Works in Progress Series, Spring 2008

Kelly S. Walsh will share a draft of his current dissertation chapter, “The Unbearable Openness of Death:  The Elegies of Rilke and Woolf” on Wednesday, May 21 at 3:30 in Communications 202. (A PDF of his draft will be posted here shortly.)

This year's MSG visiting speaker will be Sean Latham, Associate Professor of English at the University of Tulsa, editor of James Joyce Quarterly, past president of the Modernist Studies Association, and director of the Modernist Journals Project. As our theme for this series of events is Modernism and Print Culture, Latham's work on the MJP -- digitally archiving (and thus making available to the general public) numerous periodicals and little magazines that were instrumental to the development of modernism -- is particularly germane.

Latham will be visiting the UW April 17-18, 2008, during which time he'll deliver a public lecture and participate in a discussion session on his work. Visit the Events page for a complete schedule of activities during Latham's visit.

Works in Progress Series, Winter 2008

Eric Ames (Assistant Professor, UW Department of Germanics) is going to present a piece on Herzog and documentary called "The Case of Herzog: Re-Opened," on Thursday February 14 at 3:30 in Communications 202. James Tweedie (Assistant Professor, UW Department of Comparative Literature) will present the introduction to a book manuscript, currently titled “The Age of New Waves: The Globalization of Art Cinema from the 1950s,” on Tuesday, February 26 at 3:30 in Thomson 235. Matt Levay (PhD Candidate, UW Department of English) is going to present part of a new dissertation chapter, titled "Late Modernism's Killers," on Tuesday, March 4 at 3:30 in Communications 202.

For bios of the presenters and PDF files of their pieces, visit the Events page.

The MSG will host a colloquium with visiting scholar Derek Attridge on Thursday, October 18, 2007 from 10am to noon in Communications 202. Click here for a full description of the event.

A reading group has been scheduled for October 12 to prepare for the colloquium the following week. It will be held in Electrical Engineering 025 from 10:00 to 11:30am. Click here for more details and PDFs of the readings.

This year's MSG visiting speaker is Professor Stephen Kern. To view a list of events surrounding his visit in late March 2007, go to the Events page.

The newest Modernist Studies Group Works-in-Progress series, a forum for graduate students working in modernism to give and receive feedback on writing projects, is now underway. These students will be presenting drafts this quarter:

January 24 - Ted Wayland
January 31 - Megan Miller
February 7 - Jentery Sayers
March 1 - Matt Levay

For more information on this series or if you would like to attend any of the above sessions, please contact Megan Miller (meganm6@u.washington.edu).

The Modernist Studies Group will continue to be a Simpson Center-funded research cluster during the 2006-07 academic year. Our current budget allows for one invited speaker who will give a public lecture and hold a roundtable discussion with MSG members. As we've done in the past, we'd like to hold several reading groups before the speaker's visit in order to familiarize ourselves with his/her scholarship and related research in modernisms and modernity.

It takes considerable time to make all the necessary arrangements for a visiting speaker, so we need to begin the process now. We're seeking speaker proposals over the next two weeks, which we'll then put to a vote. Since proposals will be submitted and voted on electronically, we trust that members can be involved in this process no matter their whereabouts and responsibilities this summer.

Please refer to the following PDF file for complete instructions:
http://courses.washington.edu/modsg/
MSGproposals0607.pdf

We are holding a roundtable and reception on Monday, May 22, 2006 at 5:30pm in Communications 202 to discuss new perspectives on the history of modernism. For more information on this event, "Blind Spots: Narrating Modernism from the 21st Century," refer to the Events page.

Professor Foster's visit and lecture have been cancelled. We will also not hold the last reading group of our series on German Dada, originally scheduled for Friday, May 5, 2006.

The first roundtable discussion in our Work In Progress Series will be held Friday, February 24 from 1-3pm in Savery 211. Jennifer Bean (Comparative Literature, Cinema Studies) will talk about her current research and research methods. See the Events page for more information on the discussion and on Professor Bean's recent work. Click here to access PDF files of the readings associated with this event.

The Simpson Center for the Humanities has approved our application for continued funding in 2006-2007, meaning the Modernist Studies Group will remain a Cross-Disciplinary Research Cluster through June 2007. During the 2006-2007 academic year, we will be inviting one guest speaker and sponsoring a more extensive Works-In-Progress series.

The schedule of events surrounding Professor Michael Tratner's December 2005 visit has been added to the Events page.

Call For Proposals for Visiting Scholars and Reading Groups

Posted April 27, 2005 at 1:37pm

The MSG is inviting proposals for visiting scholars and reading groups for the academic year 2005-2006. Thanks to the Simpson Center, we now have funding to invite two professors and conduct approximately four to six reading groups, to be spread throughout the academic year.

Guidelines

Because the MSG is an interdisciplinary group, scholars may come from any discipline, but should have a significant body of work that is about or related to the field of modernisms or modernity.

Visiting scholars will be asked to meet with MSG participants for a discussion as well as to give a talk open to the larger university community in conjunction with the Simpson Center for the Humanities. Generally, 2-3 separate reading group meetings will precede the visit in order to prepare for the discussion.

Proposals should include a scholar, topic, and suggested readings. Readings will tend to be in the form of articles or book chapters and should be limited to approximately four per meeting. For each suggested meeting, please include no more than two selections by the proposed scholar and, if possible, representing a range of dates. Other readings should provide background, context, or alternative approaches to the topic under discussion.

In the past the MSG has met with Marjorie Perloff, with reading focused on Marcel Duchamp and the avant-garde, and Stanley Cavell, looking at Wittgenstein and the use of Cavell in other scholarship. For more information about the MSG and past reading groups please visit our webpage: http://courses.washington.edu/modsg.

Format

Please include your name, department, and contact information on your proposal.

Proposals should be typed, no more than 2 pages double-spaced.

Include the name of the proposed scholar and the scholar’s university, home department, rank, and most recent publication.

When naming your topic, please include a brief description of where the scholar’s work is situated in relation to the topic and its relevance to the study of modernisms or modernity.

Propose as complete a reading list as possible, with the knowledge that this may be adapted depending on dates and time.

Submission

Please send queries and proposals to Sacha Frey or Matthew Vechinski at modsg@u.washington.edu. Proposals should be submitted by email as attachments and must be received by Monday, May 23 at 5pm.

Selection

Proposals will be selected by those listed as members of the MSG as of autumn 2004. A meeting will be held Friday, May 27 to discuss the proposals received and begin the selection process.