Romance and its Transformations, 1550-1750  Event

As a genre, romance is defined by transformation: it is both a recurrent motif within romance and a characteristic of a form that has itself been transformed over the centuries and in different locations. To explore this further Dr. Alice Eardley (English), together with Dr. Julie Eckerle (University of Minnesota, Morris), is organising a conference that will bring together a range of national and international scholars for a conference that will be held at Chawton House Library in June and July 2014, and that will feature keynote presentations by Professor Ros Ballaster, Oxford University, Professor Nandini Das, Liverpool University, and Professor Mary Ellen Lamb, Southern Illinois University. The aim of the conference, which is funded by the Leverhulme Trust, is to explore the appropriation and transformation of romance in Britain (and beyond) between 1550 and 1750, as writers adopted and rewrote the motifs, storylines, characters, and formal elements of the genre. It will bring into dialogue the different ideas about, and critical approaches to, the genre that are developing our understanding of the significance of romance within historical periods traditionally considered in isolation from one another, including the Renaissance, the early modern period, and the eighteenth century.

For the Call for Papers (deadline 31 December 2013), visit CFP