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The
aim of cultural studies is to situate the literary
text within the multivaried
phenomena of cultural context. It is to see the
text not so much as a unique object, somehow separate
from
its socio/political/economic origins, but as touching
every level of the cultural fabric within which
it was created. As Catherine Gallagher and Stephen
Greenblatt
have written, the task of cultural criticism is “finding
the creative power that shapes literary works outside
the narrow boundaries in which it had hitherto
been located, as well as within those boundaries.”
While we often think of culture, both “high” and “low,” in
terms of the creations of language–from lyric poetry to locker-room
limericks, the visual arts—from Old Master paintings to subway graffiti,
and music—from
string quartets to rap, perhaps most abundant and having the most bearing
on how we live (and what we create) is the material world we often do
not see in “cultural” terms,
because we are so deeply embedded in it. This is the material way of
our lives, our homes, our clothes, our transportation, our work, our
sport,
our food and
drink. Each is a source of creative power and each is itself a product
of such power.
The world of Faulkner’s fiction is a world of material abundance, intensified
for readers by its relationship to the real world in which Faulkner lived and
wrote and which he “translated” into “Yoknapatawpha.” The
2004 Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha Conference will explore Faulkner’s material
world in its fictional and historical manifestations. Consider, for example,
the significance of houses in Faulkner, from the Rowan Oak estate, which he renovated
and lived in for 30 years, to the homes of Sutpen and McCaslin, McCallum and
Bundren. Or the importance of costume for this writer, who alternately presented
himself in the “dandy” garb of “Count No ‘Count” and
the aristocratic hunting dress of Virginia, and described meticulously the strangely
contradictory clothing of Joe Christmas: trousers soiled but sharply creased,
shirt soiled but white, “and he wore a tie and a stiffbrim straw
hat that was quite new, cocked at an angle arrogant and baleful above
his still
face.”
What do these material concerns tell us about Faulkner and his fiction?
What is the work and play of men and women in his world? What does
it mean to
be a planter or a sharecropper, a horse-trader or spinner of tales?
How do we read
the “shards of pottery and broken bottles and old brick” surrounding
the graves in “Pantaloon in Black,” the “hog-bone with blood meat
still on it” in “That Evening Sun,” the “graphophone” that
is the culminating prize at the end of the journey in As I Lay Dying?
We are inviting both 50-minute plenary addresses and 15-minute papers for this
conference. Plenary papers consist of approximately 6,000 words and will be published
by the University Press of Mississippi. Conference 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, 2004. Notification of selection will be made
by March 1, 2004. Authors whose papers are selected for presentation at the conference
and publication will receive (1) a waiver of the conference registration fee
and (2) lodging at the University Alumni House from Saturday, July 24, through
Thursday, July 29.
For short papers, three copies of two-page abstracts must be submitted by January
15, 2004. Notification will be made by March 1, 2004. Authors whose papers are
selected for panel presentation will receive a waiver of the $275 conference
registration fee. In addition to commercial lodging, inexpensive dormitory rooms
are available.
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. Panelabstracts may be sent by e-mail attachment;
plenary manuscripts shouldonly be sent by conventional mail.
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Mississippi
teachers–120 from throughout the state–and50
other participants attended two seminars on GeorgeWashington
this winter–one on Thursday, February
6, in atthe State Historical Museum in Jackson and
the other onSaturday, February 8, at the Center in
Oxford.
The seminar in Jackson opened with Dennis Pogue’s
slide lecture “George Washington: Architect and
Entrepreneur.” The
presentation was based on the speaker’sstudy of
anthropology and his work on archaeological andarchitectural
investigations at Mount
Vernon, where he isassociate director for preservation.
For her presentationabout Martha Washington, Mary Thompson
drew on theextensive materials in the Collections Department
atMount Vernon, where she is a research specialist.
LarryEarl, director of education at the Charles Wright
Museumof African American History, used stories and
songs to illustrate slave life at Mount Vernon. William
Sommerfieldand Pat Jordan, of the American Historical
Theatre inPhiladelphia, drew on their study of history
and read letters, real and fictional, to portray George
and MarthaWashington for the audience.
The seminar in Oxford began with a presentation by
Frank Grizzard, who drew on his study of history and
his work as an editor of the Papers of George Washington
to discuss Washington’s military career. Historian
and Ole Miss alumnus Jack D. Warren drew on his work
as a formereditor of the Papers of George Washington
to discuss Washington’s political career. Historians
Scott Casper and Charles Wilson used slides and displayed
assorted mementoes in their presentation “George
Washington and Elvis Presley: Cultural Icons of the
18th and 20th Centuries.” William Sommerfield
used letters, assorted historical documents, newspapers,
histories, and biographies to portray George Washington
in the “
Presidential News Conference” program.
The Center and George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate
sponsored the programs in collaboration with the Mississippi
Department of Education and the Mississippi
Department of Archives and History and with financial
support from the Phil Hardin Foundation and the Mississippi
Humanities Council.
“ Our goal was to make George Washington come alive
to teachers so they can help their students appreciate
the fundamental role Washington played in the founding
of our nation and, through his example, to discover
ways in whic h they, too, can serve their family and
community,” said Lynn Crosby Gammill of Hattiesburg,
who chairs Mount Vernon’s Education Committee. “The
seminars were especially important for teachers in
Mississippi, where the study of Colonial America is
often neglected
or plays a minor role in a society that emphasizes
the Civil War and its aftermath.
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