victorian

Illusion is commonly defined as a false idea or belief, often the product of misperception or deception, intentional or otherwise. Its etymological basis in the Latin verb illudere reveals an element of mockery that is evidently lost in the modern connotation of illusion and yet remains, arguably, in that intriguing phase of disillusion that often follows it. How does one distinguish illusion from reality? How do our evolving perceptions of the world around us affect our understanding of self and the human condition? Is disillusion a necessary evil, or an essential part of this understanding as it leads to new possibilities for development and discovery?

The Literature and Science session of the RMMLA invites interpretive
papers focusing on science and its intersection with written
methods of transmission. They might include the reuse of
scientific matter in literary forms; the relationship of
individual writers to science and of certain scientists to
literary figures of their day; the combination of scientific
and literary methods of knowledge making. Papers focusing on
the representation or integration of science in specific
literary texts are especially encouraged. However, proposals
dealing with any aspect of the interdisciplinary field of
literature and science are welcome.

Graduate History Association Ninth Annual Conference
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Saturday, March 9th, 2013

"Competing Visions:Changing Landscapes in the Past, Present, and Future"

Call for Conference Proposals: Deadline January 15th, 2013

The Graduate History Association of the University of Massachusetts Amherst invites graduate students to submit proposals for its annual interdisciplinary conference. This year's conference, entitled "Competing Visions: Changing Landscapes in the Past, Present, and Future," will be held Saturday, March 9th, 2013.

The Kate Chopin International Society is seeking individual proposals for two sponsored panels at the 2013 American Literature Association conference in Boston, May 23-26, 2013.

The first panel, a roundtable on "Teaching Kate Chopin in Different Contexts," seeks short (seven-to eight-minute) papers/remarks that address either teaching Chopin juxtaposed with works/genres or in courses she isn't always associated with or in educational settings such as continuing education programs, prisons, women's shelters, literacy programs, etc. Proposals should include a title, your name and affiliation, and a paragraph about your proposed remarks.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison's ninth annual Graduate Conference on Language and Literature (MadLit) will be held February 28–March 1, 2013. This year's conference, "Between Surface and Depth," investigates how humanistic disciplines articulate notions of superficiality and depth in their scholarly practices. Building from the debates surrounding Stephen Best and Sharon Marcus's "Surface Reading: An Introduction" (Representations 108.1 (Fall 2009): 1–21), this conference will explore the implications of using spatial models to conceptualize the location of meaning in language, literature, and discourse.