Romantic Improvement<\/p>\n
The University of York<\/p>\n
27-30 July<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
This was the 15th conference of the British Association for Romantic Studies.<\/p>\n
Postgraduate bursary winners have been invited to write short reports on their experience as a delegate and\/or speaker at the event. Here are the first three – more to follow at a later date.<\/p>\n
Enjoy! You can also see the storify of the tweets, and pictures from the event,\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sarah Faulkner (University of Washington)<\/strong><\/p>\n I had a wonderful time at BARS–and that wasn’t just because of the discounted ice cream, though that was a serious plus. I really enjoyed the collegiality of the conference, especially between Romanticists at all stages of their career. I felt invited to speak with senior faculty, and found new, wonderful friends among other graduate students. Having just come from the wonderful Austen\/Sta\u00ebl conference at Chawton House Library, it was wonderful to reconnect with other Chawton delegates, and to really feel like I was a part of the Romanticist community. I have always felt a bit like an imposter in Romanticism since I study women’s novels rather than male poetry, but this conference changed that feeling for me entirely. The multitude of panels on women’s writing and novels, the generosity of feedback, and most of all the fervent interest expressed by all about each other’s work, made this an exceptional conference.<\/p>\n Sarah is organising JANEFEST 2017<\/a> at the University of Washington, in Seattle, WA, USA.<\/em><\/p>\n Twitter: @janefest17<\/em><\/p>\n Conference Banquet. Via @BARS_official on twitter<\/p><\/div>\n Joshua Schouten de Jel (University of Plymouth)<\/strong><\/p>\n BARS 2017 was my third conference this year (I also presented at Budapest and Brighton). Held at King\u2019s Manor, and nearby to the idyllic Museum Gardens, it was a tremendous setting for what was an absolutely intriguing conference. Topics ranged from ecocriticism, to Leigh Hunt, to war trauma, and the Romantic book trade, but the panel (chaired by Jon Mee) on which I presented was based on William Blake, upon whom I am conducting my PhD at Plymouth University.<\/p>\n Lucy Cogan, from the University of York, gave a paper on prophecy and futurity, concentrating on the Continental Books, primarily America<\/em> (1793) and Europe<\/em> (1794). Her fascinating reading of the shadowy female of the Preludiums in conjunction with Oothoon from Visions of the Daughters of Albion<\/em> (1793) opened up an interesting dialogue between Blake\u2019s works, as well as suggesting the revisionary nature of his mythopoeia. The other presenter, Amadeus Kang-Po Chen from the University of Edinburgh, gave an exciting paper which also concentrated on Oothoon, but drew in the two other characters from Visions of the Daughters of Albion<\/em>, Bromion and Theotormon. Working through Blake\u2019s erotic resonances within the text, Amadeus\u2019 readings highlighted the similarities between Oothoon and the plants of Erasmus Darwin\u2019s \u2018The Loves of the Plants\u2019 (1791). Noting the pictorial representation of Theotormon, it was illuminating to note the asexual nature of his posture (which corresponds to his actions in the narrative), and how such a reading is enlivened by the botanical work of Darwin.<\/p>\n My paper looked at Blake\u2019s millenarianism and traced the internalisation of apocalypse throughout the 1790s and into the latter Prophetic Books. The private and personal nature of Blake\u2019s self-annihilation is always balanced with the outward-looking and inclusive idea of brotherhood, and thus my paper concentrated on the limitations of Orc in contradistinction to the possibilities provided by belief and faith, the driving forces behind Milton\u2019s descent and Albion\u2019s reawakening.<\/p>\n The conference provided an excellent arena in which to share a number of my doctoral findings, and I hope has stimulated further research (especially in Blake!).<\/p>\n Photo by Eugenia Zuroski\u200f Rayna Rossenova (Sofia University)<\/strong><\/p>\n Let me start a while back: When last September I went on a trip to Lancaster, in one of my outings I met a nice lady, who told me I should definitely go visit York when I got the chance. Little did I know that it would be for an occasion of such a scale.<\/p>\n I was extremely delighted and grateful to be the recipient of one of the bursaries, generously awarded by BARS, the York Georgian Society and Centre for Eighteenth Century Studies. BARS 2017: Romantic Improvement <\/em>was truly an event which I shall remember and neatly wrap up in a bundle of memories comprised of the inspiring papers I heard and the people I met, along with the sights of the magnificent city of York.<\/p>\n The conference was a true cosmopolitan space which gathered scholars from all over the world. The papers inspired animated conversations in the rooms of King\u2019s Manor, located in the heart of the city. Undoubtedly, these four days were marked by a vibrant and convivial atmosphere where ideas and discussions flourished.<\/p>\n The organisers had thought of everything to make our experience a memorable one. Each day met us with versatile panel sessions offering engaging and thought-provoking papers, followed by comfort and coffee\/tea breaks to recharge our batteries and prepare for the next round of talks. I immensely enjoyed the papers in the sessions I attended and the plenary lectures.<\/p>\n Also, there were tours in and out of the city specially arranged for our amusement and a lavish banquet at a medieval house. What more could one possibly want? I only wish I had a \u201ctime turner\u201d so I could turn back time at will and be able to hear all those interesting papers being delivered in the parallel panels.<\/p>\n Saturday afternoon offered a delightful trip to the stately Castle Howard, which was mesmerizing in both its interiors and exteriors. The grandeur of the fa\u00e7ade was matched by the exquisitely furnished halls and rooms inside the house. Fortunately, the weather was on our side, so we could walk in the open air and enjoy the beautiful gardens and scenery. I would definitely like to re-visit it someday.<\/p>\n Castle Howard, photo by Rayna<\/p><\/div>\n After the lovely trip, the evening promised to be just as exciting. The conference dinner was held in the medieval Merchant Adventurers\u2019 Hall, where we were entertained by Prof Jon Mee who, in his role as quiz comp\u00e8re, challenged us with some brain-racking questions to test our York knowledge over a delicious meal. Sitting in this authentic setting, one could not help but imagine the days of yore when medieval revellers made merry and filled the hall with jubilant glee.<\/p>\n But as all good things must come to an end, so did the conference. I think I can safely say this was yet another year of firsts for me \u2013 it was my first BARS conference and my first visit to York. So, I would once again like to thank BARS, the Organisers, and all the delegates for making this conference the tremendous experience it was.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Thank you to everyone who came along to our international biennial conference: BARS 2017 Romantic Improvement The University of York 27-30 July This was the 15th conference of… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":""},"categories":[7,16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1717"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1717"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1717\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1723,"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1717\/revisions\/1723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Conference](\"http:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/banquet-300x225.jpg\")
![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BARS2017-225x300.jpg\")
@zugenia via twitter<\/p><\/div>\n![\"Castle](\"http:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/CastleHoward-225x300.png\")