Tuesday 22 November 2011

Change of Date in March

Just a quick note to say that our meeting in March will now go ahead on Friday 23rd, instead of 16th.

Also, Jenny Hodgson will lead the group on the 20th January on Alain Robbe-Grillet's 'Towards a New Novel' and Snapshots, and Laurie's Robin Hood and Derrida session will be rescheduled for the end of January/beginning of February.

Keep an eye out for the Walden and Emerson readings circulating soon for Clare's session (9th December), we look forward to seeing you then.

Sunday 20 November 2011

Newcastle Winter Book Festival

The Newcastle Winter Book Festival starts this Thursday 24th November and runs until Sunday 27th, featuring readings and workshops from a range of local writers, artists and historians. Events take place at a range of venues including Northumbria, Seven Stories, the Lit & Phil, Newcastle City Library, Blackwells Bookshop, and the Star and Shadow Cinema.

Place-based highlights include talks by Alistair Moffatt, 'Who do we think we are? The Scots: A Genetic Journey', and Ann Cleeves, who will talk about her story collection, Shetland Quartet. In addition, Ann will jointly run 'Crime in a Foreign Country' with Shirley McKay and Northumbria's own Jacky Collins.

Northumbria University Library will be hosting performance and installations from students and staff at the university, in An Encounter with Antigone (dir. by Jane Arnfield and Matt Cummins) and Chattering Monkey (by Alex Elliott). It would be great to see many of you there.

Wednesday 16 November 2011

November Meeting Postponed

Apologies for the short notice but we've decided to postpone this month's session until the new year so that Laurie can focus on submitting her thesis - she aims to have it in by the end of the month so let's wish her the best of luck!

Keep checking for updates about Clare's session, which will be going ahead on Friday 9th December.

Thursday 10 November 2011

Interdisciplinary Conference at Northumbria

Readers may be interested in the following conference hosted by Northumbria's 'States of Mind' research group:

Situating and Interpreting States of Mind 1700-2000
An Interdisciplinary Conference

14-16 June 2012
Northumbria University

Keynote Speakers
Professor Joel P. Eigen (Charles A. Dana Professor of Sociology, Franklin and Marshall College, Pennsylvania)
Professor Melinda A. Rabb (Professor of English, Brown University, Rhode Island)
Dr. Judith A. Tucker (Lecturer in the School of Design, Leeds University)

This cross-period and interdisciplinary conference seeks to situate and interpret states of mind from the eighteenth century to the twenty-first questioning how the space, place and historical context in which mental states are experienced shaped the narratives produced by individuals. Interweaving perspectives from across such disciplines as literature, history, philosophy, art history, creative writing, psychology and sociology, the conference will explore accounts of states of mind including mental illness, dreams, sleep-walking, imaginative states and self-awareness. The conference seeks to assess how these varying states of consciousness are expressed and how such narratives are influenced by historical change, continuity or the reconfiguration of these forms of expression.

We would like to invite abstracts for papers from across disciplines on the theme of the conference, particularly related, but not limited, to the following key strands:

Experience and Representation of Mental Illness
- the gap between individual experience and interpretations by medical and legal practitioners
- the relationship between mental distress, agency, literature and cognition
- representations of mental derangement and criminal responsibility

Liminal States of Mind
- representations of liminal states of consciousness
- the relationship between experiences and representations of dreams and sleepwalking
- categorisation of imaginative states in cognitive science and philosophy
- concepts of interiority, selfhood and imaginative processing of real or fictional worlds

Self-awareness and Place
- relationship between self and place, particularly regarding the past, decay and dilapidation
- artistic expressions of situating self-awareness
- creative representations of landscape as a geographic metaphor

Abstracts of 300 words for 20-minute papers should be submitted no later than 31 January 2012 to the conference organisers: anita.oconnell@northumbria.ac.uk or leigh.wetherall-dickson@northumbria.ac.uk.  Please see www.northumbria.ac.uk/statesofmind for details.

Tuesday 1 November 2011

Remember, Remember: Eventful November

Apologies for the terrible rhyme. In addition to Laurie's Robin Hood and Derrida session on Friday 18 November (readings to follow shortly), there are loads of space-related events going on this month that you might be interested in. Our very own English Literature department is hosting some great talks in the Seminar Series this month: 
  • Dr David Stewart (Northumbria University), 'Reading Like a Cockney: Magazines and Romanticism', Wednesday 9 November
  • Dr Ian Davidson (Northumbria University), 'The Production of Suburban Space and 1950's Fiction', Wednesday 23 November
 Over the road at Newcastle University, NCLA are hosting the following: 
  • Paul Farley and Michael Symmons Roberts, 'Edgelands: Journeys into England's Last Wilderness', Thursday 17 November (£6/£4)  
  • Jack Mapanje, reading and panel discussion, 24 November (£6/£4) [This reading is hosted in association with English PEN and will be accompanied by an exhibition: Beyond Bars: 50 years of the PEN Writers in Prison Committee, Percy Building foyer, 18 November to 2 December 2011]
And further afield, the Tate Modern 'Topology' project runs from 5th November 2011-May 2012, bringing together artists, writers and intellectuals to discuss topological theory. The following events are taking place this month:
Keep checking back for updates on the next meeting, and thanks to readers for recommending events, we're always grateful. We look forward to seeing you on 18th.