Light and the Poetics of Ambivalence Light, the Senses, and the Aesthetic
A one-day symposium organised by the Romantic Dialogues and Legacies research group, this event will focus on imaginative representations of light in English literature, c. 1790-1950. Over the centuries writers have sought to depict the various possibilities of ‘light’: an idea crucial to Western literature’s conceptions of meaning, illumination, revelation, and perfection. As such, it is a topic of interest to many cognate areas of cultural enquiry: philosophy, theology, art history, among them. If light can serve as an emblem of absolute goodness, it can also suggest doubt and illusion (Shelley’s depiction of the ‘shape all light’ in The Triumph of Life might be regarded as an example). The one-day symposium is especially interested in light as a focus for ambivalence: about the value of enlightenment (and the Enlightenment); about the nature of beauty and truth; about the significance of artistic representation; about the process of
perception. The event will consist
of a mixture of plenary papers and panels; speakers will be invited from within and beyond Durham. The symposium will be open to all, though attendees will be required to register in advance. The panels will explore (i) Romantic Stars and Suns: Wordsworth, Coleridge and others; (ii) Victorian After-traces: George Eliot, Thomas Hardy and others; (iii) Modernist Light: Yeats, Eliot, and others. Grounded in literature, papers for the panel sessions will have multi-disciplinary implications.
The symposium will take place on Saturday 23 November 2013. For further information please contact Professor Michael O’Neill (m.s.o’
neill@durham.ac.uk), Dr Mark Sandy (
m.r.sandy@
durham.ac.uk) and Dr Sarah Wootton (
s.e.wootton@durham.ac.uk).
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