Writing, the State, and the Rise of Neo-Nationalism: Historical Contexts and Contemporary Concerns  In January 1868, John William De Forest took to the pages of The Nation with a call that would resound over the next century and a half: the writing of the "Great American Novel." In so doing, he asserted both the shaping force of the nation on the arts, and the importance of the arts for the national imaginary. On the sesquicentennial of De Forest's essay, the College of General Studies at Boston University will host a conference to explore the broader intersection of writing and the nation. This conference will meet on Boston University’s campus in London, England, on June 30, 2018. The conference will feature a keynote address by Daniel Karlin, Winterstoke Professor of English at the University of Bristol. The exigency of ongoing scholarly consideration of the relation between the nation and writing could not be […]

Call for Papers: The Cartographic Imagination: Art, Literature and Mapping in the United States, 1945-1980 A two-day international conference funded by the Terra Foundation for American Art, in conjunction with the Centre for American Studies at the University of Kent and the Départment d’Etudes Anglophones at the University of Strasbourg. Dates: 18-19 May 2018 Venue: Reid Hall, 4 Rue de Chevreuse, 75006, Paris, France Organizers: Monica Manolescu (University of Strasbourg); Will Norman (University of Kent) Keynote speakers: Pamela Lee (Stanford University), David Herd (University of Kent) and Stephen Collier (Simon Fraser University) This conference investigates spatial representations and practices in postwar US literature and art, and their intersection with mapping. We are particularly interested in the ways in which American space is constructed, imagined, reconfigured, displaced, and questioned in writing and in artistic form. The conference will examine the specificity of the literary and artistic appropriation of cartographic tropes, as well as […]

43rd Annual Conference of the British Association for Canadian Studies, Senate House, London/ 19-21 April 2018 Keynote: Professor Margaret Macmillan 2018 - A Century Later: Memory, Remembrance and Change  On the centenary of the end of the First World War, BACS’ 2018 Annual Conference will look beyond the war itself, at its impact upon Canada, engagement with and use of memory, and Canada’s place in the wider world. Change in the past century will very much be explored in the broader context of today’s Canada and its future. We are extremely pleased to announce that we will have Professor Margaret Macmillan as one of our keynotes. As per usual practice, therefore, papers addressing other themes in Canadian Studies will be very welcome, including those that look at the 50th Anniversary of Pierre Elliott Trudeau becoming prime minister and Canada’s role in the ever-shifting politics of 21st century North America. The organisers of […]