17 August 2009

New Themes 2009/10

Dear All

Building on the success of the "Inventions of the Text" seminar series, we are currently organising the programme for the academic year 2009-10. We already have several external speakers lined up, and would like to involve as many Durham English Department postgraduates as possible. The seminars provide an excellent forum in which to improve presenting skills, test out ideas, and enjoy stimulating discussions, within the context of a peer group who can offer encouragement, criticism and practical advice. We anticipate a high demand for slots, so if you would like to give a paper, please contact the organisers at inventionsofthetext@gmail.com, sending a title and abstract of 250-400 words. The themes for next year are as follows:

* Theory - "And so the sick mind continues to infinity, creating gaps then dispersing them again, heaping up diverse similarities, destroying those that seem closest, splitting up things that are identical, superimposing different criteria, frenziedly beginning all over again, becoming more and more disturbed, and teetering finally on the brink of anxiety."

Papers are welcome on any related aspect of critical theory, to include:
• genre studies and the liminal text
• perio
disation and its relevance to theory
• -isms

* Poetry - "Poetry is that return of the mind upon itself."

Papers are welcome on any related aspect of poetry studies, to include:
• aestheticism and the relationship between art and culture/history
self-reflection and self-consciousness
• reception theory

* Narrative - "It is clear that a discontinuous structure suits a time of dangers and adventures, [and] that a more continuous linear structure suits a Bildungsroman where the themes of growth and metamorphosis predominate."

Papers are welcome on any related aspect of narratology and prose studies, to include:
• literary structure
• concepts of narrative time
• metamorphosis

Clara Dawson, Eleanor Chatburn, Amy Jordan
Organisers for 2009/10