Call for Papers:
**Extended abstract deadline: March 15, 2021**
https://classicalstudies.org/annual-meeting/2022/153/semcr-2022-cfp The Society for Early Modern Classical Reception (SEMCR) invites proposals for papers to be delivered at the 2022 meeting of the Society for Classical Studies in San Francisco, CA. For its seventh annual panel, SEMCR invites abstracts on transformations of classical rhetoric in the Renaissance. Since the pioneering work of Brian Vickers, Lisa Jardine, and Peter Mack, among others, studies of classical rhetoric in the Renaissance have often focused on the reception of ancient “manuals” (e.g., Cicero, Quintilian, the Rhetorica ad Herennium) and the creation of new rhetorical handbooks and commonplacing techniques. Other scholars, including Quentin Skinner and Lorna Hutson, have explored the adoption of classical rhetoric on the Elizabethan stage and the affinities with more conventional sites of classical oratory such as law courts and political and philosophical treatises. During the early modern period, however, modalities of communication and the arts evolved and diversified in ways unknown to the ancients: while the deliberate circulation of speeches in manuscript beyond the immediate occasion of delivery, as in the case of Bruni’s Panegyric to Florence, may have been familiar enough to Cicero, he could not conceive of the transformation of a letter collection from manuscript to print and the consequent scaling up not only of the potential readership but also of the epistolographical market within which such collections now competed. Then there are the media in which Renaissance creators and audiences had no direct classical models to guide them as they experimented with rhetorical forms: new artistic genres, such as opera, invited a re-evaluation of the rhetorical principles that would best serve a hybrid medium and its emergent audiences. Against this background, Katrin Ettenhuber has called for a “consideration of the material dimensions of rhetorical theory and practice.” We, therefore, invite proposals on any topic addressing this theme, including but not limited to the following: How did new Renaissance media and modalities of communication affect the reception of classical theories of rhetoric? Did the new contexts favour certain ancient models while moving away from others? To what extent did early moderns consider the role of ancient media in understanding classical rhetoric? Were there particular individuals, communities, or genres that were especially attuned to the relationship between new media and technologies and classical rhetoric? How might a reassessment of the Renaissance reception affect our understanding of the place of classical rhetoric today? We are committed to creating a congenial and collaborative forum for the infusion of new ideas into classics, and hence welcome abstracts that are exploratory in nature as well as abstracts of latter-stage research. Above all, we aim to show how the field of early modern classical reception can bear on a wide range of literary and cultural study, and to dispel the notion of an intimidating barrier to entry. Abstracts of no more than 400 words, suitable for a 15-20 minute presentation, should be sent as an email attachment to ariane.schwartz(at)gmail.com. All persons who submit abstracts must be SCS members in good standing. The abstracts will be judged anonymously: please do not identify yourself in any way on the abstract page. Proposals must be received by March 15, 2021. CfP: Seneca in the Renaissance (SEMCR@SCS 2021, Virtual)***Abstract deadline: March 6th, 2020***
https://classicalstudies.org/annual-meeting/2021/152/seneca-renaissance The Society for Early Modern Classical Reception (SEMCR) invites proposals for papers to be delivered at the 2021 meeting of the Society for Classical Studies (January 5-10). For its sixth annual panel, SEMCR invites abstracts on the reception of Seneca in all its manifestations in the early modern world. The last twenty years have seen an explosion in studies of the academic and creative reception of Seneca in the Renaissance. Work by scholars including James Ker, Jill Kraye, Peter Stacey, and Emily Wilson--to name but a few--has illuminated the multiple and interconnected legacies of Seneca in literature, philosophy, political theory, and art. Today it is possible to investigate questions in Senecan reception that would have been difficult to ask, let alone answer, a generation ago. Proposals may address (but are not limited to) the transmission, translation, or book history of the Senecan texts; the commentary tradition; artistic, literary, or musical responses to Seneca; political, philosophical, or scientific uses of Seneca. We welcome the consideration of topics including the perspectives Senecan reception provides on Renaissance philology; the reconfiguration of literary or cultural histories; the figure of Seneca as a source of innovation or inspiration in a wide range of genres and media; the geographical, political, or religious factors that influenced Senecan reception in different areas or communities; the ways in which digital technologies might influence our understanding of Seneca’s Renaissance reception. We are committed to creating a congenial and collaborative forum for the infusion of new ideas into classics, and hence welcome abstracts that are exploratory in nature as well as abstracts of latter-stage research. Above all, we aim to show how the field of early modern classical reception can bear on a wide range of literary and cultural study, and to dispel the notion of an intimidating barrier to entry. Abstracts of no more than 400 words, suitable for a 15-20 minute presentation, should be sent as an email attachment to [ariane.schwartz (at) gmail.com]. All persons who submit abstracts must be SCS members in good standing. The abstracts will be judged anonymously: please do not identify yourself in any way on the abstract page. Proposals must be received by Friday, March 6, 2020 CfP: Homer in the Renaissance (SEMCR @ RSA 2020, Philadelphia)***Abstract deadline extended: August 10th, 2019***
As an Associate Organization of the Renaissance Society of America, the Society for Early Modern Classical Reception (SEMCR) invites proposals for papers to be delivered at the 2020 meeting of the Renaissance Society of America in Philadelphia, PA. For one of its panels, SEMCR invites abstracts on the reception of Homer in all its manifestations in the early modern world. The last fifteen years have seen an explosion in studies of the scholarly and creative reception of Homer in the Renaissance. Work by scholars including Marc Bizer, Tania Demetriou, Philip Ford, Filippomaria Pontani, and Jessica Wolfe--to name but a few--has illuminated the manuscript and print transmission of the Homeric texts and revealed the enormous range of contexts in which Homer was put to use and the immense variety of artistic, cultural, political, philosophical, and theological issues the Homeric poems were used to explore. Today it is possible to investigate questions in Homeric reception that would have been difficult to ask, let alone answer, fifteen years ago. Proposals may address (but are not limited to) the transmission, translation, or book history of the Homeric texts; the commentary tradition; artistic, literary, or musical responses to Homer; political, philosophical, or scientific uses of Homer. We welcome the consideration of topics including the perspectives Homeric reception provides on Renaissance philology, knowledge of Greek or of oral composition, or the reconfiguration of literary or cultural histories; the discovery of Homer as a source of innovation or inspiration in a wide range of genres and media, or as an alternative to the authority of Latin poets or Roman culture; the geographical, political, or religious factors that influenced Homeric reception in different areas or communities, and the myriad uses to which the Homeric poems were put to explore those factors; the ways in which digital technologies might influence our understanding of Homer’s Renaissance reception. The Society is committed to creating a congenial and collaborative forum for the infusion of new ideas into classics and early modern studies, and hence welcome abstracts that are exploratory in nature as well as abstracts of latter-stage research. Above all, we aim to show how the field of early modern classical reception can bear on a wide range of literary and cultural study, and to dispel the notion of an intimidating barrier to entry. Abstracts of no more than 150 words and a short CV of no more than 300 words should be sent as an email attachment to [email protected] (see the RSA's abstract guidelines). The abstracts will be judged anonymously: please do not identify yourself in any way on the abstract page. Proposals must be received by August 1, 2019. Please include in the body of the email: • your name, affiliation, email address • your paper title (15-word maximum) • relevant keywords https://www.rsa.org/blogpost/1780396/327927/Homer-in-the-Renaissance?hhSearchTerms=%22society+and+early+and+modern+and+classical%22&terms= CfP: Classical Origins of Renaissance Aesthetics (SEMCR @ RSA 2020, Philadelphia***Abstract deadline extended: August 10th, 2019***
As an Associate Organization of the Renaissance Society of America, the Society for Early Modern Classical Reception (SEMCR) welcomes proposals for papers to be delivered at the 2020 meeting of the Renaissance Society of America in Philadelphia, PA. For one of its panels, SEMCR invites abstracts on the reception of classical theories of poetics and aesthetic experience in Renaissance art and music. Plato’s and Aristotle’s theories of mimesis, Horace’s Ars Poetica, and “Longinus”’s sublime have long dominated discussions of early modern aesthetics. Scholars have also sought to trace the influence of other, less explicitly didactic texts in defining the origin and value of art and the aesthetic experience in the Renaissance. Paul Barolsky, for example, has argued that Ovid's Metamorphoses lies at the heart of Renaissance aesthetics, whether in the story of Pygmalion bringing art to life or, conversely, Medusa's petrifaction of the living as competing metaphors for sculpture. Barolsky likewise sees Ovidian transformation behind Michelangelo’s “non finito” and in the depiction of Botticelli’s Chloris becoming Flora in the Primavera. Wendy Heller has explored the ways in which Monteverdi and Busenello’s groundbreaking opera L’incoronazione di Poppea draws upon and challenges Tacitus’ methods of historiography. More recently, Sarah Blake McHam has argued for the pervasive influence of Pliny’s Natural History and its emphasis on life-like “naturalism” from Petrarch to Caravaggio and Poussin. Building on these and other studies that move beyond questions of classical influence on the subject matter of Renaissance texts, this panel seeks papers that explore the strategies through which visual artists and musicians draw on classical aesthetics and the extent to which these hidden roots underlie Renaissance theory and practice. The Society is committed to creating a congenial and collaborative forum for the infusion of new ideas into classics and early modern studies, and hence welcomes abstracts that are exploratory in nature as well as abstracts of latter-stage research. Abstracts of no more than 150 words and a short CV of no more than 300 words should be sent as separate email attachments to [email protected] (see the RSA's abstract guidelines and CV guidelines and models). The abstracts will be judged anonymously: please do not identify yourself in any way on the abstract page. Proposals must be received by August 1, 2019. Please include in the body of the email: • your name, affiliation, email address • your paper title (15-word maximum) • relevant keywords https://www.rsa.org/blogpost/1780396/327928/Classical-Origins-of-Renaissance-Aesthetics?hhSearchTerms=%22society+and+early+and+modern+and+classical%22&terms= CfP: Homer in the Renaissance (SEMCR @ SCS 2020, Washington DC)***Abstract deadline: March 8th, 2019***
The Society for Early Modern Classical Reception (SEMCR) welcomes proposals for papers to be delivered at the 2020 meeting of the Society for Classical Studies in Washington, DC. For its fifth annual panel, SEMCR invites abstracts on the reception of Homer in all its manifestations in the early modern world. The last fifteen years have seen an explosion in studies of the scholarly and creative reception of Homer in the Renaissance. Work by scholars including Marc Bizer, Tania Demetriou, Philip Ford, Filippomaria Pontani, and Jessica Wolfe--to name but a few--has illuminated the manuscript and print transmission of the Homeric texts and revealed the enormous range of contexts in which Homer was put to use and the immense variety of artistic, cultural, political, philosophical, and theological issues the Homeric poems were used to explore. Today it is possible to investigate questions in Homeric reception that would have been difficult to ask, let alone answer, fifteen years ago. Proposals may address (but are not limited to) the transmission, translation, or book history of the Homeric texts; the commentary tradition; artistic, literary, or musical responses to Homer; political, philosophical, or scientific uses of Homer. We welcome the consideration of topics including the perspectives Homeric reception provides on Renaissance philology, knowledge of Greek or of oral composition, or the reconfiguration of literary or cultural histories; the discovery of Homer as a source of innovation or inspiration in a wide range of genres and media, or as an alternative to the authority of Latin poets or Roman culture; the geographical, political, or religious factors that influenced Homeric reception in different areas or communities, and the myriad uses to which the Homeric poems were put to explore those factors; the ways in which digital technologies might influence our understanding of Homer’s Renaissance reception. We are committed to creating a congenial and collaborative forum for the infusion of new ideas into classics, and hence welcome abstracts that are exploratory in nature as well as abstracts of latter-stage research. Above all, we aim to show how the field of early modern classical reception can bear on a wide range of literary and cultural study, and to dispel the notion of an intimidating barrier to entry. Abstracts of no more than 400 words, suitable for a 15-20 minute presentation, should be sent as an email attachment to ariane.schwartz (at) gmail.com. All persons who submit abstracts must be SCS members in good standing. The abstracts will be judged anonymously: please do not identify yourself in any way on the abstract page. Proposals must be received by Friday, March 8, 2019. RSA 2019: Classical and Early Modern Epic: Comparative Approaches and New Perspectiveshttps://www.rsa.org/blogpost/1696718/305583/Classical-and-Early-Modern-Epic-Comparative-Approaches-and-New-Perspectives
***Abstract deadline: August 10 2018*** The Society for Early Modern Classical Reception (SEMCR) welcomes proposals for papers to be delivered at the 2019 meeting of the Renaissance Society of America in Toronto. For one of its four panels, SEMCR invites abstracts on the subject of “Classical and Early Modern Epic: Comparative Approaches and New Perspectives”. In particular, we welcome papers offering reassessments of the current state of the field from cross-cultural and cross-temporal perspectives, or proposing new approaches to the connections between classical and early modern epic using methodologies from philology, digital humanities, cognitive studies, visual studies, or world literature. In the shadow of a rising nationalism, epic poetry has taken on an ever greater importance through its mediation of national identity and as a focal point of reference and contestation. Even within rarefied scholarly discussions, the study of the genre, like epic itself, can appear to dominate other material, whether less canonical genres or non-Western epic. While the genealogical bonds between classical and early modern epic can seem to strengthen national ideologies and academic conventions, however, the content of the poems often works against such assumptions. Moreover, increasing diversity in research methods and scope, especially through collaboration, enables the scholarly community to renew the study of epic in more expansive and imaginative ways. Our panel aims, therefore, to reflect on the reception of Greco-Roman epic in early modernity partly as a topic in its own right, and partly as a means of understanding more general issues of theory, practice, and canonicity in literature and culture at large. Proposals responding to recent developments in the scholarship might address, but are not limited to, one of the following questions: - In light of recent work by Mazzotta, Ramachandran, Laird, and others, how might attention to worldmaking, post-colonial thought, and classical reception in the New World reframe our understanding of the relationship between ancient and early modern epic? - Does the study of the relationship between classical and early modern epic have anything to gain from comparison with non-Western material, e.g., the Indic tradition? More generally, what are the advantages and disadvantages of analysing these traditions in terms of genealogy, ecology (cf. Beecroft), cosmopolitanism (cf. Pollock), or other systemic relationships? - What light can cross-disciplinary approaches, especially those using computational tools (cf. Coffee and Bernstein) or cognitive models (cf. Jaén and Simon), shed on continuities and disjunctions between ancient and early modern forms of the genre? - How did the idea of epic change as a genre during the early modern period, in particular given the different transmission histories of classical epics, especially works in ancient Greek? How might the growing attention to neo-Latin literature affect the fields of epic and/or reception studies? - Are there developments in the aesthetics of a particular period that shed light on goings-on elsewhere? Besides substantial interest in the sublime (Cheney) and the mock-epic (Rawson), recent work has also focused on the quotidian (Grogan). More generally, what comparative understanding of epic can be gleaned from a study of contemporary critics and theorists, e.g., Horace or Tasso? - What areas of research in early modern epic might benefit from the contributions of classicists without an extensive background in the field, and vice versa? The Society is committed to creating a congenial and collaborative forum for the infusion of new ideas into classics and early modern studies, and hence welcomes abstracts that are exploratory in nature as well as abstracts of latter-stage research. Abstracts of no more than 150 words and a short CV of no more than 300 words should be sent as separate email attachments to [email protected] (see the RSA's abstract guidelines and CV guidelines and models). The abstracts will be judged anonymously: please do not identify yourself in any way on the abstract page. Proposals must be received by August 10, 2018. Please include in the body of the email: • your name, affiliation, email address • your paper title (15-word maximum) • relevant keywords RSA 2019: Connecting with the Ancients: Philological reception in the Renaissancehttps://www.rsa.org/blogpost/1696718/305582/Connecting-with-the-ancients-Philological-reception-in-the-Renaissance
***Abstract deadline: August 10 2018*** As an Associate Organization of the Renaissance Society of America, the Society for Early Modern Classical Reception (SEMCR) invites proposals for papers on classical philology in the Renaissance to be delivered at the 2019 meeting of the Renaissance Society of America in Toronto. Renaissance engagement with the linguistic and literary culture of antiquity - whether in the form of language study, textual transmission, or translation - constitutes a relatively coherent body of evidence through which to understand the processes of and motivations for ‘receiving’ the classics. Renaissance appropriations of Greek and Latin philology become vehicles of cross-cultural communication in an increasingly divided early modern Europe. We welcome proposals that highlight the mutual benefits arising from closer engagement between classicists and early modernists on the topic of classical philology in the Renaissance. The Society is committed to creating a congenial and collaborative forum for the infusion of new ideas into classics and early modern studies, and hence welcomes abstracts that are exploratory in nature as well as abstracts of latter-stage research. Abstracts of no more than 150 words and a short CV of no more than 300 words should be sent as separate email attachments to [email protected] (see the RSA's abstract guidelines and CV guidelines and models). The abstracts will be judged anonymously: please do not identify yourself in any way on the abstract page. Proposals must be received by August 10, 2018. Please include in the body of the email: • your name, affiliation, email address • your paper title (15-word maximum) • relevant keywords RSA 2019: Classical Origins of Renaissance Aestheticshttps://www.rsa.org/blogpost/1696718/305576/Classical-Origins-of-Renaissance-Aesthetics
***Abstract deadline: August 10 2018*** The Society for Early Modern Classical Reception (SEMCR) welcomes proposals for papers to be delivered at the 2019 meeting of the Renaissance Society of America in Toronto. For one of its four panels, SEMCR invites abstracts on the reception of classical theories of poetics and aesthetic experience in Renaissance art and music. Plato’s and Aristotle’s theories of mimesis, Horace’s Ars Poetica, and “Longinus”’s sublime have long dominated discussions of early modern aesthetics. Scholars have also sought to trace the influence of other, less explicitly didactic texts in defining the origin and value of art and the aesthetic experience in the Renaissance. Paul Barolsky, for example, has argued that Ovid's Metamorphoses lies at the heart of Renaissance aesthetics, whether in the story of Pygmalion bringing art to life or, conversely, Medusa's petrifaction of the living as competing metaphors for sculpture. Barolsky likewise sees Ovidian transformation behind Michelangelo’s “non finito” and in the depiction of Botticelli’s Chloris becoming Flora in the Primavera. Wendy Heller has explored the ways in which Monteverdi and Busenello’s groundbreaking opera L’incoronazione di Poppea draws upon and challenges Tacitus’ methods of historiography. More recently, Sarah Blake McHam has argued for the pervasive influence of Pliny’s Natural History and its emphasis on life-like “naturalism” from Petrarch to Caravaggio and Poussin. Building on these and other studies that move beyond questions of classical influence on the subject matter of Renaissance texts, this panel seeks papers that explore the strategies through which visual artists and musicians draw on classical aesthetics and the extent to which these hidden roots underlie Renaissance theory and practice. The Society is committed to creating a congenial and collaborative forum for the infusion of new ideas into classics and early modern studies, and hence welcomes abstracts that are exploratory in nature as well as abstracts of latter-stage research. Abstracts of no more than 150 words and a short CV of no more than 300 words should be sent as separate email attachments to [email protected] (see the RSA's abstract guidelines and CV guidelines and models). The abstracts will be judged anonymously: please do not identify yourself in any way on the abstract page. Proposals must be received by August 10, 2018. Please include in the body of the email: • your name, affiliation, email address • your paper title (15-word maximum) • relevant keywords RSA 2019: Ancient Enmities: Classicism and Religious Othershttps://www.rsa.org/blogpost/1696718/305579/Ancient-Enmities-Classicism-and-Religious-Others
***Abstract deadline: August 10 2018*** Renaissance Europe sought to define itself in relation to multiple models, prominent among which were ancient Greco-Roman culture and contemporary non-Christian (as well as Christian heterodox) cultures. The Humanist emulation of classical ideals in text and image occurred within a larger context of religious, ethnic, and frequently military interactions: the expansion of the Ottoman Empire, harassment from North African Corsairs, mass migrations of Jews, and internecine tensions resulting from the Protestant Reformation. The “classical” provided a discourse through which scholars and artists could negotiate a religious, national, or pan-European identity transhistorical in scope yet ultimately presentist in defining “the other”. This panel seeks to explore the function of the classical and classicism across these identities in both textual and material sources. Points of contact between classical culture and religious others turned antiquity into a battleground of competing traditions. Underlying such tensions was a longstanding sense dating from Homer and Herodotus onwards of classical identity as culturally and geographically contested, its meaning located variously in Western Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Near East. Both as traces of ancient ethnographies and as largely presentist rhetoric, projections of classical identity in the Renaissance could be deployed in numerous and diverse ways. Trojan ancestry was claimed not only by various European noble lines, such as the Habsburgs and the Estes of Ferrara, but also by the Turks. Orthodox Greeks under Ottoman rule were ostracized as the barbaric descendants of their enlightened ancestors. Antiquarians in post-Reconquest Spain invented Roman origins to Andalusi architectural marvels, while Roman ruins in North Africa and the Ottoman Empire, represented both visually and through ekphrastic description, fueled dreams of European conquest. At the same time, the means by which the classical past were known could be diminished or lost: despite its importance during the Medieval period for accessing intellectual traditions, for example, Arabic struggled to maintain its place in European scholarship as a learned language alongside classical Greek and Latin, and even as other distant foreign traditions, such as Egyptian Hermeticism, fascinated artists and scholars. The panel addresses two areas that have been the focus of recent research in Renaissance studies: intercultural relations and concepts of temporality. While the importance of the classics for European identity has been extensively studied, their role in defining what lay beyond Europe’s margins has received less attention. Some scholarship, however, has shown the potential richness of the field: Craig Kallendorf’s reading of the Aeneid’s portrayal of colonized entities (The Other Virgil, 2007), for example, and Nancy Bisaha’s study of the competing portrayals of the Ottoman Turks as either Goths, Vandals, Scythians or heirs to the Trojans and Romans (Creating East and West, 2006). Furthermore, the panel seeks to understand the temporal and explanatory concepts undergirding various early modern genealogies, ethnographies, and histories. Although a topic of theory since Warburg, the problem of time and temporal relations in early modernity has received renewed attention with the publication of Nagel and Wood’s Anachronic Renaissance (2010). Applied beyond the original domain of art history, Nagel and Wood’s ideas prompt a wider re-evaluation of the importance of antiquity in framing our understanding of Renaissance Europe. At stake is a view of the central conflicts in Europe’s formative years not as exclusively early modern events, but rather as events crucially shaped by the vital force of classicism. Potential topics include: -- How did differing claims to Greco-Roman heritage shape religious rhetoric and antagonisms? How did the interpretation of classical texts evolve with the shifting needs of their early modern readers, either in marginalizing or legitimizing particular groups? How do these texts transcend class lines, especially among the uneducated and illiterate? -- How did different national traditions of Humanism approach the contrasting degrees of religious alterity? How did classical writings and thought provide agency for marginalized groups? -- How can a deeper knowledge of classical texts reshape historical understandings of crusades, jihads, reformations, expulsions, and heresies? In teaching these encounters, what pedagogical methodologies can guide students toward recognition of the pervasive relevance of these texts? Abstracts of no more than 150 words and a short CV should be sent as separate email attachments to [email protected] (please see RSA guidelines for abstracts and CVs). Abstracts will be judged anonymously, so please do not identify yourself in any way on the abstract page. Please include the following in the body of your email: • your name, affiliation, email address • your paper title (15-word maximum) • relevant keywords Proposals must be received by August 10, 2018. Organized by David M. Reher (University of Chicago) and Keith Budner (UC-Berkeley) with the sponsorship of the Society for Early Modern Classical Reception (SEMCR) SCS 2019- Classical and Early Modern EpicClassical and Early Modern Epic: Comparative Approaches and New Perspectives
The Society for Early Modern Classical Reception (SEMCR) invites proposals for papers to be delivered at the 2019 meeting of the Society for Classical Studies in San Diego. For itsfourth panel, SEMCR invites abstracts on the subject of “Classical and Early Modern Epic: Comparative Approaches and New Perspectives”. In particular, we welcome papers offering reassessments of the current state of the field from cross-cultural and cross-temporal perspectives, or proposing new approaches to the connections between classical and early modern epic using methodologies from philology, digital humanities, cognitive studies, visual studies, or world literature. In the shadow of a rising nationalism, epic poetry has taken on an ever greater importance through its mediation of national identity and as a focal point of reference and contestation. Even within rarefied scholarly discussions, the study of the genre, like epic itself, can appear to dominate other material, whether less canonical genres or non-Western epic. While the genealogical bonds between classical and early modern epic can seem to strengthen national ideologies and academic conventions, however, the content of the poems often works against such assumptions. Moreover, increasing diversity in research methods and scope, especially through collaboration, enables the scholarly community to renew the study of epic in more expansive and imaginative ways. Our panel aims, therefore, to reflect on the reception of Greco-Roman epic in early modernity partly as a topic in its own right, and partly as a means of understanding more general issues of theory, practice, and canonicity in literature and culture at large. Proposals responding to recent developments in the scholarship might address, but are not limited to, one of the following questions: - In light of recent work by Mazzotta, Ramachandran, Laird, and others, how might attention to worldmaking, post-colonial thought, and classical reception in the New World reframe our understanding of the relationship between ancient and early modern epic? - Does the study of the relationship between classical and early modern epic have anything to gain from comparison with non-Western material, e.g., the Indic tradition? More generally, what are the advantages and disadvantages of analysing these traditions in terms of genealogy, ecology (cf. Beecroft), cosmopolitanism (cf. Pollock), or other systemic relationships? - What light can cross-disciplinary approaches, especially those using computational tools (cf. Coffee and Bernstein) or cognitive models (cf. Jaén and Simon), shed on continuities and disjunctions between ancient and early modern forms of the genre? - How did the idea of epic change as a genre during the early modern period, in particular given the different transmission histories of classical epics, especially works in ancient Greek? How might the growing attention to neo-Latin literature affect the fields of epic and/or reception studies? - Are there developments in the aesthetics of a particular period that shed light on goings-on elsewhere? Besides substantial interest in the sublime (Cheney) and the mock-epic (Rawson), recent work has also focused on the quotidian (Grogan). More generally, what comparative understanding of epic can be gleaned from a study of contemporary critics and theorists, e.g., Horace or Tasso? - What areas of research in early modern epic might benefit from the contributions of classicists without an extensive background in the field, and vice versa? We are committed to creating a congenial and collaborative forum for the infusion of new ideas into classics, and hence welcome abstracts that are exploratory in nature as well as abstracts of latter-stage research. Above all, we aim to show how the field of early modern classical reception can bear on a wide range of literary and cultural study, and to dispel the notion of an intimidating barrier to entry. Abstracts of no more than 400 words, suitable for a 15-20 minute presentation, should be sent as an email attachment to Pramit Chaudhuri (pramit.chaudhuri (at) austin.utexas.edu). All persons who submit abstracts must be SCS members in good standing. The abstracts will be judged anonymously: please do not identify yourself in any way on the abstract page. Proposals must be received by February 19th, 2018. RSA 2018- "Deep Classics" and the RenaissanceAs a new Associate Organization of the Renaissance Society of America, the Society for Early Modern Classical Reception (SEMCR) invites proposals for papers to be delivered at the 2018 meeting of the RSA in New Orleans, LA. For one of its inaugural panels, SEMCR invites abstracts on “Deep Classics” and the Renaissance.
Drawing on metaphors from fields as diverse as geology and evolution, the concept of “Deep Classics” has recently arisen out of, and in response to, the extraordinarily fertile field of classical reception studies. The term itself signals a consciousness of the distance, occlusions, and multiple strata that define any engagement with classical antiquity. In what has amounted to a programmatic statement of Deep Classics - or, perhaps more aptly, a programmatic fragment - Shane Butler has described its focus as “the very pose by which the human present turns its attention to the distant human past” (S. Butler, Deep Classics: Rethinking Classical Reception, Bloomsbury 2016). Although the founding volume of Deep Classics continues a trend in classical reception study, especially in the UK, of privileging Greek over Latin and modernity over early modernity, Butler is acutely sensitive to the broader applicability of the idea - “indeed, certain aspects of that pose have been important to Renaissance studies for a while now” - citing Barkan and, more recently, Nagel and Wood. We therefore welcome proposals that explore the relationship between Deep Classics and the Renaissance, in particular concerning ideas that “have less to do with ‘knowing’ than with other modes of affect and experience”. In accordance with another central feature of Deep Classics, we also seek proposals that interrogate disciplinary configurations and self-conceptions. The Society is committed to creating a congenial and collaborative forum for the infusion of new ideas into classics and early modern studies, and hence welcomes abstracts that are exploratory in nature as well as abstracts of latter-stage research. Abstracts (150 words) and a short CV (300 words) should be sent as separate email attachments to [email protected] (see the RSA's abstract guidelines and CV guidelines and models) by May 31, 2017. The abstracts will be judged anonymously: please do not identify yourself on the abstract page. Please include in the body of the email:
RSA 2018- Encountering the ancients: philological reception in the RenaissanceAs a new Associate Organization of the Renaissance Society of America, the Society for Early Modern Classical Reception (SEMCR) invites proposals for papers to be delivered at the 2018 meeting of the Renaissance Society of America in New Orleans, LA. For one of its inaugural panels, SEMCR invites abstracts on classical philology in the Renaissance.
Renaissance engagement with the linguistic and literary culture of antiquity - whether in the form of language study, textual transmission, or translation - constitutes a relatively coherent body of evidence through which to understand the processes of and motivations for ‘receiving’ the classics. By studying the Renaissance appropriation of Greek and Latin philology, we find a vehicle of cross-cultural communication in an increasingly divided early modern Europe. We welcome proposals that highlight the mutual benefits arising from closer engagement between classicists and early modernists on the topic of classical philology in the Renaissance. The Society is committed to creating a congenial and collaborative forum for the infusion of new ideas into classics and early modern studies, and hence welcomes abstracts that are exploratory in nature as well as abstracts of latter-stage research. Abstracts of no more than 150 words and a short CV of no more than 300 words should be sent as separate email attachments to [email protected] (see the RSA's abstract guidelines and CV guidelines and models). The abstracts will be judged anonymously: please do not identify yourself in any way on the abstract page. Proposals must be received by May 31, 2017. Please include in the body of the email:
RSA 2018-Unleashing the mad Dogge: Classical Reception in Early Modern Political ThoughtAs a new Associate Organization of the Renaissance Society of America, the Society for Early Modern Classical Reception (SEMCR) invites proposals for papers to be delivered at the 2018 meeting of the Renaissance Society of America in New Orleans, LA. For one of its inaugural panels, SEMCR invites abstracts on the reception of classical texts in early modern political thought.
In Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes called ancient books a "Venime" akin "to the biting of a mad Dogge," which had the power to corrupt their readers and bring down monarchies. Hobbes' violent reaction captures the authority Greek and Roman political thought commanded in a period of radical change in systems of government and, concomitantly, in contemporary theorizing about politics. Early modern readers absorbed Plautus, Plutarch, and rhetorical handbooks along with the authors central to later modern formations of the classical canon like Homer and Cicero. These texts helped give shape to new debates over legitimacy, authority, virtue, community, and a host of other vital issues. This panel invites papers that illuminate the historical impact of that reception or make a methodological contribution to the study of the reception of political thought in particular. Following recent developments in the field, it welcomes studies of poetry and other media as well as canonical prose texts (e.g., Marsilius of Padua, Christine de Pizan, Machiavelli, More, Bodin, Jonson, Grotius, Hobbes, Harrington, Cavendish, Makin, Locke). The Society is committed to creating a congenial and collaborative forum for the infusion of new ideas into classics and early modern studies, and hence welcomes abstracts that are exploratory in nature as well as abstracts of latter-stage research. Abstracts (150 words) and a short CV (300 words) should be sent as separate email attachments to [email protected] (see the RSA's abstract guidelines and CV guidelines and models) by May 31, 2017. The abstracts will be judged anonymously: please do not identify yourself on the abstract page. Please include in the body of the email:
SEMCR 2018: Translation and Transmission: Mediating Classical Texts in the Early Modern WorldThe Society for Early Modern Classical Reception (SEMCR) invites proposals for papers to be delivered at the 2018 meeting of the Society for Classical Studies in Boston. For its third panel, SEMCR invites abstracts on the translation of classical texts in the early modern world. Despite their importance as vehicles of transmission - and their comparatively greater sales - translations always seem relegated to secondary status behind the principal models of classical scholarship, the critical edition or the commentary. This hierarchy is no less true of early modernity, at least according to our discipline’s construction of the history of philology, in which Bentley trumps Dryden, and Scaliger trumps Dolce. Some redress has been achieved through reception studies, though, as so often, the effect has partly been to replicate traditional divisions between philology and literary criticism. The main goal of this panel is twofold: 1) to locate the study of early modern classical translations within larger currents of literary scholarship, especially translation studies; 2) to reintegrate literary criticism and philology through a renewed assessment of the role of translation in early modern culture. To that end we seek papers that go beyond the remit of a typical case study and instead offer a distinctive methodological contribution, prospectus for the field, or novel theoretical analysis. We invite perspectives drawn from world literature, history of the book, digital humanities, as well as translation studies and other approaches. Proposals may address (but are not limited to) the following areas: a) High Theory/Deep Classics. How does early modern translation intersect with cross-temporal and cross-cultural themes of contemporary importance? Against the backdrop of Renaissance humanism, is there something distinctive to be learned from this form, and this period, of engagement with the classics? In Lawrence Venuti’s terminology, do these translators foreignize or domesticate? Can quantitative studies tell us something new and interesting about this corpus? b) Philology and Education. How do histories of textual criticism, the book, and pedagogy enhance our understanding of early modern translation? What does the tradition of the questione della lingua have to contribute to reception studies? How might early modern translations of Hebrew and other classical languages affect our contemporary conception of our field? At the level of practice, what might we learn from annotations, drafts, and translators’ correspondence? c) Outreach and Reception. How were translations affected by the mechanisms of circulation, publishers, material and economic factors, readerships, etc.? Did they always seek to popularize? In what sense were they scholarship, and were they recognized as such? Does the particular relationship between the classical and the vernacular in early modernity make translations of Latin and Greek an idiosyncratic point of comparison against other periods of outreach? We are committed to creating a congenial and collaborative forum for the infusion of new ideas into classics, and hence welcome abstracts that are exploratory in nature as well as abstracts of latter-stage research. Above all, we aim to show how the field of early modern classical reception can bear on a wide range of literary and cultural study, and to dispel the notion of an intimidating barrier to entry. Abstracts of no more than 400 words, suitable for a 15-20 minute presentation, should be sent as an email attachment to [email protected]. All persons who submit abstracts must be SCS members in good standing. The abstracts will be judged anonymously: please do not identify yourself in any way on the abstract page. Proposals must be received by February 20th, 2017. SEMCR 2017: Imagining the Future through the Past: Classical and Early Modern Political ThoughtThe new Society for Early Modern Classical Reception (SEMCR) invites proposals for papers to be delivered at the 2017 meeting of the Society for Classical Studies in Toronto. For its second panel, SEMCR invites abstracts on the reception of classical texts in early modern political thought.
In Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes called ancient books a “Venime” akin “to the biting of a mad Dogge,” which had the power to corrupt their readers and bring down monarchies. Hobbes’ violent reaction captures the authority Greek and Roman political thought commanded in a period of radical change in systems of government and, concomitantly, in contemporary theorizing about politics. Early modern readers absorbed Plautus, Plutarch, and rhetorical handbooks along with the authors central to later modern formations of the classical canon like Homer and Cicero. These texts helped give shape to new debates over legitimacy, authority, virtue, community, and a host of other vital issues. This panel invites papers that illuminate the historical impact of that reception or make a methodological contribution to the study of the reception of political thought in particular. Following recent developments in the field, it welcomes studies of poetry and other media as well as canonical prose texts (e.g., Marsilius of Padua, Christine de Pizan, Machiavelli, More, Bodin, Jonson, Grotius, Hobbes, Harrington, Cavendish, Makin, Locke). The study of classical political reception is an emergent field in the context of the SCS, and the panel specially invites scholars new to this area to submit abstracts. We are committed to creating a congenial and collaborative forum for the infusion of new ideas into classics, and hence welcome abstracts that are exploratory in nature as well as abstracts of latter-stage research. Proposals may address (but are not limited to) the following questions: — What distinctive contribution can classicists make to the history of political thought? — How do less well-known texts (e.g., neo-Latin epic, legal texts) affect current conventional interpretations of the history of political thought? — How do early modern thinkers understand temporality? — What role does genre play in the transmission and transformation of early modern thinkers’ engagement with classical thought? — Recent work by Quentin Skinner and others has refocused scholarly attention on the connections between poetry and political theory. How can classicists best contribute to this line of research? Participants include Joy Connolly and Christopher Celenza. Abstracts of no more than 450 words, suitable for a 15-20 minute presentation, should be sent as an email attachment to [email protected]. All persons who submit abstracts must be SCS members in good standing. The abstracts will be judged anonymously: please do not identify yourself in any way on the abstract page. Proposals must be received by March 1, 2016. SEMCR 2016: Classical and Early Modern Tragedy |
The new Society for Early Modern Classical Reception (SEMCR) invites proposals for papers to be delivered at the 2016 meeting of the Society for Classical Studies in San Francisco.
For its inaugural panel, SEMCR invites abstracts on the subject of “Classical and Early Modern Tragedy: Comparative Approaches and New Perspectives”. In particular, we welcome papers offering reassessments of the current state of the field from cross-cultural and cross-temporal perspectives, or proposing new approaches to the connections between classical and early modern tragedy using philological, digital, cognitive, or performance-based methodologies. Though an evergreen topic, tragedy promises to return to the centre of wider literary critical discussions with the publication in October 2014 of a special issue of PMLA, including several contributions by scholars of classical tragedy. Moreover, early modern drama will receive greater public attention in 2016, in particular, since it marks the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. Our panel aims, therefore, to reflect on the reception of Greco-Roman tragedy in the European Renaissance partly as a topic in its own right, and partly as a means to understanding more general issues of theory, practice, and canonicity in literary and performance culture at large. Proposals responding to recent developments in the scholarship might address, but are not limited to, one of the following questions: - How might the growing attention to neo-Latin drama affect the fields of tragedy and/or reception studies? - What light can interdisciplinary approaches (e.g., those using computational tools or cognitive models) shed on continuities and disjunctions between ancient and early modern forms of the genre? - How did the idea of tragedy change as a genre during the early modern period, especially under the influence of the newly-translated Greek models? - How might the comprehensive history of texts, performances, and contexts contained in works like the multi-volume British Drama 1533-1642: A Catalogue generate new lines of research into the classical tragic tradition? - What areas of research in early modern tragedy might benefit from the contributions of classicists without an extensive background in the field? - Can Simon Palfrey’s concept of ‘formactions’ in Shakespeare usefully be applied to classical drama, thereby bringing together the study of text and performance? - Recent work by Quentin Skinner and Jonathan Badger has refocused scholarly attention on the connections between tragedy and political theory. How can classicists best contribute to this line of research? Abstracts of no more than 450 words, suitable for a 15-20 minute presentation, should be sent as an email attachment to Professor Ariane Schwartz ([email protected]). All persons who submit abstracts must be SCS members in good standing. Since the abstracts will be judged anonymously, please do not identify yourself in any way on the abstract page. Proposals must be received by March 15, 2015. |