Villanova faculty, graduate and undergraduate students are invited to a conference on "The Referent of Ireland in the Nineteenth Century," which will take place in Garey Hall 10A on Friday, February 25. The conference builds on fresh work on reference—or how the text refers to a world outside of the text—in order to rethink the aesthetics and politics of nineteenth-century Irish literature. Responding to a set of shared readings, participants will ask big questions:
What does literature about nineteenth-century Ireland refer to, and what are its habits of reference? Does the referent change for readers across time? Now that old saws about Ireland’s failed realism have been put to bed, what purposes might be served by thinking about Irish referential habits? Does thinking about Ireland and reference strand nineteenth-century Ireland in old paradigms of representation that preclude us from thinking about mediation ? How does the nineteenth-century literature and culture of Ireland refer to our own culture and moment?
The event has been organized by Villanova English faculty member Dr. Mary Mullen and is sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the English Department, the Center for Irish Studies, the Provost's Office, and the Center for Teaching and Learning.
To register for the conference and learn more about the program and speakers, visit https://www1.villanova.edu/villanova/artsci/irishstudies/conference.html
