displacement
An interdisciplinary symposium hosted by the National Library of Wales, 7 July 2016
For further information, please contact the symposium organisers, Bryn Williams and Rachel Willie (emwales@bangor.ac.uk) Registration for the symposium is free, to include beverages during the coffee breaks, but delegates are asked to purchase their own lunch. Please register online at http://bit.ly/1Tjuqf5
Representing Sovereignty, 1485-1714: Interdisciplinary Early Career Symposium at Warwick.
Warwick, Wednesday 13th July 2016
The Centre for the Study of the Renaissance at the University of Warwick is delighted to welcome two Institute for Advanced Studies Visiting Fellows this summer. Professor Carole Levin and Dr Elizabeth Goldring will participate in a variety of events from 7th July until 14th August. Early career scholars are invited to apply to take part in the symposium Representing Sovereignty, 1485-1714. All details, including the booking form, can be found here: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/ren/news_and_events/conferencesannouncements/carolelevin/representingsovereignty/
Calls for Papers
CfP: Space, Place and Image in Early Modern English Literature
Lausanne, Switzerland, 11-13 May 2017
In the wake of the recent visual and spatial turns in literary criticism, we would like to explore how revolutions in social, political and religious practice in the Renaissance have translated into new uses and understandings of space and images in the poetry and prose of the period. We welcome abstracts for 20 minute-papers addressing ways in which early modern English authors engage with the spatial and visual paradigms of their times. We warmly invite you to send your paper title along with a 300-word proposal (in Word format) and a short biography (100 words) containing your academic affiliation to both conference organisers, Sonia.Pernet@unil.ch and Kader.Hegedus@unil.ch, by Monday 19 September 2016
http://wp.unil.ch/johndonne-space/2017-conference/call-for-papers/
CfP: Early Modern Rome 3 (1341-1667)
5-7 October 2017, University of California, Rome, Italy
Early modern Rome was contradictory and complex; its vernacular and high culture animated and rich. From Petrarch’s crowning as Poet Laureate on the Capitoline in 1341 to the pontificate of Alexander VII Chigi in 1667, this conference aims to bring together scholars from a range of disciplines to investigate the city proper as well as the campagna romana through a variety of different approaches and methods. The resounding response to both previous Early Modern Rome conferences in May 2010 and October 2013—76 papers from 9 different countries and 119 papers from 12 countries, respectively—mirrored the complex mix of the city itself and the changing face of early modern studies. We encourage papers from a range of disciplines—history, art and architectural history, literature, music, dance, religious studies, philosophy, history of medicine or science, diplomacy, gender, or others—to bring together in a single venue those whose research focuses on the city of Rome and the Roman countryside.
Given that the organizers wish to foster dialogue with other researchers, we encourage the submission of single papers rather than complete sessions. Complete sessions will be accepted, although we reserve the right to reconfigure them on the basis of other proposals. Please send a one-page CV and an abstract of 150 words to Julia L. Hairston (jlhairston@eapitaly.it) by August 30, 2016. Participants will be notified by September 30, 2016. Conference papers should be 20-minutes (approximately 10 double-spaced pages) and may be in either English or Italian.
CfP: Shakespeare and the Jews
University College London, 28-30 March, 2017
The relationship between Shakespeare and the Jews is a rich and multifaceted one with an extensive history dating back to the Elizabethan era. Attitudes to Jews in Shakespeare’s England comprise a complex topic with religious, racial, and cultural components that has been explored in detail in James Shapiro’s seminal 1996 work Shakespeare and the Jews. Jewish elements within Shakespeare’s work extend far beyond the infamous and well-studied figure of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, and the history of critical and interpretative approaches to such elements is extremely variegated, including shifting perceptions of Shylock on the page and stage over the centuries, different ways of addressing Jewish themes within the plays in writing and performance, and the various representations of Jews and Judaism in translations of Shakespeare into other languages, both in Europe and globally.
The conference will be interdisciplinary and will explore issues relating to Shakespeare and the Jews from numerous perspectives, including those of literary criticism, translation studies, history, drama, and cultural studies. The conference aims to bring together a diverse range of researchers and to serve as a unique and fruitful platform for discussion and exchange on Shakespeare and the Jews between established scholars and early career researchers, as well as to help shape the future research agenda on the topic. The conference will include a keynote address by Professor Avraham Oz (University of Haifa) and will coincide with a UCL student-staff performance of Isaac Salkinson’s Ram and Jael, the first Hebrew translation of Romeo and Juliet (Vienna, 1878), which conference participants will be invited to attend.
Proposals are invited for papers of approximately 20 minutes. Please submit abstracts (300 words) together with a brief CV (and, for PhD students, indication of whether you would like to be considered for a bursary) by 15 September 2016 to Lily Kahn (l.kahn@ucl.ac.uk).
CfP: a new series from Medieval Institute Publications, Late Tudor and Stuart Drama: Gender, Performance, and Material Culture
This series provides a forum for monographs and essay collections that investigate the material culture, broadly conceived, of theatre and performance in England from the late Tudor to the pre-Restoration Stuart periods (c. 1550–1650). The editors invite proposals for book-length studies engaging in the material vitality of the dramatic text, political culture, theatre and performance history, theatrical design, performance spaces, gendering court entertainments, child- and adult-actors, music, dance, and audiences in London and on tour. We are also interested in the discursive production of gender, sex, and race in early modern England in relation to material historical, social, cultural, and political structures; changes to and effects of law; monarchy and the republic in dramatic texts; theatre and performance, including performance spaces that are not in theatres. Further topics might include the production and consumption of things and ideas; costumes, props, theatre records and accounts, gendering of spaces and geographies (court, tavern, street, and household, rural or urban), cross-dressing, military or naval excursions, gendered pastimes, games, behaviours, rituals, fashions, and encounters with the exotic, the non-European, the disabled, and the demonic and their reflection in text and performance. To submit a proposal, please contact Erika Gaffney, Senior Acquisitions Editor, at Erika.Gaffney@arc-humanities.org
CfP: Shakespeare & Counterfeiting, SAA Atlanta, 2017
Registration now open via the SAA website – No abstract necessary
“Counterfeit” Shakespeare is the inverse of the First Folio’s claim to be “published according to the true original copies.” This seminar examines counterfeiting as cultural practice, literary motif, and theoretical framework in relation to Shakespeare. In early modern England, “counterfeiting” had both positive and negative connotations, inflecting how people understood artistic creation. Meanwhile, discourses of counterfeiting and authenticity have been central to the policing of Shakespeare’s canon. For more information please contact Derek Dunne (dunnede@gmail.com) and Harry Newman (harry.newman@rhul.ac.uk)
CfP: Special Issue of http://episteme.revues.org, Profane Shakespeare: Perfection, Pollution, and the Truth of Performance
For its 33rd issue (Spring 2018), the online peer-reviewed journal Etudes Epistémè seeks articles examining Shakespeare’s treatment of the notions of perfection (or “purity”) and pollution (or “impurity”), understood not only along traditional moral and religious lines, but also, more “profanely”, in aesthetic and hermeneutic terms. Etudes Epistémè is DOAJ- and MLA- listed.
In recent years, much attention has been devoted to the question of Shakespeare’s religious beliefs, leading to a polarization of opinions. Though Shakespeare belonged to a deeply Christian culture and though his language is in part shaped by all-pervasive Christian texts, evidence of Shakespeare’s “true faith” remains necessarily inconclusive. The playwright and poet situates his own truth elsewhere, in his art of poetry and drama, and in the time and act of performance, rather than in any sort of religious canon or eschatological horizon, implying the notions of completion and perfection. If Shakespeare so broadly and keenly “speaks to us” to this day, it is perhaps because of how profane his art is. Detailed abstracts of 600 to 1000 words of proposed articles are to be sent to the editors of the issue, Anne-Marie Miller-Blaise, Karen Britland and Line Cottegnies by December 15th, 2016: anne-marie.miller-blaise@univ-paris3.fr, britland@startmail.com and line.cottegnies@univ-paris3.fr. Notifications of acceptance: March 31, 2017. Full articles due September 1st, 2017. The articles will then be peer-reviewed before publication in Spring 2018.
CfP: 5th London Summer School in Intellectual History
5-8 September 2016 at Queen Mary, University of London
Organised by UCL and Queen Mary, the event is aimed at graduate students (current MA and PhD candidates) working in intellectual history and related disciplines: history of philosophy, literature, politics, law, science, and classics. Keynote lectures will be delivered by David Armitage (Harvard) and Quentin Skinner (Queen Mary). The deadline for applications is 30 June.
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/history/history-events-publication/intellectual-history-summer-school
Other Events
Civilisation in Time & Space: The City in the Early Islamic World
1 and 2 July 2016
Institute of Advanced Studies Common Ground Space, , University College London
Using the perspective of the longue durée, this two-day workshop will explore the impact of religious and secular administration, and cultural traditions, on early Islamic urban planning. Debate is framed over the latter half of the first millennium and early second millennium CE: a period that encompasses Late Antiquity, the rapidly expanding Islamic world, and its subsequent fractious division into multiple polities, all set within the context of interactions with empire systems beyond its boundaries. The workshop thus seeks to re-establish a civilisational scale for the analysis of Islamic urbanism.
View the programme and abstracts at www.ucl.ac.uk/research-frontiers/civilisation/events/index
Register at www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/early-islamic-urbanism-the-shaping-of-a-civilization-tickets-24833823635
Lecturer in Early Modern Literature and Drama
Location Canterbury, University of Kent
Contract Type For fixed term maternity cover to 30 June 2017
Salary (£) £32,600 – £46,414 per annum pro rata
Closing date 28 June 2016
Interviews 18 July 2016
You will teach and convene first and second year undergraduate core modules in Early Modern Literature, and be in a position to teach one of a range of final-year special modules such as EN668 Discovery Space: New Theatres in Early Modern England (2016/17 modules to be confirmed). You will also be expected to teach postgraduate modules in the area and to contribute to the Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies. With a PhD or equivalent in a relevant subject area, you will be able to demonstrate successful teaching of relevant literature and/or drama modules at all undergraduate levels, evidence of interdisciplinary interests and a willingness to play a full and active part in the development of Early Modern Literature and Drama at Kent.
Shakespeare: Metamorphosis
Senate House, London. Variety of dates
William Shakespeare died on 23 April 1616. Four hundred years later, he is revered around the world as a literary superstar. The metamorphosis of Shakespearean text and scholarship over seven ages is showcased in our exhibition and programme of events. A range of events throughout July, August and September: http://shakespeare.senatehouselibrary.ac.uk/events
Society for Renaissance Studies – Major Conference Grant
The Society for Renaissance Studies intends to make a grant of up to £1,500 support a conference or colloquium within the field of Renaissance studies, planned for calendar year 1 January – 31 December, following the June 30 deadline and held in the United Kingdom or the Republic of Ireland. The awards will be made to the conference organizers to provide assistance with organizational support and/or the travel and subsistence costs of certain participants, including postgraduate students. Please note the eligibility criteria, at: www.rensoc.org.uk/funding-and-prizes/major-conference-grants
End of year lecture by Professor Marina Warner
Birkbeck, London
15 July, 6.30 – 8pm
We are thrilled that Professor Marina Warner has agreed to give our end of year lecture on the topic of Sanctuary. Title and venue tbc. For more information about Professor Marina Warner please see http://www.bbk.ac.uk/english/our-staff/full-time-academic-staff/marina-warner
Three new 5-year full-time post-doctoral positions
European Research Council funded ‘Travel, Transculturality and Identity in England, c. 1550-1700’ (TIDE) project. The advert is www.jobs.ac.uk/job/ANW525/3-postdoctoral-research-associates/
Colleagues in the UK may also want to point suitable applicants towards the 0.5fte 5-year lectureship www.jobs.ac.uk/job/ANW519/lecturer-in-english-literature-grade-7-05-fte/
A PhD Studentship Bursary (3 years) in Renaissance Studies
Roehampton English and Creative Writing
In the most recent Research Excellence Framework (REF2014), English and Creative Writing were ranked 15th in their panel for the strength of the research outputs produced during the assessment period. The department, and the university, continue on an ambitious trajectory, providing a fully funded PhD studentship to work alongside the Before Shakespeare project, engaging in PhD study full time and integrating into the life of Roehampton’s School of English and Creative Writing working with academic colleagues. This fully funded PhD studentship also provides you with the opportunity to work with our project partners, Dolphin’s Back, Shakespeare’s Globe and the Museum of London Archaeology, to develop important networks and develop the impact of your own research. Details of the Before Shakespeare project can be found at beforeshakespeare.com
This fully funded scholarship will cover home/EU fees of £4,121 for Home/EU students and maintenance of £16,296 p.a. in 2016/17 for 3 years full-time subject to satisfactory progress. Accommodation will be available at Spring Mews. If you take up this accommodation, the cost of the rent will be deducted from the stipend. The rent rate for 2016-17 is £175 per week. Your research study will be supervised by Dr Andy Kesson and Prof Clare McManus.
Applications are invited from bold, innovative postgraduates with a record of achievement to undertake a project on a subject of their choice within the field of dramatic, literary or theatre history between the years 1565 and 1595. Candidates are strongly encouraged to contact Andy Kesson (andy.kesson@roehampton.ac.uk) for informal discussion of potential projects before applying. The closing date for completed applications is 25 July 2016
Teaching Associate (Fixed Term)
Cambridge, UK
The Faculty of English wishes to appoint a Teaching Associate in Renaissance Literature from 1 October 2016. Teaching Associates are expected to conduct small-group teaching of undergraduates and taught postgraduate students and to examine for the English Tripos. The successful candidate may also be asked to undertake supervision of Tripos students by some colleges in addition to these University duties, although this is not guaranteed. Applicants should have a good first degree and a doctorate in a relevant subject area. It is also expected that applicants will have experience of successfully delivering and developing teaching at University level, including lectures, seminars and small group teaching, and the ability to work as part of a team. Fixed-term: The funds for this post are available for 24 months in the first instance. Further particulars and how to apply at http://ww.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/10398/
Exhibition: ‘O rare Ben Jonson!’
Bodleian Libraries, 18 June–4 September 2016. A display of Jonson material from the Bodleian’s collections to celebrate the anniversary of Ben Jonson’s Workes. Please see http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/whats-on/upcoming-events/2016/jun/ben-jonson
Enquiries to daniel.smith@ell.ox.ac.uk
Intertextual Shakespeare Seminar
British Shakespeare Association conference, Hull
8 to 11 September 2016
Central to both early modern critical study and the theory of intertextuality are concepts such as the plurality of discourse, the mutually informing relationship between cultural ideologies and texts, and the instability of texts. The employment of intertextuality as critical methodology in analysing early modern texts has great potential, not yet fully explored. The theory of intertextuality can be applied to early modern literature in a variety of specific ways that surpass the identification of references: in the exploration of mythology as a system of meaning; in allegory; in the manipulation and imitation of narrative models and forms; and in satire and parody. The proposed seminar will be an opportunity to explore some of the potential areas of applying intertextual theory to Shakespearean or early modern texts and facilitate discussion of the benefits and possible limitations of this methodology. Please email 200-word abstracts / proposals to sarah.carter@ntu.ac.uk and peter.smith@ntu.ac.uk. Deadline for abstracts: 10 July 2016. Deadline for complete papers: 15 August 2016. NB – all conference participants are required to be members of the BSA. Please see the BSA conference website for further details.