Dublin, 18-20 June 2015
The International Spenser Society invites proposals for their next International Conference, to be held in Dublin, Ireland. The conference will address Spenser’s places – domestic, urban, global, historical, colonial, rhetorical, geopolitical, etc. – but also the place of Spenser in Renaissance studies, in the literary tradition, in Britain, in Ireland, in the literary and political cultures of his own moment.
Additionally, a series of programmed focus panels will offer opportunities for discussion of recent important initiatives and directions in Spenser studies: editing; biography; style; Ireland; philosophy and religion; teaching; and digital approaches.
We welcome abstracts from Spenser scholars and Renaissance scholars, graduate students and faculty, for papers that address Spenser’s historical, cultural and literary environments. These include the places and spaces in which he worked and the places and positions through which we approach that work.
The conference will take place in historic Dublin Castle (http://www.dublincastle.ie/) in the heart of the city, with accommodation available in local hotels. It follows the success of four previous ISS conferences, at Princeton (1990), Yale (1996), Cambridge (2001), and Toronto (2006).
An optional bus tour to Kilcolman castle, County Cork and other Spenser-related sites will take place June 21st.
Plenaries: Helen Cooper (University of Oxford), Jeffrey Dolven (Princeton University), Anne Fogarty (University College Dublin)
Confirmed speakers/presiders: Andrew Hadfield, Beth Quitslund, David Lee Miller, Julian Lethbridge, Ayesha Ramachandran, Joseph Loewenstein, Andrew Zurcher, David Wilson-Okamura, Patricia Palmer, Willy Maley, Susannah Brietz Monta, Kevin De Ornellas
Abstracts should be submitted directly to the conference website: www.spenser2015.com
The closing date for submissions is 15 September 2014
Suggested topics might include (but are not restricted to) the following:
- The reception of Spenser’s poetry
- Spenser among the poets
- Spenser and political writing
- Digital Spenser
- Spenser and the Sidneys
- Spenser’s place in Renaissance studies
- Spenser’s Europe
- Spenser’s place in Irish studies
- Spenser’s social networks
- Spenser and the politics of space
- Spenser’s imaginative spaces
- Spenser and early modern Dublin
- Editing Spenser
- Spenser and early modern London
- Spenser in Munster
- Spenser and Shakespeare
- Spenser and Raleigh
- Spenser’s Atlantic world
- Spenser, history and historiography
- Spenser and archaeology
- Material Spenser/Spenser’s materials
- Structural/topomorphic approaches
- Spenser’s style
- Religion and philosophy
- Spenser’s Books
- Teaching Spenser
We also invite proposals for poster-board demonstrations of relevant digital and other projects.
Conference Organisers:
Jane Grogan (University College Dublin), Andrew King (University College Cork), Thomas Herron (East Carolina University)
Sponsored by the International Spenser Society
http://www.english.cam.ac.uk/spenseronline/iss/
