The Poetics of Exile (New Zealand) (1/31/03; 7/17/03-7/19/03)

THE POETICS OF EXILE: AN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
University of Auckland
New Zealand
17th-19th July 2003
First Call for Papers

"Exile is strangely compelling to think about but terrible to experience. It is the unhealable rift forced between a human being and a native place, between the self and its true home: its essential sadness can never be surmounted. And while it is true that literature and history contain heroic, romantic, glorious, even triumphant episodes in an exile's life, these are no more than efforts meant to overcome the crippling sorrow of estrangement. The achievements of exile are permanently undermined by the loss of something left behind forever."
- Edward Said

An international conference, The Poetics of Exile, to be held at the University of Auckland, 17th-19th July 2003, will bring together poets, critics, and scholars in fields as diverse as classical literature, indigenous and postcolonial writing, trauma studies, and the contemporary avantgarde, to present and discuss creative responses to the condition of exile.

>From ancient Rome and China to Europe during the Enlightenment to contemporary Africa, Eastern Europe Asia, Latin America, and the Pacific, some of the most significant literary works have related to the experience of exile. While the nature and circumstances of exile have varied from one case to another, the sense of "loss of something left behind" is common to all. At a time in which the dispossession of indigenous peoples and the right to migrate and seek asylum are continually contested, it seems particularly appropriate to explore the intimate connection between exile and the creative process in different periods and political and cultural contexts.

Among many possible threads for the conference are:

Exile and revolt - Grounds for exile - Theorising exile
Exile as metaphor - Writing and trauma - Return from exile
Exile and reconciliation - Exile and dispossession
Censorship and exile - Orientalism and exile
Exile and insanity - Loss of homeland & tradition
Identity and exile - Exile and the environment
Women and exile - Exile, memory & forgetfulness
Exile, enrichment and inspiration - Exile and the avantgarde
Choosing exile - Communities in exile

Poets from many countries will be reading their work during the conference.

Proposed contributions - which may be in traditional or innovative formats - are invited now and will be accepted or declined within a month of being received. Proposals for panels relating to literature of exile of a particular region or historical moment or to a theme or perspective on exile literature, as well as proposals for single contributions, will be welcome. Further information (with a list of key speakers and accommodation details) will be distributed in October to those who put themselves on the mailing list. The last date for acceptance of contributions will be 31 January 2003.

Enquiries to: Mike Hanne
Co-ordinator of Comparative Literature
The University of Auckland
Private Bag 92019
Auckland, New Zealand

Email: m.hanne@auckland.ac.nz
Fax: 64-9-373-7483
Tel: 64-9-373-7599 ext 7106

A website will be established for the conference at http://www.arts.auckland.ac.nz/SELL/complit

Mike Hanne
Coordinator of Programme in Comparative Literature
University of Auckland
Private Bag 92019
Auckland
New Zealand
Tel: (64-9) 373-7599 ext 7106