Call for Papers – Reception of Indic Antiquity in Romantic Literature

deadline for submissions: June 15, 2023

Cultural understandings of the East, specifically of India, in British Romanticism have opened up numerous lines of inquiry in Romantic and eighteenth-century studies. Phiroze Vasunia, Michael J. Franklin, Andrew Rudd, and others have commented at length on the ways in which English writers related to India during the Romantic period. Works by writers like William Jones, Phebe Gibbes, Robert Southey, Sydney Owenson, and Wilke Collins reveal the extent to which India became a point of creative fixation as well as cultural appropriation. The translations of many works of ancient and medieval Indic texts were important to the galvanization of the British literary imagination. We might ask if there is a way of amending some of the injurious perspectives that evolved over the course of the nineteenth century viz. India as the British Empire expanded its foothold, though not without appreciation for many areas of genuine exchange and learning between the philosophical traditions of Britain, Europe, and the Indian subcontinent that simultaneously occurred. English interest in India began during the Renaissance; however, during the Romantic period, the British Empire pivoted to India as its influence in the Atlantic weakened, following the American and Haitian Revolutions.

This panel explores how Anglophone writers translated and interpreted foundational religious texts in the Hindu tradition, such as the Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads, as well as Sanskrit literary works such as Kalidasa’s Shakuntala. We are particularly interested in papers that reflect on the underlying spiritual message and worldview of these texts and how it impacted literary creativity on both sides of the Atlantic.

Note: to submit a proposal, you’ll need to create a PAMLA account. Papers may be proposed through the following link: https://pamla.ballastacademic.com/Home/S/18903

All proposals are due on June 15. If you have any questions, you can reach the presiding officer for the session, Dr. Divya Nair, at soundlogic888@gmail.com

For more details about PAMLA 2023 please see here: https://pamla.ballastacademic.com/Home/S/18903

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