***

Irish Studies Panel
2009 Midwest Modern Language Association Convention
November 12-15, 2009
The St. Louis Union Station Marriott

Ireland's political history is of course tainted by violence, as are many of its greatest literary works. Other forms of violence are more domestic -- and stereotypical -— in depiction: heavy drinkers; abusive husbands/fathers/priests); gruff manual laborers; feisty women.

The lines between passion and violence are never clearly demarcated, and as Yeats depicted so famously in "Easter 1916," crossing their borders can produce surprising results, often equally disastrous and transformative.

Call for Papers

Fifth African American Literature Symposium

"It's A New Day: The Vicissitude of African American Autobiography from Briton Hammon to Barack Obama"

"These academics' arguments seem sound as far as they go..." –Infinite Jest

The critical discussion of David Foster Wallace has thus far been limited to a few aspects of his most popular works. Our conference seeks to expand the response beyond the popular imagination's categories of "difficult," "postmodern," and "genius," and beyond the author's own articulation of his project as a response to irony. We invite a reconsideration of Wallace with an emphasis on new perspectives of his entire oeuvre.

SIGNS OF THE TIMES: DISCOURSE ECOLOGIES AND STREET LIFE ON OXFORD ST., ACCRA
Lecture | April 23 | 12:30-3 p.m. | Barrows Hall, Lipman Room, 8th floor

Speaker: ATO QUAYSON, Professor, English & Director, Centre for Diaspora and Transnational Studies, University of Toronto
Sponsors: Center for African Studies, Department of African American Studies, Institute for the Study of Social Change, Center for Race and Gender