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From:   Kevin Berland <[log in to unmask]>

250th Anniversary of the Lisbon Earthquake

On All Saints Day 1755 a powerful earthquake estimated at magnitude 8.6-
9.0 struck in the Atlantic Ocean southwest of Lisbon. There was
widespread devastation in Spain (from Galicia to Andalusia), Portugal,
and Morocco. In Lisbon, about 30,000 people, or 11% of the population,
were killed by the three tremors and the three tsunamis that shook the
city, or by fires ignited by the quake.

Throughout Europe, artists chronicled in pictures what writers
chronicled in words. Theologians and philosophers were led into
discussions of Divine Providence, predeterminism and the goodness of
God; poets and novelists wrote about the seismic event or included it
in their works; historians have documented and commented upon it.

You are invited to bring your own critical perspective and that of one
or more disciplines on this dramatic event in either or both of two
venues.

EC/ASECS

First, John Radner and Theodore Braun are organizing a multi-panel
session on "The Lisbon Earthquake," which will include all disciplines,
at the annual meeting of the East-Central ASECS, 2-4 October 2003, in
Greensburg, PA, near Pittsburgh. Send paper proposals to John Radner or
Theodore Braun ([log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask]) by the end of
May 2003 if possible, but no later than mid June.

SVEC

The important international journal SVEC (Studies on Voltaire and the
Eighteenth Century, published by the Voltaire Foundation in Oxford) is
planning a special anniversary issue of the earthquake for 2005, to be
co-edited by John Radner and Ted Braun (see e-mails above). Proposals
for articles, which can be derived from or be co-conceived with or be
the basis of a paper read at EC/ASECS, can be sent to Theodore Braun by
e-mail ([log in to unmask]) or by post (Foreign Languages and
Literatures, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716); he'll make sure
John Radner gets a copy. Manuscripts, which will be sent to readers for
evaluation, should be submitted no later than early in January 2004.

Note: If you are planning to propose both a paper to EC/ASECS and an
article to SVEC, please indicate this (and any significant differences
between the two submissions) to Ted Braun by the May/June conference-
paper deadline.


Theodore E. D. Braun
Emeritus Professor, French and Comparative Literature
University of Delaware
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