The time of Faulkner’s life and career was one of the most momentous in Western history, especially with regard to intellectual ferment and the response to it in arts and letters. The aim of the 2002 conference is to address the literary and intellectual relations Faulkner shares with other writers and artists as well as the extent to which his work is a reflection of, and a commentary on, the major intellectual movements of the day. Although he spent the large bulk of his life in the small North Mississippi town of Oxford — physically isolated from the various schools and coteries of modern art and thought — we have come to realize the extent to which Faulkner possessed either a direct or an intuitive knowledge of the leading ideas of his time and a significant reading acquaintance with many of the writers espousing those ideas.

Here are some of the issues that might be addressed: Who are those writers with whom Faulkner can be most usefully compared, in terms either of similarity or opposition? What are the artistic and intellectual movements that most pervade Faulkner's work? Are there any movements or “schools” with which Faulkner is not normally linked — such as the Lost Generation, the Harlem Renaissance, Proletarian Literature — that might reveal unexpected insights into Faulkner, or that might themselves be altered by being viewed through a Faulknerian lens? To what extent is Faulkner truly a writer of his age — reflecting and responding to the written world around him — and to what extent is he the iconnoclast, going his unique way?

We are inviting 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. 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, 2002. Notification of selection will be made by March 1, 2002. 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 20, thorugh Friday, July 26, 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, 2002. Notification will be made by March 1, 2002. Authors whose papers are selected for panel presentation will receive a waiver of the $200 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. Manuscripts should only be sent by conventional mail, not e-mail or fax.