Correspondence: Travel, Writing, and Literatures of Exploration, c.
1750-c. 1850
7-10 April 2010
An international conference hosted by the University of Edinburgh and
National Library of Scotland
CALL FOR PAPERS
The University of Edinburgh (Institute of Geography and Centre for the
History of the Book), in collaboration with the National Library of
Scotland, is pleased to announce "Correspondence: travel, writing, and
literatures of exploration, c. 1750?c.1850"--a four-day,
interdisciplinary conference concerned with travel, travel writing,
and the associated literatures of exploration.
In bringing together scholarly perspectives from geography, book
history, literary studies, and the history of science, the conference
seeks to interrogate the relationship between travel, exploration, and
publishing in order better to understand how knowledge acquired 'in
the field' became, through a series of material and epistemic
translations, knowledge on the page. Plenary speakers include
Elizabeth Bohls (University of Oregon), Joyce Chaplin (Harvard
University), Tim Fulford (Nottingham Trent University), and Nigel
Leask (University of Glasgow). Proposals for papers on all aspects of
travel in the period in question are welcome. Preference may be given
to papers which engage with one or more of the following themes:
- Travellers' inscriptive practices
How, where, when, and why did travellers and explorers choose to
record the details of their journeys? In what respects did the mode
and style of travellers' written accounts--whether rough notes,
regularised diaries and logs, thematic reports, or letters--discipline
their content and reflect their intended purpose?
- Travellers' credibility and the veracity of written accounts
Given that travellers and explorers were only ever partial and
imperfect witnesses, how did they assure themselves--and, through the
published versions of their work, their audiences--of the truth? How
did their accounts correspond to the things they sought to describe
and understand? What were the epistemological bases to travellers'
claims to truth?
- The correspondence between manuscript and print
What were the material and epistemic transformations which turned
travellers' initial notes into completed, published narratives? Which
changes and adaptations were considered necessary in making the
transition from manuscript to print? How, in a pre-photographic age,
were credible illustrations produced in the field, and how did they
supplement and lend authority to printed texts?
Proposals of no more than 250 words should be sent to Dr Innes M.
Keighren, Institute of Geography, University of Edinburgh, Drummond
Street, EDINBURGH, EH8 9XP or by email to [log in to unmask] no
later than 1 October 2009. The organizers hope to have a programme of
over twenty papers over the four days of the meeting (including
plenary papers).
Organizers: Dr Bill Bell, Dr Innes M. Keighren, Professor Charles W.
J. Withers.
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The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in
Scotland, with registration number SC005336.
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