Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 9, No. 335.
Center for Electronic Texts in the Humanities (Princeton/Rutgers)
http://www.princeton.edu/~mccarty/humanist/
[3] From: mgrisel@xs4all.nl
Subject: Call for Papers ISSEI Conference Utrecht (Netherlands)
CALL FOR PAPERS
FIFTH CONFERENCE
OF THE
INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY
FOR THE STUDY OF EUROPEAN IDEAS
(ISSEI)
'MEMORY, HISTORY AND CRITIQUE'
UTRECHT, THE NETHERLANDS, 19-24 AUGUST 1996
WORKSHOP:
'REPRESENTING THE PAST:
WORLD WAR II IN EUROPEAN LITERATURE'
>From 19 to 24 August 1996 the International Society for the Study of
European Ideas (ISSEI) will hold its Fifth International Conference. The
Conference is organised by the University for Humanist Studies and will be
held in the old inner city of Utrecht, situated in the heart of the
Netherlands. The general theme of the conference is 'Memory, History and
Critique: European Identity at the Millennium'. Scholars from 41 countries
will be organising more than 200 workshops within the framework of the
central theme. The workshops will be clustered into five sections. Because
of the great number of relatively small workshops, there will be ample
opportunity for discussion and exchange of ideas. The official language of
the conference will be English.
In the section Art, Literature, Religion, Culture, one of the workshops will
be dedicated to the following subject:
Representing the Past: World War II in European Literature
Despite Adorno's famous statement 'To write poetry after Auschwitz is
barbaric', there has been a significant literary production on the Holocaust
experience and, more generally, on the atrocities of World War II. This is
not to say that Adorno's message has become less valid. Fifty years later,
it still raises an essential question on writing about this subject, namely
to what degree is this literature still an ethical issue. In this regard
several questions can and should be considered in our workshop. For
instance, how can we tell these stories, today? Should they differ from the
stories told immediately after the War? Can literary texts in comparison to
historic documents be said to have a transcendental value? Will we reach a
point in time when we will consider purely literary writings about Word War
II and/or the Holocaust experience to be more meaningful, as a means of
communicating that experience than, for example, historical documents? Now,
in what sense is the literary value of fiction about these subjects related
to the ethical issue? Should we consider a 'poor' novel written by a camp
survivor to be just as valid as, for example, one of Primo Levi's
masterpieces? What is 'authentic' writing and where does it end? Can we make
a distinction between 'good' and 'bad' literature and on the basis of what
criteria?
These and other related questions will be discussed in our workshop.
Scholars wishing to present a paper in the workshop 'Representing the Past:
World War II in European Literature', are requested to send a one-page
abstract and a short curriculum vitae by 1 December 1995 to:
Martin G. Grisel, Chair Panel
Albert Cuypstraat 17/2
NL-1072 CK Amsterdam
Email: grisel@xs4all.nl
--