V21 Collective symposium, “Presentism, Form, and the Future of History”

V21 is very pleased to announce its inaugural symposium, “Presentism, Form, and the Future of History,” at the University of Chicago, October 9-10, 2015. Designed as a series of roundtables, the symposium is free and welcomes public participation.

Chicago-region participants are invited to a pre-symposium reading group this summer and fall.

Friday, October 9
9:00am: Opening Remarks: Benjamin Morgan

9:15-11am: Bleak House Today
On how the form of Dickens’s novel resonates through time
Alex Woloch (roundtable anchor)
Elaine Auyoung
Elisha Cohn
David Coombs
Jonathan Farina
Emily Steinlight
Megan Ward

11:15-12:45: Theorizing the Present
On the continuing significance of Nietzsche’s critique of nineteenth-century historicisms, “On the Use and Abuse of History for Life”
Pearl Brilmyer (discussion facilitator)
Danielle Coriale
Eleanor Courtemanche
Devin Griffiths
Matthew Sussmann
Danny Wright

2pm-4pm: The Way We Write Now
On questions of method and interpretation in the current work of V21 affiliates
Caroline Levine (roundtable anchor)
Carolyn Betensky
Ellis Hanson
Anna Kornbluh
David Kurnick
Jesse Rosenthal
Jesse Oak Taylor

4:30-6:30 Empire and Unfielding
On the disciplinary relationship between Victorian Studies and studies of empire, grounded in Antoinette Burton and Isabel Hofmeyr’s Ten Books That Shaped the British Empire: Creating an Imperial Common
Antoinette Burton and Isabel Hofmeyr (roundtable anchors)
Tanya Agathocleous
Nathan Hensley
Jos Lavery
Sebastian Lecourt
Nasser Mufti
Mary Mullen

7:00-10:00
Affiliates Dinner
Evening Salon, Maeve Adams, facilitator

Saturday, October 10
9:30-11: Plenary, Bruce Robbins
Introduction, Molly Clark Hilliard
Response, Zach Samalin

11:30-12:30: Symposium wrap-up, moderated by Elaine Hadley

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This event is free and open to the public, but registration is required. To register, email V21collective at gmail dot com.

Made possible by the generous support of the Franke Institute for the Humanities, the Department of English Language and Literature, the Nicholson Center for British Studies, and the Center for International Studies.