Literary Geographies: A Multidisciplinary Conference

Convened by Stephen Daniels, Professor of Cultural Geography and Julie Sanders, Professor of English Literature and Drama, for the Humanities and Social Science Research Centre, University of Nottingham, this conference brought together people from the Landscape and Environment Programme as part of the activites of the Landscape, Place, Space Research Group at the University of Nottingham.

The conference explored a rich and complex field of enquiry opened up from a series of scholarly perspectives, including literary history, cultural geography, performance studies and critical theory. The conference focused on both representations of space and spaces of representation. It considered the way a range of forms and practises, including ecology, place, landscape, diaspora and exile, are represented in a variety of literary genres, both factual and fictional, including ones which combine word and image. It also explored the various spaces of literary production and consumption, including pages, stages, libraries, precincts, regions and networks.

The keynote lecture was given by Professor Jonathan Bate (University of Warwick). The plenary lecture was given by Professor W.J.T. Mitchell (University of Chicago).