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Call for Papers for Special Sessions: Exploring the Romantic-era Novel,
1780 -1840
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University of Groningen, The Netherlands, 17-19 November 1999***
http://www.shu.ac.uk/corvey/romhome/romhome.html
The conference maps the multiple critical journeys taken in studies of
the
Romantic-era novel, taking stock of advances in this field and
considering
aspects of the genre still neglected.
Plenary Speakers include Nancy Armstrong, Claudia L. Johnson, and Robert
Miles
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We welcome papers for the following special sessions; see below for
other
topics on which papers are welcome (and for more information on the
conference):
*La Nouvelle Heloise* and the Romantic Period:
Rousseau's novel was first published in England in 1761, yet it
was not
until the 1790s that the texty aroused in readers its most passionate
and
extravagant responses; in the Romantic period, then, it emerged as a
central focus for and object of cultural debate. In novels by Mary
Hays,
Mary Wollstonecraft, and Amelia Opie, for example, *Heloise* is the text
which directly inspires heroines to understand acts of transgression as
acts of ideal virtue - a misunderstanding which invariably leads to
their
downfall. Send short abstracts to Mary Peace at [log in to unmask]
Figuring Property in Novels by Women:
In *Married Women's Separate Peroperty in England, 1660-1833*,
Susan
Staves argues that during the eighteenth century, the right of women to
own property was steadily eroded until "woman" and "owndership" came to
be
separate categories. How does this impinge on the novels of the period,
especially those that feature inheritance or the rightful ownership of
an
estate as essential to plot development? If women can't "own" property,
can they still lay claim to their imagination - to their intellectual
property? Papers are invited on any aspect of "property" in the
female-authored novel, including those that problematize or interrogate
the categories of "owndership" and "inheritance". Abstracts of up to
400
words to Jacqueline Labbe, School of English, University of Sheffield,
Sheffield S10 2TD, or [log in to unmask]
The Visionary Woman in the Romantic Novel:
Much Romantic criticism, especially that focusing on poetry,
identifies
the female as source for male vision and consolation from the strains of
(male) visionary activity but treats the feamle herself as incapble of
transcendent vision. Yet novels such as Mme de Stael's *Corinne* and
heroines such as Radcliffe's suggest that the female visionary can exit.
This session sets out to explore how such a woman gets represented in
fiction of this period, and/or what kinds of work she - the woman of
genius - creates. Is she a contradiction in terms? Must she become an
other-worldly sybil in her role as female visionary? And to what extent
do fictions containing such a character challenge the gendering of
vision
and the restriction of it to certain genres? Short abstracts to Julie
Shaffer, English Studies, Sheffield Hallam University, 32 Collegiate
Crescent, Sheffield S10 2BP, or [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask]
We welcome the submission of special session proposals (such proposals
should include a title, a chairperson, and abstracts of 3 20-page
papers)
Other issues to be debated (submit abstracts to conference organizers):
What is the relation between the novel and "Romanticism"?
Is the novel of this period cosmopolitan or provincial?
What is the impact of new scholarly editions, especially of the
work of
women writers?
What is the role of circulating libraries?
What is the significance of the Minerva and other popular
presses on
various novel genres, including hybrid genres?
What are the international dimensions of novel production, such
as
translations, and cosmopolitan exchanges and influences,
including the export of sentimental discourses to
America?
Send special session or individual 20-minute papers (or 500-word
abstracts)
before 17 June 1999, to the conference organisers at BOTH the
Universities
of Groningen AND Sheffield Hallam:
Amanda Gilroy or Wil Verhoeven, Dept. of English, University of
Groningen, PO Box 716, 9700 AS Groningen, The Netherlands. Tel.
+31.50.3635850. Fax: +31.50.3635821. Email: [log in to unmask] or
[log in to unmask]
And: Emma Clery, School of Cultural Studies, Sheffield Hallam
University, Collegiate Crescent, Sheffield S10 2BP, UK. Tel.
+44.114.2720911. Email: [log in to unmask]
***The conference, co-organised by the Department of English, University
of Groningen, and the School of Cultural Studies, Sheffield Hallam
University, will take place the old university town of Groningen, an
easy two-hour train journey north of Amsterdam. Details are available on
the conference website:
http://www.shu.ac.uk/corvey/romhome/romhome.html
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