modernist studies

Considerable research has been devoted to Fyodor Dostoevsky's incorporation of non-Russian art and texts as inspiration for his writing. Comparatively less attention, however, has been to paid to the immense influence the author's own life and works have had on literature, drama, philosophy, and art. This panel seeks to explore Dostoevsky's reception, as a man and as an author, by 20th and 21st century world writers and artists. It is co-sponsored by the International Dostoevsky Society and the Reception Study Society in celebration of the author's 200th year.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to: 

The Age of Innocence at 100

This special session invites papers examining the problem of time in boredom in 19th-20th century literature, particularly in the context of value and economy of time in relation to boredom. Please send 250 word abstracts and short bios by March 15, 2020 

City streets were a primary setting for modernity in Futurist art and literature.  The “Founding Manifesto” depicts a group of young men who, galvanized by the intrusive noises of trams and “hungry automobiles,” are finally able to articulate the principles of the new movement, and, to cite an example from the visual arts, Boccioni’s “The Street Enters the House” was a prominent work in the 1912 Paris and London exhibitions of Futurist painting.  In keeping with this year’s MSA “streets” theme, this panel seeks papers that consider the influence of Futurist art and literature on British and American literary modernism. 

***DEADLINE EXTENDED to 1 May***

In The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, Gertrude Stein recounts a remarkable interaction with her close friend Pablo Picasso. As they are headed out the door, their conversation slipping between paintings, French lessons, and tea with Picasso’s wife Fernande, Stein pauses:

"Oh I forgot to give you these, said Gertrude Stein handing Picasso a package of newspapers, they will console you. He opened them up, they were the Sunday supplement of american papers, they were the Katzenjammer kids. Oh oui, Oh oui, he said, his face full of satisfaction, merci thanks Gertrude, and we left."