This session considers the place of literary history in English curricula as departments face staffing, funding, and enrollment challenges, asking whether we should continue to teach literary history and, if so, how. The shrinking pains many departments are experiencing, caused by faculty losses and enrollment declines, are making it difficult for them to retain curricular elements that center literary history, such as historical survey courses and period distribution requirements. Alongside these changes are trends in literary study that deemphasize attention to literary history in favor of other modes and objects of study. Possible speaker topics:

--whither literary history

--is literary history worth keeping in the classroom and course catalogue

--how have people kept literary history alive in their departments

--history vs. literary history

--models, methods, manifestoes

This session is sponsored by the Association of Departments of English. Send 250-word abstracts to Samuel Cohen, cohenss@missouri.edu.