Oxford Phenomenology Network invites anyone with an interest in literature and/or phenomenology to join us for this half-day event. We hope to provoke stimulating and productive conversations about how phenomenology and literature can inform each other. The event will have a colloquial atmosphere, comprising no more than 30 participants.
The event will include a workshop element with pre-circulated readings. We are also delighted to welcome a panel of five researchers working at the intersection of phenomenology and literature: Dr Elizabeth Barry (University of Warwick), Dr Carole Bourne-Taylor (University of Oxford), Professor Maximilian De Gaynesford (University of Reading), Dr Ulrika Maude (Bristol University), and Dr David Nowell Smith (University of East Anglia). Each researcher will deliver a 10-to-15-minute talk on how they approach the phenomenology-literature relationship; these brief provocations are designed to stimulate subsequent open discussion on questions such as:
• What is at stake in using phenomenology as a theory to be applied to literary texts?
• [How] can phenomenological contexts for literature operate fruitfully alongside other formal, historical and theoretical contexts?
• [How] can phenomenological ideas help us to understand the process of reading?
• [How] can literary texts help us to illuminate phenomenological ideas?
• To what extent are phenomenological texts 'literary' in their own right?
Thanks to our TORCH Network Grant, this event will be free to all participants. A sandwich lunch, plus tea and coffee, will be provided. If you would like to attend, please email the organisers – Dr Cleo Hanaway-Oakley, Dr John Scholar, and Erin Lafford – at phenomenology@torch.ox.ac.uk, briefly (in no more than 100 words) outlining your interest in the topic. As places are limited, we urge you to get in touch soon (definitely by Wednesday 23rd December) – places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.
Oxford Phenomenology Network
Contact name: Erin Lafford
Contact email: erin.lafford@ccc.ox.ac.uk
Audience: Open to all
