Representation/ Literary Archives conference is approaching--please
submit abstracts by *April 30th* to Lisa Stead (lrs204@ex.ac.uk
<mailto:lrs204@ex.ac.uk>) or Carrie Smith (crs202@ex.ac.uk
<mailto:crs202@ex.ac.uk>)
**
*Reclamation and representation: the boundaries of the literary archive*
*University** of Exeter**, 2-3rd October 2010*
/"Even scholars who are able to globetrot from collection to
collection end up relying heavily upon their inadequate
memories, notes, photocopies, and photographs to compensate for
the distances in time and space between collections. Seeing the
original prints, paintings, manuscripts, and typographical works
is good in itself; but seeing them in fine, trustworthy
reproductions, in context and relation to one another is the
scholarly ideal. Difficulty of access to original and reliance
on inadequate reproductions has handicapped and distorted even
the best efforts... the result has all too frequently been
distortions of the record, misconstructions, and the waste of
considerable scholarly labor."
(Joseph Viscom 2002)/
*Confirmed Keynote speakers:*
*Prof. Helen Taylor (University of Exeter)*
*Dr Wim Van Mierlo (University of London)*
This two day event explores issues of reclamation and representation
within literary archive. The event seeks to foreground original archival
research into literary legacies and the processes of authorial
representation through research. Our main objective is to explore the
unique methodological challenges and questions that arise from archival
investigation, and how research working with the varied archival
materials can both reclaim and re-cast authorial personas and scholarly
interpretations of their work.
The event will include sessions that use some of the literary papers
held in the University of Exeter's Special Collections as a way of
highlighting issues in archival research. Exeter's collections are
particularly rich in archival sources on writers of the South West
region—such as Ted Hughes, Daphne du Maurier, Agatha Christie, John
Betjeman, Henry Williamson, and TS Eliot—BUT we welcome papers exploring
questions which have wider application in archival research.
Proposals for individual papers of 20 minutes are invited. Possible
topics might include:
* The challenges of recreating the draft in scholarly writing--
re-representing an author's works from archival sources
* The negotiation of biographical and textual difficulties and their
impact upon how writers are known
* Questions of authority surrounding pre-texts and printed texts,
and the interface between them
* The impact of 'anecdotal' archival material and evidence upon the
shaping of literary histories
* Reconstituting 'the canon' in the reclamation of lost authors
* The location of newly discovered manuscripts within intertextual
critical networks and literary histories-e.g. Issues of
theoretical conflict between the decentring of the author and the
recovering of writers within theories of race / gender /
colonialism etc.
* The search for authorial 'presence' in the archive in attempts to
reconstruct biographical histories
* The 'fetishism of the document' in archival studies
* Archival silences
* The details of archival acquisition and its impact upon authorial
representation
* Questions of copyright issues and their shaping of authorial
scholarship and/or authorial representation
* The impact of archival restrictions upon research and scholarship
* The development of digital archives and their influence upon
literary scholarship
* Ownership of archives—what effect do issues such as archival
location, / corporation funding have on the type of scholarship on
particular literary figures and their representation?
We particularly invite papers on writers with connections to the South
West, although all contributions are welcome.
Please submit 200-300 word abstracts, including a short biographical
note, to Lisa Stead (lrs204@ex.ac.uk <mailto:lrs204@ex.ac.uk>) or Carrie
Smith (crs202@ex.ac.uk <mailto:crs202@ex.ac.uk>). Deadline for
submissions: 30th April 2010. Further details can be found at:
http://www.sall.ex.ac.uk/content/view/2697/577/
--
--
Rebecca Lyle Skains
Creative Writing & Digital Media
School of Creative Studies and Media
Bangor University
r.l.skains@bangor.ac.uk ~ ls@lyleskains.com
http://lyleskains.com
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