Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0011401, Tue, 26 Apr 2005 16:28:02 -0700

Subject
Fwd: Attention Nabokov Scholars!!! MSA Panel: Modernists Writing
and Science / "Psuedo-Science" (5/05/05; 10/21 -
10/24/05)
Date
Body
Hi Folks, I'm putting together a last minute MSA panel, and I though the topic
was perfect for someone working on Nabokov. Basically, I'm using this panel as
an excuse to talk about Conrad Richter's scientific writings, which are very
UN-scientific (hence, the psuedo in my title). Please read below and submit a
proposal to me by May 5th if you're interested!!! Many thanks!!!

Subject: MSA Panel: Modernists Writing and Science / "Pseudo-Science" (5/05/05;
10/21 - 10/24/05)
Modernist Studies Association 7th Annual Conference
November 3-6, 2005
Chicago, Illinois

Connections between Modernisms and the sciences have been well-explored by
critics in works such as Holly Henry's Virginia Woolf and the Discourse of
Science: The Aesthetics of Astronomy (Cambridge, 2003), or Daylanne K.
English's Unnatural Selections: Eugenics in American Modernism and the Harlem
Renaissance (UNC Press, 2004) as well as Donald Child's Modernism and Eugenics:
Woolf, Yeats, and the Culture of Degeneration (Cambridge, 2001).

This panel seeks to examine the relationship between Modernist writers'
so-called scientific or psuedo-scientific writing and their existence as
authors, public intellectuals, or cultural critics.

Questions that this panel might ask include:
o What role do these scientific writings play in understanding the artistic
efforts of a Modernist?
o Did the artist see his or her scientific production as separate from or
integral to his or her artistic production?
o What did the writer feel she or he could accomplish through scientific
writings that could not be accomplished through fiction, poetry, drama, or some
other media?
o How were these scientific writings received at the time?
o How are they used critically now by scholars?
o Can these scientific writings shed any insight on more popular or critically
lauded works?

Obviously, many other avenues of exploration are welcome. I am particularly
interested in papers that explore a Modernist's own scientific or
pseudo-scientific writing.

For example, although best known as a writer of historical fiction dealing with
the Midwest and and Southwestern, Conrad Richter produced two scientific works,
Human Vibration: The Mechanics of Life and Mind (1925) and Principles of
Bio-Physics: The Underlying Processes Controlling Life Phenomena and Inner
Evolution (1927) that he felt were central to understanding his fiction; yet,
neither of these works receives any critical attention.

Please send a paper title, 500 word abstract, contact information, and a brief
2-3 scholarly biography (for use in the panel proposal to MSA) to:

Dr. Marianne Cotugno
cotugnm@muohio.edu
or
mariannecotugno@hotmail.com

I will confirm receipt of each submission.

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