Dear friends and colleagues,

Below and attached to this email, please find a call for papers for sessions that we are currently organizing on the topic “Rivalry and Competition at Court,” for the annual meeting of the Renaissance Society of America, to be held next year in Venice, 8-10 April 2010.  We would be very grateful if you would forward this message to colleagues or graduate students who you think might be interested as well.

Warm regards,

Molly Bourne

Bruce Edelstein

RSA 2010 ANNUAL CONFERENCE - VENICE

Call for papers: “Rivalry and Competition at Court”

The court was one of the fundamental institutions of the Renaissance state: a socio-political microcosm formed around a ruler and his or her consort.  While the court is a manifestation of autocratic power, it was also an environment that nurtured a wide array of cultural enterprises, including works of art, theater, music, and literature that are today considered paradigms of Renaissance achievement.

Competition was one of the strongest motivating factors behind courtly cultural patronage, where rivalry between different courts or within the same court stimulated lavish spending and facilitated the rise in social status of artists and literary figures.

We hope to organize at least two sessions on this phenomenon: one dedicated to episodes documenting rivalry between two or more courts, and another dedicated to rivalry within the same court.  Potential topics might include episodes of competition between artists or courtiers, between consorts, or between wives and mistresses.

Molly Bourne, Syracuse University in Florence ([log in to unmask])

Bruce Edelstein, New York University in Florence ([log in to unmask])

Please email proposals, accompanied by an abstract of no longer than 150 words, to both panel organizers by no later than 30 April 2009

Bruce L. Edelstein
Coordinator for Graduate Programs and Advanced Research
New York University in Florence
Villa La Pietra
via Bolognese 120
50139 Firenze
Italy
(+39) 055 5007246