Cather, Chicago and Modernism
June 25-28, 2009
University Center, Chicago, IL

The 12th International Seminar will focus on Willa Cather's relationship to broader formations of cultural and literary modernism. How, and in what ways, is Cather a modernist (if at all)? Cather described Death Comes for the Archbishop as a 'narrative': does this kind of description point to a radical, experimental fiction-making? To what extent did she also resist and reject the 'modern'? The Seminar encourages papers that will address a wide range of intersections and connections between the full range of Cather's work and modernism/modernity.

The Seminar will take place in the downtown 'University Center', Chicago, IL, and will include events focused on specific literary/cultural sites within that area. We thus encourage papers that counterpoint Cather and Chicago within turn of the century culture. The Seminar solicits papers analyzing the musical, visual, architectural and urban cultures of Chicago, and their representation in Cather's work (for instance, in Lucy Gayheart). The broader question of how Chicago has figured within the national literary imagination will naturally serve as another focus for the program.

Diverse critical and theoretical perspectives are encouraged. Interested contributors should submit abstracts of 500 words with a cover letter and brief resume by February 27, 2009. Persons whose proposals are accepted will be expected to submit final papers by May 1, 2009. Papers should be 10-12 double-spaced pages for a 20 minute presentation time.

Submit proposals by February 27, 2009, to:

Guy Reynolds, Cather Seminar Director
337D Andrews Hall
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Lincoln, NE 68588-0333
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