cfp.english.upenn.edu

Directions of Realism

A graduate conference sponsored by the Johns Hopkins University Humanities Center

Is realism a coherent category, or was it ever? Can realism stake out its identity independent of rival categories like naturalism, idealism and expressionism? This conference seeks to explore the various meanings that the term “realism” takes on within and among disciplines like art history, philosophy, literature and film studies, to understand the issues involved in identifying a work or theory as “realist,” and to map out the various trajectories along which realist conceptions have developed or are likely to develop. We welcome papers that investigate particular works or theories, those that seek to situate them within a larger comparative or historical framework, as well as those that wish to approach the issue from a conceptual standpoint. In exploring these various conceptions and the directions along which they have developed, we hope better to understand the stakes of issues of realism within and among our humanistic discourses.

30 minutes for each presentation, 15 minutes for questions and answers
500 word abstract, approximately 3500 words for the complete paper

Keynote speakers:

Michael Fried, Humanities and History of Art, Johns Hopkins
2nd speaker TBA

Conference date:

February 18-19, 2011

Conference location:

Johns Hopkins University Homewood Campus

Abstracts and completed papers due:

October 22, 2010

Email:

jhurealism@gmail.com