Forwarded on behalf of Sara Crangle ([log in to unmask]) and
Sophie Read ([log in to unmask]). [Apologies for cross-posting]
"Veronica Forrest-Thomson: Larking up Kicks"
A Call for Papers
"[O]ne of the misfortunes of the lack of attention being paid to
English poetry of this century is the obscurity of Veronica
Forrest-Thomson, a poet who died in 1975 at the age of 27." So stated
Brian Kim-Stefans in July 2001. In 2002, literary critic Suzanne Raitt
expressed the hope that Forrest-Thomson's unknown status would be
mitigated by a compilation of her poetry in the nineties and a recent
monograph by Alison Mark. This symposium emerges on the heels of
another updated version of Forrest-Thomson's poetry, namely Veronica
Forrest-Thomson: Collected Poems (ed. Anthony Barnett, published by
Shearsman Books and Allardyce, Barnett, 2008).
Veronica Forrest-Thomson wrote three poetry collections: _Identi-kit_
(1967) _Language Games_ (1971), and _On the Periphery_ (1976). She was
also a literary theorist and critic who authored _Poetic Artifice: A
Theory of Twentieth-Century Poetry_ (1978). Her work is witty,
philosophical, and occasionally, deliberately, badly rhymed. It is
also worthy of more consideration.
Christ's College, Cambridge and the Centre for Modernist Studies at
the University of Sussex intend to co-host a day-long symposium
dedicated to the work of Veronica Forrest-Thomson. It will be held on
Saturday, January 17th, 2008 at Cambridge, and will involve panels
comprised of 15-minute papers and a longer, seminar-style finale of
very short close readings of individual Forrest-Thomson poems. Our
intent is to foster an informed and comfortable dialogue about
Forrest-Thomson, and contemplate ways of approaching her work.
As such, we welcome papers on any facet of Forrest-Thomson's poetry
and criticism. Proposals of no more than 250 words should be sent to
both Sara Crangle ([log in to unmask]) and Sophie Read
([log in to unmask]).
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