CALL FOR APPLICATIONS
Comparative Literature:
Principles, Practices, and Perspectives
Summer school, 25-27 June 2018
University of Kent
Overview
Organized by the Centre for Modern European Literature at the University of Kent, this summer school offers intensive training in the underlying principles, the variant practices, and the latest perspectives of comparative literature. The theoretical assumptions and practical implications of the discipline are so diverse that a residential programme focusing on its common causes is long overdue in the UK. Designed to include both European and non-European perspectives on comparison, this summer school will bring together postgraduate students working in the many fields of comparative literature, introducing them to leading specialists in the discipline and offering them a valuable opportunity for both intellectual training and institutional networking.
Programme
The programme will be delivered through a mixture of seminars and lectures spread across three days. On the morning of the first day, students will be asked to give brief introductions to their current projects; on the afternoon of the third day, they will give full presentations on them, including reflections on how these projects can be enriched by lessons learned over the three days. In between, they will participate in seminars on the history, hermeneutics, and practicalities of comparative literature. These seminars will be supplemented by keynote lectures given by figures of international standing within the field, conceived as case studies in the theory and practice of comparative literature.
Student profile
Applications are invited from postgraduate students – either currently undertaking a PhD or about to start a PhD – working in the field of comparative literature broadly defined. The school is fully funded by CHASE (Consortium for the Humanities in South-East England); accommodation costs and tuition fees of successful applicants will be covered. Students will stay on campus for the duration of the school (3 nights), and will be expected to participate fully in all aspects of the programme.
Application process
Suitably qualified students should submit a letter of motivation, a brief CV, and a one-page outline of their project to: [log in to unmask]
Deadline for submissions is 15 April; admission decisions will be communicated by early May. Around 12 students will be admitted; CHASE members may be given priority. Informal enquiries should be directed to: [log in to unmask]
Programme Directors
Ben Hutchinson: Professor of European Literature at the University of Kent, Member of the Executive Committee of the BCLA, and author of Comparative Literature: A Very Short Introduction (2018)
Duncan Large: Professor of European Literature and Translation at the University of East Anglia, Member of the Executive Committee of the BCLA, and Director of the British Centre for Literary Translation
Francesca Orsini: Professor of Hindi and South Asian Literature at SOAS, Member of the Executive Committee of the BCLA, Editor of Comparative Critical Studies, and PI of ERC project 'Multilingual Locals and Significant Geographies'
Keynote Lecturers
Marcel Lepper: Director of Research, German Literature Archive Marbach
Wen-chin Ouyang: Professor of Arabic and Comparative Literature, SOAS
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