Edith Wharton Symposium: 22 and 23 August 2013, Liverpool Hope University, UK
Organisers: William Blazek and Laura Rattray
Keynote Speakers: Pamela Knights and Gary Totten
Call for Papers: extended deadline 27 May 2013
We warmly invite papers on the life and work of Edith Wharton for an international symposium, co-sponsored by the Wharton Society, to be held in Liverpool in August 2013.
The symposium marks the 100th anniversary of the publication of Wharton’s much-read and much-analyzed novel The Custom of the Country. Described as the writer’s “greatest book” by Hermione Lee in her 2007 biography, and listed by Wharton herself at the end of a long and prolific career as one of her own favourite works, The Custom of the Country arguably remains the author’s most complex and controversial novel. To mark the centenary, many of the panels and keynotes will be devoted to topics pertaining specifically to this landmark text.
However, we also warmly welcome papers on any aspect of Wharton’s life and work, and the work of her contemporaries, male and female, canonical and non-canonical, European and American. As another centenary approaches, we particularly seek papers treating Wharton and her contemporaries in the contexts of World War I. Papers for these panels might consider Wharton’s relief work; her propaganda; visits to the frontline; journalism; her fiction written during the years of conflict.
We are delighted to confirm that the keynote speakers for this event will be esteemed Wharton scholars Pamela Knights (Durham University) and Gary Totten (North Dakota State University). Pam, who has published very extensively on Wharton, is perhaps best known as the author of The Cambridge Introduction to Edith Wharton, while Gary is the immediate past president of the Society and editor of Memorial Boxes and Guarded Interiors: Edith Wharton and Material Culture.
The symposium will be held on the Hope Park campus of Liverpool Hope University, located within five miles of the Liverpool city centre. Moderately priced, ensuite campus accommodation will be available to delegates for the duration of the symposium. Day rates are also available. For those wishing to stay on and explore Liverpool after the symposium, an additional night’s accommodation will be available and we will be arranging a morning tour of the city, followed by lunch together before departing. Please send any queries and 250-word abstracts for 20-minute papers (indicating any equipment/technical requirements), and a brief biographical note by 27 May 2013 to Laura and Bill via e-mail: custom@hope.ac.uk Registration will open at the beginning of June. Further information and updates will be posted on the symposium website: www.hope.ac.uk/custom
We hope you’ll join us for this friendly and timely gathering of Wharton and early twentieth century scholars in August.