Each year, the Literature Program and the Theory Certificate sponsor a literature colloquium. Recent topics have been Carribean Studies, Material Culture, and Media Studies.
The 2007 Literature Colloquium, which took place on October 26 and 27, was devoted to the topic, "What is the Future of Aesthetic Theory?" The program consisted of talks by four distinguished speakers, and a roundtable discussion featuring all the participants.
The visiting speakers were Robert Kaufman from the University of California at Berkeley, Karyn Ball from the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Gerald Bruns from the University of Notre Dame, and Rita Felski from the University of Virginia. Looking to such thinkers as Theodor Adorno, Jacques Ranciere, J.M. Bernstein, and the tradition of lyrical poetry, the presenters delved into topics touching on how critical agency can still be thought, and must be thought, through the aesthetic, and whether or not the aesthetic could open up an outside to instrumental rationality or ideology.
The colloquium was organized by Department of English faculty members, Andrew Epstein, Barry Faulk and Robin Goodman, who also offered a new addition to the colloquium in the form of a preparatory reading group in advance of the event. Open to both interested students and faculty, the group read and discussed three papers, raising issues later discussed in the colloquium.
photos and prose by Barrington Smith-Seetachitt
