British Association for Romantic Studies

British Association for Romantic Studies

Website of the British Association for Romantic Studies (BARS), set up in 1989 by academics to promote the study of the cultural history of the Romantic period.

The International Conference

The International Conference

The BARS International Conference has a long history of successful four-day events attended by eminent Romanticists and emerging scholars from Britain and abroad.  The conferences are held biennially in odd-numbered years and showcase the new work being done in the field of Romantic studies through panel sessions and addresses by invited plenary speakers.  Conference programmes also typically include trips to Romantic locations and provide plenty of opportunities for conviviality, networking and the sharing of enthusiasms.  Details of all the past International Conferences can be found below.  In the past, BARS has occasionally organised additional conferences; these events are detailed at the bottom of the page.  In addition to these events, BARS now organises regular Early Career and Postgraduate Conferences.

The 17th International Conference, New Romanticisms, a joint conference with the North American Society for the Study of Romanticism (NASSR) will be held at Edge Hill University in 2022.

A digital conference, Romantic Disconnections/Reconnections will be held in August 2021 – more details can be seen on the dedicated conference website.

Past International Conferences

Romantic Facts and Fantasies (University of Nottingham, 2019)

Romantic Improvement (University of York, 2017)

Romantic Imprints (Cardiff University, 2015)

Romantic Imports and Exports (University of Southampton, 2013)

Enlightenment, Romanticism & Nation (University of Glasgow, 2011)

Romantic Circulations (Roehampton University, 2009)

Emancipation, Liberation, Freedom (University of Bristol, 2007 – organised jointly with the North American Society for the Study of Romanticism (NASSR))

Romanticism’s Debateable Lands (University of Newcastle, 2005)

Romantic Conflict (University of Warwick, 2003)

Sustaining Romanticism (University of Liverpool, 2001)

Romantic Revelations (Keele University, 1999)

Romantic Generations (University of Leeds, 1997)

Placing and Displacing Romanticism (University of Wales, Bangor, 1995)

Romanticism and Nationalism (University of Strathclyde, 1993)

Romanticism and the Picturesque (Gregynog Hall, Wales, 1991)

Reviewing Romanticism (St Alfred’s College, Winchester, 1989)

Supernumerary Conferences

1814: War, Peace, and Publication (Institute of English Studies, 2014)

Commemorating Mary Robinson (University of Warwick, 2000)

1798 and its Implications (the first joint conference of BARS and NASSR, St Mary’s University College, 1998)