Call for papers
INTERNATIONAL WHITMAN WEEK 2008: SEMINAR AND SYMPOSIUM
Walt Whitman’s Poetry in the 21st Century / Talking Back to Walt Whitman
Date: June 16-22, 2008 / June 20-22, 2008Location: Technische Universität Dortmund, Germany
The Transatlantic Walt Whitman Association (TWWA), founded in Paris in 2007, invites students, researchers and Whitman enthusiasts to participate in its first Whitman Week, consisting of a seminar for advanced students interested in Whitman and Whitman’s poetry and a symposium bringing together international scholars and graduate students. Seminar and symposium are co-sponsored by the TWWA and Technische Universität Dortmund.
International Whitman Seminar: Walt Whitman’s Poetry in the 21st Century
16-22 June 2008
Walt Whitman’s poetry, written in the 19th century, continues to have a strong impact on literatures and and cultures worldwide. Every year, new editions of Whitman’s work are published in a variety of languages; ever new poets “reply” to him in their poetry; his poems are set into music and appear in movies; he is invoked in the discussion of political and cultural issues as well as of gender and sexuality; and he continues to be a huge presence in college and university curricula globally. In order to respond adequately to this international phenomenon, The Transatlantic Walt Whitman Association will sponsor a series of International Whitman Seminars, where students from different countries will come together for intensive, credit-bearing one-week seminars taught by Whitman specialists from different countries.
The first seminar will be held at Technische Universität Dortmund from 16-22 June 2008. In the regular classes, focusing on some of Whitman’s major poems, students will have an opportunity to share their readings of these poems and to discuss their significance in the 21st century in an international framework. Additionally, there will be special presentations on the reception of Whitman in various countries and languages as well as other topics. Instructors will include Éric Athenot, Université of Tours, French translator of Walt Whitman’s poetry and chair of the Transatlantic Walt Whitman Association; Mario Corona, Università degli studi di Bergamo, Italian Translator of Walt Whitman; Betsy Erkkila, Northwestern University and author of two books on Walt Whitman; Ed Folsom, University of Iowa, editor of the Walt Whitman Quarterly Review and co-founder and editor of the Walt Whitman Archive. Students will also participate in the Walt Whitman Symposium held at the end of the week, 20-22 June 2008, featuring Whitman scholars from many different countries.
Credits will be issued by Technische Universität Dortmund. International visiting students will live with their colleagues in Dortmund, thus minimizing expenses and creating opportunities for a meaningful intercultural dialogue. In addition to class work on Whitman and the symposium, students will come to know the Ruhrgebiet, one of Europe’s largest and most diverse metropolitan region.
Application: 15 non-German international students will be accepted to the symposium. Applications should include a curriculum vitae, a one-page statement explaining the interest in the seminar, and a short letter of support by an instructor who knows the applicant.
Applications should be sent to
Walter.Gruenzweig@uni-dortmund.de as soon as possible but by 4 April 2008 at the latest.
International Whitman Symposium: Talking Back to Walt Whitman
20-22 June 2008
From Whitman’s time to the present, poets, novelists, playwrights, musicians, painters, and other artists–from America, Europe, and around the world–have directly talked back to Walt Whitman, both in the sense of arguing with him and in the sense of talking back across time to him. He initiated this conversation in his own poetry, when he beckoned “Poets to come! orators, singers, musicians to come!” and told them to “Arouse! for you must justify me,” for he “Expect[ed] the main things from you.” The first TWWA symposium invites papers that explore a particular case of a modern or contemporary artist who talks back to Whitman in some illuminating and provocative way. Papers should be no more than 20 minutes in length.
Abstracts should be addressed to Eric Athenot, eric.athenot@orange.fr, by 4 April 2008 (Europe, Africa, Asia) and to Ed-Folsom@uiowa.edu (Americas).
Information for participants (with or without papers), including accommodation, is available from
Walter.Gruenzweig@uni-dortmund.de.
