Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2002 00:35:19 -0000
NEW DEADLINE
The Importance of Being Arthur
Representations of Masculinity 1954-1963
An interdisciplinary conference being held over a Saturday Night and =
Sunday Morning at Froebel College, Roehampton University of Surrey
13 - 14 July 2002
Keynote Speakers: Zachary Leader ~ Andy Medhurst ~ Deborah Philips ~ =
Dan Rebellato ~ Mark Turner
New modes of cultural production and distribution in the 1950s have =
meant there was no shortage of male icons to emerge in the decade. In =
British writing of the period masculinity itself seems to perform an =
iconic role in embodying and challenging the beliefs and shibboleths of =
an older culture perceived as increasingly redundant.
The conference takes as its focus English neo-realist fiction of the =
period including such novelists as Sillitoe, Braine, Storey, Barstow, =
Amis and Wilson. Their insistent concern with an assertive but =
beleagured male identity (mentored by both Lawrence and Orwell) seems to =
call into question nearly all the assumptions about class and many of =
the assumptions about sexuality that underpinned writing earlier in the =
century (Woolf, Waugh, Huxley et al). Frequently acclaimed at the time =
as culturally and politically radical much of this writing has, in turn, =
come to be seen as clumsy, sexist and of dubious value. At the same time =
its sympathetic engagement with popular culture and life has contributed =
significantly to contemporary perspectives and practices in literature, =
film and television.
We want to take a closer look at both the writing and the contexts, =
including the radical transformation of the material life and the =
political and economic expectations of British society after World War =
Two, in an attempt to understand better the often ambiguous nature of =
its male protagonists in both the social and literary spheres.
We are inviting papers of twenty minutes on all relevant aspects of =
British life and culture of the period (as well as its antecedents and =
aftermaths). Topics and approaches might include:
Working-class life: image and reality
Popular culture and American models
The music business
Fashion and design
Gender studies and Queer Theory
Censorship, the law and the Wolfenden Report
End of Empire: Suez and its aftermath
Industrial and technological change
Immigration and HMS Windrush
Medical, psychological and scientific discourses
Film and television
National service
The rise of the celebrity
The position of sport
Orwell, Hoggart and the Uses of Sociology
Abstracts should be accompanied by a brief CV and submitted to the
address below by 15TH APRIL 2002.
Lisa Hall
Conference Coordinator
School of English and Modern Languages, Roehampton University of Surrey
Roehampton Lane, London SW15 5PH
Tel: 020 8392 3362 Fax: 020 8392 3146
Email: lisasam@hallco.freeserve.co.uk
Website: http://www.hallco.freeserve.co.uk/arthurhome.html
===============================================
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