Conference Draft Proposal for Summer, 2007
This draft draws on conversations with Seamus, Nick, David, potential
participants, and my experience as director and participant in conferences in
the US and the UK, as a member of the English Institute which meets annually
at Harvard Univ, thirty- five years first as founder with Richard Wordsworth
of the Rydal Mount conference then as American Director when it was give to
the Trust and moved to Grasmere.
I envision this conference meeting bi-annually or annually, a selective
gathering resembling an institute or academy. Various other gatherings,
schools, conferences, study weekends, more open and generally appealing,
could take place at other times over the year.
Dates: July 15 – 21. These dates would serve the international participants
who will be finished with term and could attend the BARS/NASSR conference in
Bristol the following week. Since many schools begin in August and/or many
potential participants hold administrative posts that require them to be on
campus in August, any date after the Bristol conference would be inconvenient
if not impossible.
Purpose: David asked for a concept or purpose and I suggest the following as a
start (1) to create or recreate a community of scholars affiliated with Dove
Cottage; (2) to observe appropriate literary and artistic landmarks—the
Cornell Wordsworth, for example, the 1807 Poems, and so on; and (3) to raise
money or inspire donors for the Wordsworth Trust. The Wordsworth-Coleridge
Association has already celebrated the Cornell Wordsworth with two seminars
and a lunch at the MLA for which we funded participants including Carol
Landon and, FYI, will supply copies of the proceedings from that meeting.
The Rydal Mount summer conference began with just such purposes, and our
success is a matter of record—in TWC and in the Wordsworth-Coleridge
Association which grew out of it. Even the most isolated and private
scholars enjoyed the sense of community, of participating in a prestigious
and selective group of serious scholars, of joining and helping to shape an
on-going conversation outside their institutions.
To share the event, extend its significance, and keep an historical record,
the proceedings will be published in The Wordsworth Circle, which Stephen
Hebron has kindly agreed to edit. With a world-wide circulation of 2500, TWC
would give the conference a high profile and help in recruitment for future
years.
Finally, again, to help formalize that community, I have proposed that the
participants be named Wordsworth Trust Scholars, as an honor, a recognition,
a way to create ties and loyalties which would be useful in fund-raising.
Location: While several alternative and less expensive accommodations could
be recommended, I would urge that the conference be centered in the Red Lion.
The advantages of the Red Lion include the services, location, staff,
comforts (air conditioning, a pool and hot tub for hikers), the food and wine
list, the Wordsworth Room (free) for our meetings (seats 60), and the large
comfortable public spaces in the conservatory and living room for less formal
seminar discussions or conversations, all without charge. The rooms are clean,
quiet, and comfortable for those who choose to read and write in the
afternoons—most with exceptional views. Essentially, for over twenty years,
the Red Lion has built itself around the summer conferences; the staff is
experienced in dealing with guests from Japan, Italy, Germany, France, the
US, and so on, and even with the famous director. Essentially, with the Red
Lion as the center of any conference, one only has to book it and supply the
program; they do the rest. Here is Paul Cookson’s quote:
If you were wishing to book for 7 nights, July 15 – 21, the rates would be,
based on arriving on the Sunday again
Dinner Bed and Breakfast 7 nights = £549.80
Packed Lunches @ £7.00pday 7 Days = £49.00
Morning Coffee and Afternoon Tea = £36.00
Wordsworth Conference Room Hire = £00.00
Total rate for 7 nights per person in a shared room
£634.80
Single Supplement (1 person in a Double / Twin Room) £195.00
I have not charged anything for the use of the Wordsworth Room as the main
conference room, but would unfortunately need to charge around a £100.00 per
day for any additional bedrooms required for use as a syndicate room.
Therefore the rate would be £634.80 per person in a shared room and £829.80
per person for a single in a double occupancy room, based on 7 nights.
Alternatives or supplements include Moss Grove, the Hargrave Hotel,
B&B’s nearby, holiday flats, the upscale Wordsworth Hotel, or the very
interesting Forestside, just a walk across the fields. The Waterside is too
much of a tourist hotel to meet the expectations of the guests and there is no
other hotel with comparable public space.
Payment and administration: I can understand the pressure that the Dove
Cottage staff has had in the past and suggest several ways of reducing it and
diffusing the clerical work. First, participants can pay the hotels directly
at the favored conference rate, with a conference or registration fee of, say,
a $50 fee to be paid directly to Dove Cottage—something we have done with
the MLA.
With forty registrants, this $50 pp. would come to about $2,000 to cover local
costs for a reception, printing the program, and so on.
With charges at a break-even price, participants in the Rydal Mount conference
donated large sums to the Rydal Mount Trust after the event. They were less
generous to the Wordsworth Trust in part because of the heavy-handed style in
which the appeals were presented— claims of poverty, immanent doom, and the
guilt-provoking “after all we’ve done for you,” even, one summer, threats
about never meeting again, merely aroused everyone’s resentment. On the other
hand, by making participants feel affiliated, involved, responsible,
comfortable, appreciated, and part of an important enterprise seems to awaken
their generosity—which is why I recommended naming participants as Scholars.
To keep the costs down, excursions would be on a pay-as-you-go basis, those
who take the trips pay for them on site. The local bus companies have worked
with the NYU alumni college (which I have directed and will be again in
October) on these terms without advance reservations or deposits.
I would urge against plenary speakers, those whose expenses are paid in
exchange for showing up and speaking by others who must therefore pay more. As
a senior academic who has given plenaries, I find the practice scandalous and
always return the money as scholarships. It means that those who are most able
to pay are not required while those who are least able are essentially taxed
for the privilege of their company. I think the participants should be of
sufficient distinction to enjoy being in one another’s company without having
to pay for it. The only person who should be subsidized would be Richard
Gravel or someone in his position who would be conducting the hikes and
planning the excursions since his is a highly developed and rare talent:
getting people to experience the Lake District. It is gift one could not
purchase.
Finally, with invitations, participants often get funding from their home
institutions, from various professional organizations and funding agencies.
For Americans, many have research funds attached to their jobs and all such
expenses are tax deductions, which is a way of getting a government subsidy.
Participants: Forty to sixty scholars who have published at least one book
or a creditable article, either faculty or independent scholars. I would
suggest sending at least 150 invitations to participate (ideally from David,
by e-mail or snail) not necessarily to present, but to remain in residence for
the entire week. The program I am recommending below would offer at least
thirty-five opportunities for formal presentations but everyone would
participate in the discussion. The character of the conference requires
participants to stay the entire week. My own feeling, after being at similar
conferences is that those who object to staying, probably don’t belong.. There
could be other conferences during the year that would allow the usual
“conference bandits” who deliver a paper, collect their credits or whatever,
and take off. Similarly, one could have other conferences for post
graduates—however, at the moment, they have so many that it seems to me the
serious senior scholars are being neglected.
Names: I have at the moment about twelve Americans who have asked for a
conference and who would come including David Simpson and Paul Frye, both of
whom will have finished new books on Wordsworth, Ken Johnston, Geoffrey
Hartman, Beth Darlington, and such younger but marvelous scholars as Denise
Gigante and her husband Chris Rovee. I also suggest including the heads of all
the literary societies (such as the Byron, the Keats-Shelley, Clare,
Coleridge, and so on) and the Centers for Romantic Studies at Bologne, among
others, and Lancaster. Even such arch fiends of Romanticism as Susan
Wolfson and Anne Mellor, who might otherwise be abrasive, annoying,
disruptive, would nonetheless participate in the kind of situation I have
envisioned. Reconciliations are possible if the situation is equitable, the
topics of common interest, and the exchange is honest. I can provide a list
with addresses by the end of the week if you like—and a draft of a letter if
that would help.
Schedule: Invitations should go out by September 15 at the latest. Those who
want to attend will need to apply for funding (deadlines begin on October
1). One could ask for acceptance by February 1 (the Red Lion requires deposits
by 2/28) and a tentative program with details of participation by April 1.
A program could be on-line by May 15 and instructions on travel available for
those who need to make reservations. The main point: once the invitations go
out, there is nothing to do until February, and then, very little.
Suggested Program: Sunday, a welcoming reception (hosted by the Trust) and
dinner, a tour of the Jerwood Center and whatever exhibit is available.
Monday through Friday:
7:30-8:30: Morning walks around the Lake
8:30-9:30 Breakfast.
10:00 to 11:30 Three one half hour papers (15 pages)
11:30 to 12:00 Coffee with discussion
12:00 to 1:30 Three small discussion groups attended by paper-readers
1:30 to 7:00 Lunch (I would not suggest ordering the packed lunch at the
Red Lion).Potential afternoon activities include continuing discussions,
long hikes such as Helvellyn, Skiddaw, etc.,and/or bus excursions to places
of interest such as the River Duddon, Hadrian’s Wall, Ruskin’s House,
Hawkshead and so on. Those who choose can read, write, work in the library,
or, as several potential participants have asked, paint, do photography, shop
for antiques and books, play and poetry readings, prepare presentations,
whatever.
7:00 to 8:30 Dinner
8:30 to 10:00 Panels of three or four brief papers (about ten to twelve
pages) available in advance on line, to be discussed after a brief
presentation. Participants will have a chance then to prepare questions or
introduce other lines of inquiry.
Saturday: morning, a summary discussion, conversation, and recommendations for
future meetings and participants. The conference would disband on Saturday
after a festive lunch.
The program: that is the hard part and it seems one can do very little until
you have an idea of who is coming.
Dr Sharon Ruston
School of Humanities
Keele University
Staffordshire
ST5 5BG
Tel: 01782 584576
http://www.keele.ac.uk/depts/en/staff/ruston.htm
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