Call for papers: 12th International Student Byron Conference, Messolonghi, Greece

12th International Student Byron Conference

19-24 May 2017

Theme: "Byron and Nature"

Messolonghi, Greece

The Messolonghi Byron Research Center welcomes proposals for 20-minute papers to be delivered at the 12th International Student Byron Conference, to be held at Messolonghi, from Friday 19 May to Wednesday 24 May 2017. With a focus on "Byron and Nature", the conference will also include excursions to Mount Arakinthos, Kryoneri and the Byzantine cave-chapel of Agios Nikolaos on Mount Varassova, the salt pans, and the lagoon island chapel of the Virgin of the Palms that will allow students experience diverse local examples of the landscape and ecosystem. Keynote speakers will be Christine Kenyon-Jones (Kings College London) and Andrew Hubbell (Susquehanna University USA).

We particularly encourage submissions centering on how Byron represents the nonhuman, physical world. Papers might consider how his politics, gender identity, cosmopolitanism, exile, or attitudes toward global capital, imperialism, theology, and poetics relate to his definitions of the natural world. Proposals that address Byron from the broad cluster of perspectives included under the Environmental Humanities banner are also welcome. Topics could include ecocritical analysis of specific works, animals, the physical sciences, nature philosophy, the ocean, ecotopia, travel, Romantic nature, acclimatization theory and identity, place theory, political ecology, post-humanism, the new materialism, and critical plant theory. In honor of the location, papers that relate Byron's Philhellenism to his understanding of the natural world are particularly welcome.

Proposals should be sent by email to Professor Peter Graham (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), Dr. Maria Schoina (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), and Mrs. Rodanthi-Rosa Florou, President of the International Byron Research Center (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) by February 1, 2017.

Detailed descriptions of the previous International Student Conferences can be found on the Messolonghi Byron Society's web page, www.messolonghibyronsociety.gr