Guest Speakers:
Prof. Pamela Gerrish Nunn, University of Canterbury, New Zealand
Prof. Lorraine Janzen Kooistra, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada
Prof. Talia Schaffer, City University of New York, USA
CALL FOR PAPERS: British Aestheticisms : Sources, Genres, Definitions, Evolutions
Université Paul Valéry, Montpellier
2-3 October 2009
www.esthetismes.org
Both a social phenomenon, an artistic movement, and a literary trend, British
Aestheticism has been the object of multiple, sometimes
contradictory, definitions which all point to its central role in the
advent of
modernity. As a movement and as an operative notion Aestheticism is of major
importance to anybody interested in nineteenth and early twentieth century
British
culture.
This international conference on ‘British Aestheticisms : Sources, Genres,
Definitions, Evolutions,’ which will take place in October 2009, aims at
reexamining
the notion of Aestheticism from a transdisciplinary
perspective and hopes to attract contributions (in French or in English) from
researchers across the fields of British studies, comparative studies, art
history,
publishing history, aesthetics, philosophy, reception theory, women’s
studies, queer
theory, and gay and lesbian studies.
Papers may focus on the definition and the boundaries of Aestheticism, its
relationship with tradition, and its links with contemporary or subsequent
movements
(European Decadence, Modernism, etc.) ; we also encourage contributions on
the
generic definition of Aestheticism, its editorial policies or its
circulation and
popularization via other media (visual arts, theatre, music-hall) in
mainstream
culture as well as in various alternative communities, in the general
context of the
explosion of the means of communication and mechanic reproduction, or what L.
Dowling calls 'artistic vulgarisation'. What authors were/are considered
aesthetic ?
Who read Aesthetic writings (both fiction and non-fiction), bought or saw
Aesthetic
products, or attended Aesthetic performances? Furthermore, as Aestheticism is
concomitant with a re-envisaging of gender and identities, contributors
may want to
explore the links between Aestheticism and Victorian feminism and with the
'third
sex'. Finally, one may want to examine the philosophical underpinnings of
a movement
based on Kantian philosophy which aimed at challenging oppositions between
aesthetics and ethics : is Aestheticism a subversion, a redefinition, or a
suspension of the oppositions between aesthetics and ethics ?
We welcome papers addressing, but not limited to, the following issues :
Aestheticism and literary tradition
Aestheticism and subversion
Aestheticism, its scandals and its trials (Rossetti, Ruskin, Whistler, Wilde)
Reception of British Aestheticism abroad
Aestheticism and European Decadence
Aestheticism and Modernism
Aestheticism and the theatre, the opera, or popular culture
Fashion and/or Avant-garde
Seriousness, humour, irony
The sex of Aestheticism
Women aesthetes
Aestheticism and the visual arts
Aestheticism in the museum : its exhibition style, its exhibition venues, its
artists, its exhibitions then and now
The circulation of Aesthetic production : publishing, reproduction,
periodicals
Aestheticism and philosophy : ethical implications
Aestheticism and the issue of its possible religious affiliation
(Catholic/Anglican)
Nationalism and Cosmopolitanism
The Politics of Aestheticism
This conference is organised by the CERVEC Research Center (Centre
d'Etudes et de
Recherches Victoriennes, Edourdiennes et Contemporaines, EA 741) of the
Université
Paul Valéry Montpellier, France.
Additional information can be obtained from:
catherine.delyfer @ univ-montp3.fr or
bncoste @ free.fr