Dear all,

you are all warmly invited to the 2nd Graduate Student Conference in
Comparative Literature
organized by LINKS (London Intercollegiate Network for Comparative
Studies) and hosted by University College London, on Wednesday, 18th May
2011.

The conference includes a round table with four leading scholars of
literature and culture, all working in London, on the public value of
their discipline, and on the future of comparative literature. Speakers
include: Dr Lucia Boldrini (Goldsmiths), Prof. Paul Hamilton (Queen Mary,
London) Prof. Timothy Mathews (UCL), and Prof. Robert Weninger (King's
College London).

Please see below for details.

Best wishes,

Florian Mussgnug

--
Dr Florian Mussgnug
Lecturer, Department of Italian Studies, University College London
Visiting Prof of Comparative Literature, Universita' degli Studi di Roma
III (2010-11)
Convenor of the MA Comparative Literature, University College London
(2011-12)


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LINKS – London Intercollegiate Network for Comparative Studies
2nd Graduate Student Conference in Comparative Literature

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE: BEYOND THE CRISIS
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Medawar Watson Lecture Theatre
University College London

Wednesday, 18 May 2011
9.00 am – 6.30 pm


9.00 Welcome

9.15 SESSION ONE: TRAVELLING CONCEPTS / MYTHS IN NEW CONTEXTS
        Chair: Georgia Panteli (UCL)

Sophie Corser (Goldsmiths): “Ovid’s English Voice.”

Pablo Maurette (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill): “Lucretius
among Early Modern Physicians and the Sense of Touch."

Shao-Hua Wang (King’s): “From the Man in the Crowd to the Man on the
Train: The Baudelairean Flaneur Sped Up.”

Melissa Gelinas (UCL): “Magical Realism, Postmodernism and Mythopoesis:
Perspectives from Cien años de soledad and Not Wanted on the Voyage.”

Christoph Söding (King’s): “500 years of Utopia: Collectivism in Tommaso
Campanella’s Città del Sole and Star Trek.”

11.15 Coffee

11.30 SESSION TWO: THEORIES OF LITERATURE
        Chair: Erin Horakova (Goldsmiths)

Laura Tenschert (Goldsmiths): "The Herald of Pure Language: The Ideal as
Task for Benjamin's Translator.”

Niall Sreenan (King’s): “Darwinian Literary Theory: Misguided Determinism?
Or the Next Step in the Evolution of Literary Theory?”

Regina Fabry (Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz): “On Self-Narration in
Literature: Thomas Bernhard’s Korrektur; Paul Auster’s Invisible and
Daniel C. Dennett’s Theory of Narrative Self.”

Philip Sayers (UCL): “The Possibility of ‘Good’ Psychoanalytical
Approaches to Literature and Film.”

Beth Guilding (Goldsmiths): “A Royal Road to Primal Fiction: Dreaming in
Freud, Blanchot and Borges.”

1.30 Lunch

2.15 Round Table: Comparative Literature Beyond the Crisis
        Chair: Dr Florian Mussgnug (UCL)

• Dr Lucia Boldrini (Goldsmiths, London)
• Prof Paul Hamilton (Queen Mary, London)
• Prof Timothy Mathews (UCL)
• Prof Robert Weninger (King’s College London)

Recession is a time for asking fundamental questions about value. How will
funding cuts, curriculum reform, and higher tuition fees transform
teaching and research? How will they affect the future of comparative
literature? What will be the social and cultural role of comparative
studies in a rapidly changing world? This round table brings together four
leading scholars of literature and culture, all working in London, to
reflect on the public value of their discipline, and on the future of
comparative literature.

4.00 Coffee

4.15 SESSION THREE: COMPLEX IDENTITIES / NARRATIVES OF THE SELF
        Chair: Daniel O'Connor (King’s)

Kate Willman (King’s): “Constructing Identities: (Dis)Engagement with
History in Juan Goytisolo’s Marks of Identity and Cesare Pavese’s The Moon
and the Bonfires.”

Emma Grylls (UCL): “Loneliness in the Fiction of Yiyun Li and William
Trevor.”

Maha Abdel Megeed (King’s) “The Metamorphosed Clown Mask: From Rabelais to
Machado de Assis.”

Christine Tiedemann (King’s): “"Post-Mortem Identity: Posada’s Calaveras
and Rulfo’s Pedro Páramo."

Scott Yearsley (UCL) “Sweet Transvestites from Krypton! Secret Identities
and Sexual Performativity in Superman comics and The Rocky Horror Picture
Show”.

6.15 Closing Remarks: Rosa Mucignat (King’s) and Florian Mussgnug
(UCL).

•••

The organizers of LINKS 2011 thank the UCL Faculty Institute for Graduate
Studies for its generous support. This event is free of charge and open to
all.

For more information, please contact Dr Florian Mussgnug at
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