[apologies for cross-posting]

Don't forget:  the registration deadline is Friday, April 26!

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2013 West Virginia University Summer Seminar in Literary and Cultural Studies

Romantic Science and the Romantic Imagination

Seminar Leader: Richard C. Sha, American University

June 6-9, 2013

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Romantic science and the Romantic imagination have long been understood as enemies. This seminar explores the reasons for the clash, and argues for a rethinking of both terms. Far from being objective, Romantic science reveled in the emotions and desires, so much so that matter was imagined as having feelings just like (and about) people. If the linkage of science and feeling gave science an ethics, however, it threatened to mire science in subjectivity. The Romantic imagination actually helped to develop the scientific method, forcing scientists to discipline their wayward speculations into something like knowledge. Figures to be covered include Coleridge, Kant, Keats, Byron, the Shelleys, and the Scottish novelist Elizabeth Hamilton; as well as the scientists Joseph Priestley, Humphry Davy, and Michael Faraday. Our aim will be to think about what has been gained and lost by pitting science against imagination.

Richard C. Sha is Professor of Literature at American University in Washington, D.C. He is the author or (co-) editor of Romanticism and the Emotions (Cambridge, forthcoming); Perverse Romanticism: Aesthetics and Sexuality in Britain, 1750-1830 (Johns Hopkins, 2009); and The Visual and Verbal Sketch in British Romanticism (Penn, 1998). In addition, he has edited two journal volumes: Romanticism and Sexuality (Romanticism and Victorianism on the Net) and Historicizing Romantic Sexuality (Romantic Praxis). He has been the recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Philosophical Society, and the Andrew Mellon Foundation.

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FORMAT:  The seminar will begin with a public lecture ("Imagining Romantic Emotion") at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 6th and conclude at noon on Sunday, June 9th. There are five, two-hour sessions during the seminar. By mid-May, registered participants will be provided with a list of readings to be completed before arrival at the seminar. Please scroll down to the end of this message for a tentative session plan.

SITE:  West Virginia University is located in scenic north-central West Virginia about 75 miles south of Pittsburgh, PA and 200 miles west of Washington, DC. Housing will be available on campus, and one local hotel is close by for those who prefer non-dormitory housing.

FEES:  Graduate students $280, faculty $380, non-academic $380

HOUSING:  Housing for the seminar will be available in Stalnaker Hall, on WVU’s Downtown Campus. Single accommodations from Thursday evening through Sunday morning cost $156.21, and doubles cost $78.12 per person (excluding sales and occupancy tax). Parking is available for a fee of $7/day.  Participants who would prefer to stay off campus may stay in one of several area hotels. Please contact Marsha Bissett at the e-mail address below for more information.

MEALS:  Breakfast and snacks are included on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Stalnaker Hall is located near a number of casual restaurants for lunch and dinner.

REGISTRATION:  The registration deadline is Friday, April 26, 2013. A printable form is available at the seminar website, http://english.wvu.edu/centers-projects/summer-seminar. The seminar syllabus and other information will also be posted here as it becomes available. If you have any questions, please e-mail Marsha Bissett at [log in to unmask]  

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TENTATIVE SESSION PLAN

Session 1: What Counts as Science in Romantic Science, and Why Does Science Matter?
Readings from Lorraine Daston and Peter Galison on objectivity; Jessica Riskin on science and sensibility; Peter Dear

Session 2: Theorizing Matter: Science and Imagination Readings from Kant, chemist Humphry Davy, Michael Faraday, Coleridge

Session 3: What’s Wrong with the New Materialism?
Readings from Quentin Meillassoux; The Speculative Turn, eds. Bryant, Srnicek, and Harman; Jane Bennett, Vital Materialism; Percy Shelley

Session 4: Romantic Psychology: Elizabeth Hamilton and the Romantic Attentive Imagination Readings from Elizabeth Hamilton; Hunter and Macalpine, 300 Years of Psychology; Jan Goldstein

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The 2013 West Virginia University Summer Seminar is sponsored by the Department of English, the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, and West Virginia University


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