30th Annual Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha Conference
"Faulkner and the Ecology of the South"

As approaches to literature continue to fluctuate, we find that Faulkner’s fiction has the uncanny capacity to fluctuate with them—that is, no matter the angle of the approach, Faulkner’s work seems to rise to meet it, as the world of his fiction proves to be even more spacious and inclusive than we had imagined. Whatever direction literary criticism takes, it finds Faulkner waiting there to be rediscovered again. The theme of the 30th annual Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha Conference is “Faulkner and the Ecology of the South.” The perspective on Faulkner will have the dual focus of current ecological study, referring to the systems of relations that exist both in the natural world and the constructed world. As Lawrence Buell has recently put it, one of the major tasks of ecocriticism “is to put ‘green’ and ‘brown’ landscapes, the landscapes of exurbia and industrialization, in conversation with each other.”

Faulkner’s fiction is deeply concerned with both the “green” and “brown” landscapes and the “conversation” between them. His created communities—ranging from the townspeople of Jefferson to the country people of Frenchman’s Bend as well as the distinct African American and Native American groups within and without those communities—all exist in place, part of a rich dynamic of peoples and environments.

Among the scholars who will be appearing at the conference for the first time will be literary critic and poet Ann Fisher-Wirth, professor of English at the University of Mississippi, author of William Carlos Williams and Autobiography: The Woods of His Own Nature and over 50 published poems; Keith Marshall, art historian from New Orleans and author of a catalog on the painter John McCrady; and Scott Slovic, professor of literature and environment and director of the Center for Environmental Arts and Humanities at the University of Nevada, Reno, author and editor of several books dealing with such figures as Annie Dillard, Wendell Berry, and Barry Lopez. Returning to the conference will be François Pitavy, professor emeritus of American literature at the University of Burgundy in France, who has both published books on Faulkner and translated three of his novels, and Philip Weinstein, Alexander Griswold Cummins Professor English at Swarthmore College, author of two volumes on Faulkner.

For more information about the conference, contact the Center for Non-Credit Education, P.O. Box 879, The
University of Mississippi, University, MS 38677-1848;
telephone 662-915-7282; fax 662-915-5138, e-mail noncred@olemiss.edu. For on-line information consult www.olemiss.edu/depts/south/faulkner/index.htm.

For information about participating in the conference through Elderhostel, call 877-426-8056 and refer to the program number 1813, or contact Carolyn Vance Smith by telephone (601-446- 1208) or e-mail (carolyn.smith@colin.edu).

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Donald M. Kartiganer

The 30th Annual Faulkner & Yoknapatawpha Conference
“Faulkner and the Ecology of the South”
CALL FOR PAPERS
The University of Mississippi
July 20-25, 2003

We are inviting 50-minute plenary addresses and 15-minute papers on “Faulkner and the Ecology of the South,” theme of the 2003 Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha Conference. Plenary papers consist of approximately 6,000 words and will be published by the University Press of Mississippi. Short papers consist of approximately 2,500 words and will be delivered at panel sessions.
For plenary papers the 14th edition of the University of Chicago Manual of Style should be used as a guide in preparing manuscripts. Three copies of manuscripts must be submitted by January 15, 2003. Notification of selection will be made by March 1, 2003. Authors whose papers are selected for presentation at the conference and for publication will receive (1) a waiver of the conference registration fee, (2) lodging at the University Alumni House from Saturday, July 19, through Friday, July 25, and (3) reimbursement of travel expenses, up to $500 ($.345 a mile by automobile or tourist class airfare).

For short papers, three copies of two-page abstracts must be submitted by January 15, 2003. Notification will be made by March 1, 2003. Authors whose papers are selected for panel presentation will receive a waiver of the $200 conference registration fee. In additional to commercial lodging, inexpensive dormitory rooms are available. Selected panel papers will be solicited by Journal X for possible publication.

All manuscripts and inquiries should be addressed to Donald Kartiganer, Department of English, The University of Mississippi, University, MS 38677. Telephone: 662-915-5793, e- mail: dkartiga@olemiss.edu. Manuscripts should only be sent by conventional mail, not e-mail or fax.