The Contemporary: An International Conference of Literature and the Arts

When we speak of the contemporary, do we speak of an age of parody, of irony, of globalization (or glocalization), of an ever-expanding modernity or a fractured coalescence of all of these conceptual frames, and many others? Do terms like the avant garde, postcolonialism, and postmodernism, continue to possess critical currency?  Is it possible to even designate a work of literature or art as contemporary?   In addition to signifying the present, the contemporary is also arguably a loose conceptual term rather than a critical frame, a nominal gesture towards naming an immensity of voices and images.

This summer at NTU an array of international scholars will critically engage and rethink aspects of the contemporary, as well as providing individual treatments of writers, artists, film-makers, and relevant theorists (or theories) that have left their fingerprints on ‘contemporary’ literature and the Arts, and that have, in turn, generated an impact on how we conceive of the contemporary in critical terms.

Main Speakers:
Brian McHale (Ohio State University)
Brian Richardson (University of Maryland)
Keith Hopper (Oxford University)
Lisa Samuels (University of Auckland)
Reed Dasenbrock (University of Hawaii)
Ronald Schleifer (University of Oklahoma)
Shirley Chew (University of Leeds / NTU)

*Flann O’Brien Centenary Symposium: On the occasion of his centenary year (2011) and in acknowledgement of the extraordinary influence of Flann O’Brien’s work on postmodernism, avant garde fiction, metafiction, and innovative fiction in general, the contemporary conference will feature a colloquium on the work of Flann O’Brien. Over the past two decades, the central importance of Flann O’Brien’s work has been repeatedly acknowledged in critical circles, and has been demonstrated by its continued presence on university syllabi. Many major literary critics have increasingly emphasized O’Brien's unique position in the history of fiction and, as a result, new generations of readers and critics of O’Brien have turned their attention to his work.