Second Annual Meeting: Loving Literature
"Literature demands love." So writes Deidre Shauna Lynch in Loving Literature: A Cultural History (Chicago, 2014), where she traces the roots of literary discourse and literary love back to the eighteenth century. As Lynch argues, literary love developed from personal experience and individuality, from the intimate, private act of reading, of getting to know an author and his or her thoughts, feelings, ideas, and life. Through this affectionate connection, literature became "a gift that genius bestows on posterity" that requires gratitude and an ethical imperative to sustain that genius for future generations. At the same moment when English emerged as a distinct field of study--via the formation of the English canon, definitions of "literariness," historical literary study, and the rise of the literary critic--love emerged as the essential affective element for proper literary appreciation. As Lynch writes, between 1750-1850 the private act of reading literature converged with the public sphere through the emergence of modern literary studies; this is "how it has come to be that those of us for whom English is a line of work are also called upon to love literature and to ensure that others do so too." Do we love literature? If so, how and why do we love literature? Can we pass this love on to our students and to the general public? What problems arise from this blurring of our private and public lives?
This symposium aims to investigate love of literature through discussion of Lynch's book as well as participants' own experiences of literary love--in specific authors and texts, in the classroom, and in our private lives. Some questions we will consider: How does love of literature work in specific texts and authors? How can we understand love of literature as a central element in the history of literary criticism and aesthetic theory? How does love of literature inform our approaches to teaching? How does love of literature inform our personal reading practices? What does Lynch's book reveal about the state of our profession and where we might be headed?
Symposium Schedule:
10:30am-11:30am Opening “Reception” (refreshments provided)
11:30am-1:00pm Roundtable Discussion
This morning session will be a roundtable discussion of Loving Literature. Participants will read the book and submit a 2-3 page response paper in advance, which will be posted on this website by September 15 for others to read. The roundtable will function like a seminar: part discussion of the book and part presentation of how the book relates to our research, teaching, and thinking.
1:00-2:00pm Lunch Buffet
2:00-4:00pm Workshop and Discussion
This optional afternoon workshop will provide time for participants who would like to share, swap, and discuss their own work on research and teaching. We can work out in advance who would like to take part in this session, and I can circulate works-in-progress and other materials for feedback and discussion. Participants who do not wish to take part in the afternoon session can simply leave after lunch.
"Literature demands love." So writes Deidre Shauna Lynch in Loving Literature: A Cultural History (Chicago, 2014), where she traces the roots of literary discourse and literary love back to the eighteenth century. As Lynch argues, literary love developed from personal experience and individuality, from the intimate, private act of reading, of getting to know an author and his or her thoughts, feelings, ideas, and life. Through this affectionate connection, literature became "a gift that genius bestows on posterity" that requires gratitude and an ethical imperative to sustain that genius for future generations. At the same moment when English emerged as a distinct field of study--via the formation of the English canon, definitions of "literariness," historical literary study, and the rise of the literary critic--love emerged as the essential affective element for proper literary appreciation. As Lynch writes, between 1750-1850 the private act of reading literature converged with the public sphere through the emergence of modern literary studies; this is "how it has come to be that those of us for whom English is a line of work are also called upon to love literature and to ensure that others do so too." Do we love literature? If so, how and why do we love literature? Can we pass this love on to our students and to the general public? What problems arise from this blurring of our private and public lives?
This symposium aims to investigate love of literature through discussion of Lynch's book as well as participants' own experiences of literary love--in specific authors and texts, in the classroom, and in our private lives. Some questions we will consider: How does love of literature work in specific texts and authors? How can we understand love of literature as a central element in the history of literary criticism and aesthetic theory? How does love of literature inform our approaches to teaching? How does love of literature inform our personal reading practices? What does Lynch's book reveal about the state of our profession and where we might be headed?
Symposium Schedule:
10:30am-11:30am Opening “Reception” (refreshments provided)
11:30am-1:00pm Roundtable Discussion
This morning session will be a roundtable discussion of Loving Literature. Participants will read the book and submit a 2-3 page response paper in advance, which will be posted on this website by September 15 for others to read. The roundtable will function like a seminar: part discussion of the book and part presentation of how the book relates to our research, teaching, and thinking.
1:00-2:00pm Lunch Buffet
2:00-4:00pm Workshop and Discussion
This optional afternoon workshop will provide time for participants who would like to share, swap, and discuss their own work on research and teaching. We can work out in advance who would like to take part in this session, and I can circulate works-in-progress and other materials for feedback and discussion. Participants who do not wish to take part in the afternoon session can simply leave after lunch.