=93=91Birth was the death of him=92: Samuel Beckett, Death, Dying and =
All That
Other Unfinished Business'

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An International Conference in honour of Samuel Beckett=92s Centenary

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Avenue Campus, University of Northampton, 1st =96 3rd December 2006

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Co-organized by:

The Centre for Contemporary Fiction & Narrative, School of Arts, =
University
of Northampton;

The UK Network for Modern Fiction Studies;=20

and the London Beckett Seminar Group

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=93Birth was the death of him. Again. Words are few. Dying too. Birth =
was
the death of him.=94 A Piece of Monologue

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Keynote speakers to be announced

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The centenary of Samuel Beckett=92s birth is with us and, in the period =
since
his death in 1989, his texts have continued to thrive and spark massive
critical engagement. For Beckett, death marks us all, and haunts our
existences. Christopher Ricks, in Beckett=92s Dying Words, insists that
Beckett is concerned not with any instinct of self-preservation, but =
=93The
desire of oblivion=94 (Clarendon Press, 1993; p. 3) Beckett=92s oeuvre =
is
ineluctably associated with states of death, dying, limbo, purgatory, =
and
various conditions of (non-)being pervading the Beckettian text and =
subject.
Such contexts and themes will be the foci for this international =
gathering
of scholars.=20

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Northampton seems an appropriate place for such a consideration since, =
as a
young man, Beckett twice played cricket for Trinity College against
Northamptonshire (appearing in Wisden) and much later frequently visited
Lucia Joyce in St Andrew's private psychiatric hospital in Northampton,
where she was institutionalized from 1951 to 1982, suffering what her
biographer, Carol Loeb Shloss, called a =91mysterious illness=92 =
(Bloomsbury,
2004; p. 6). In addition to being where Lucia died and is buried, this
asylum is where John Clare, the Northamptonshire peasant-poet, died in =
1864
after living 23 years in the hospital. Hence, in your travels to the
conference you will literally be following in both Beckett=92s and =
Clare=92s
footsteps. This final centenary gathering will consequently analyze and
consider the tropes referred to above in terms of their relationship to
Beckett Studies, and will hopefully take these ideas and concepts even
further, investigating themes of Beckettian deathliness that act as a
finally anxious influence surviving in other writers.=20

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On one of the evenings of the conference, there will be a private =
reading of
a late Beckettian text by renowned Beckett actress and scholar, Dr. =
Rosemary
Pountney. Other activities, including keynote addresses and a conference
dinner, to mark Beckett=92s centenary will follow throughout the =
weekend;
academic papers will be delivered over the course of Friday 1st December =
to
Sunday 3rd December 2006. Accommodation can be provided at the Sunley
Management Centre, but both this and the conference dinner will be =
charged
in addition to the basic registration fee specified below. Details of =
other
local hotels can be sent by e-mail on request.=20

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Papers and panels are invited on all relevant topics and themes, =
considering
all of Beckett=92s work in its various genres and phases. Especially =
welcome
are papers and panels capable to working within the following proposed
themes, although these are not to be considered as inclusive:

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Beckett's Deathly Humour
Gothic Beckett and Beckett's Gothic

Holy Living and Holy Dying: Beckett=92s Formative Readings

Textual Death: Genetic Criticism since 1989

Beckett=92s Demise and an Afterlife of Archival Revelations

Philosophy, Time and Finitude

Eschatology, Teleology, Religion and The End

Deathly Lives and Deathly Living: Beckett=92s Drama

Lunacy as Limbo: Limbo as Lunacy

Beckett=92s Legacy: Deathly States

Repetition as Deathliness

Disembodied Voices: Beckettian Narratives

Psychoanalysis, Death and Other Unfinished Business

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N.B. Other themes will be considered!

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Send abstracts for proposed panels and/or papers of 200=96250 words per =
paper.
Proposal deadline: Friday 8th September, 2006; however notification of
acceptance for international delegates requiring confirmation for travel
funding is guaranteed by Monday 17th July 2006 if such proposals are
received by Friday 30th June 2006. Individual requests for earlier
confirmation may be possible.=20

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Using Word, abstracts of no more than 200 words should be sent as an
attachment to all of the following three e-addresses with the subject =
line
as =91Death, Dying and Samuel Beckett: Centenary Conference=92 (this is
essential as your messages will be searched for and sorted automatically =
and
unless you use this subject line your message will not be retrieved =96 =
this
phrase can be cut and pasted easily enough): =20

=20

Matthew Feldman: matthew.feldman_at_northampton.ac.uk=20

Philip Tew: tewp_at_ukf.net=20

Steve Barfield: barfies_at_westminster.a.uk=20

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Please note that there will be a special discounted rate for =
participants
who pay before Monday, 2nd October 2006. Academics and the public: =
=A355.00
[fifty-five pounds sterling]; participant members of the UK Network for
Modern Fiction Studies, and the London Beckett Seminar, and University =
of
Northampton staff =A330:00 [thirty pounds sterling]; unwaged and =
students: =A325
[twenty-five pounds]. Accommodation and meals will be charged in =
addition to
this fee. Prices to be sent to delegates on acceptance.=20

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Please note that after the deadline for payment on Monday, 2nd October =
2006
a surcharge of =A320 [twenty pounds sterling] will be added to all of =
the
above. Only sterling amounts can be accepted =96 either cheques or money
orders [although details for electronic transfer may be available on
request] N.B. cheques and money orders must be made out to: THE LONDON
NETWORK FOR MODERN FICTION STUDIES (please note the different =
appellation
for our bank account!)=20

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Send payments to:

=20

Prof. Philip Tew

Director

UK Network for Modern Fiction Studies

c/o 22a Fairmead Road

Tufnell Park

London, N19 4DF

United Kingdom=20

=20

Or:=20

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UK Network for Modern Fiction Studies

c/o Suzanne Wills

English Department=20

Brunel University

Department of English
Brunel University
Uxbridge
Middlesex UB8 3PH

=20

EMERGENCY CONTACT ONLY BY PHONE OR TEXT MESSAGE: 00 44 (0)7956 951 930
(mobile rates apply as from your location to the UK)

=20

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Conference Convenors and Coordinators:

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Mr. Steve Barfield

Dr. Matthew Feldman

Prof. Philip Tew=20

         ==========================================================
              From the Literary Calls for Papers Mailing List
                        CFP_at_english.upenn.edu
                         Full Information at
                     http://cfp.english.upenn.edu
         or write Jennifer Higginbotham: higginbj_at_english.upenn.edu
         ==========================================================
Received on Tue Feb 07 2006 - 14:15:57 EST