Living, Thinking, Looking: An International Conference on the Writing of Siri Hustvedt

On 23 October 2015, Birkbeck’s Centre for Contemporary Literature will host the first academic conference to focus on the writing of the highly acclaimed American author, Siri Hustvedt. A writer of increasing cultural and critical significance, Siri Hustvedt has written six novels and a considerable body of non-fiction, including essays, academic papers, lectures and autobiographical works. This conference will give undergraduates, postgraduates and academics the opportunity to examine Hustvedt’s unique contribution to contemporary literature. We are particularly delighted that Siri Hustvedt will be in attendance throughout the day. She will also be speaking in the evening at a special Birkbeck-hosted event as part of the Bloomsbury Festival (tickets available, booking essential). Living, Thinking, Looking will take place on 23 October 2015 (9.30-7pm) in the Keynes Library at 43 Gordon Square, Birkbeck, University of London. The conference is free to attend but registration is compulsory. Email hustvedtconference@gmail.com to reserve your place.   Confirmed keynote speakers: Hubert Zapf, Professor and Chair of American Literature, University of Augsburg, Germany Christine Marks, Assistant Professor of English, LaGuardia Community College (City University of New York). James Peacock, Senior Lecturer in English and American Literature at Keele University and author of Brooklyn Fictions. Siri Hustvedt, author   Conference Programme: 9.30​am   Registration 10.00​am Welcome and introduction Alex Williamson, Birkbeck, University of London 10.10am Keynote Prof. Dr Hubert Zapf, University of Augsburg, Germany – Siri Hustvedt and the Transdisciplinary Knowledge of Literature 10.50am Keynote Dr James Peacock, University of Keele – “The edge of the world”: Red Hook in Contemporary Fiction 11.20am Break 11.40am​ Panel One – The Subjective World: objects, power and perception Dr Alise Jameson – Pleasure and Peril: Dynamic Forces of Power and Desire in Siri Hustvedt’s The Blindfold ​Dr Ruth Charnock, University of Lincoln – ​‘An anthropology of the present’: caring about objects in The Blindfold Rob Lederer, University of Edinburgh – Collecting and Life Writing: Objects, Optics, and Games in Siri Hustvedt’s What I Loved 12.50​pm Lunch 1.50pm Keynote Dr Christine Marks, LaGuardia Community College, New York – Relationality and Play in Siri Hustvedt’s fiction 2.30pm​ Panel Two – Trauma narratives: 9/11, America and global mourning Dr Anna Thiemann, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, Münster, Germany – Siri Hustvedt and the Politics of Trauma Fraser Mann, York St John University – No before and no after: Hustvedt and traumatic tradition Harriet Earle, Birkbeck, University of London – Siri Hustvedt, Epistemic Breaks and Post-9/11 Trauma 3.40pm​ Break 3.50pm Panel Three – Art, authorship and gender Dr Rachael McLennan, University of East Anglia – Ageing, Anger and Authorship in Siri Hustvedt’s The Blazing World and The Summer Without Men Diana Wagner, Phillips-Universitat, Marburg, Germany – Does Art Really Have a Gender Identity? Siri Hustvedt’s Playing with Perception in the Art World 5.00pm​ Final comments 5.10pm​ Drinks reception 6.10pm Close 7.00pm Siri Hustvedt reading and Q&A, Woburn House (Tickets cost £10 per person and must be booked in advance.)     Author photograph: ©Annabel Clark...