About the conference:
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| The theory of lyric poetry is at a breakthrough moment: after a period of relative neglect, multiple new models and approaches have been put forth in recent years. Some emphasize basic features and constituents of lyric, others its functions, still others the shifting purposes of the label over time. There is increased interest in the relationship among lyric, poetry more generally, and other literary modalities and genres. At the same time, these new theoretical interventions are not consistently in conversation with each other, especially across national or linguistic lines. It is time to bring together scholars who are working toward a new understanding of the theoretical situation of lyric and poetry. Boston University with its rich traditions of literary study is an ideal site for hosting a transnational, historically wide-ranging, collaborative inquiry into the situation of both “lyric” and “poetry” in literary history, in world literature, and in other arenas of language use and art. |
| This conference was co-organized by Boston University and the International Network for the Study of Lyric (INSL), a nonprofit association of scholars interested in the theory of poetry. The purpose of the INSL is to promote and encourage the interdisciplinary study of poetry, lyric and verse in various languages, forms, media, and functions. In particular, it aims at an interdisciplinary and international exchange of approaches, conceptual frameworks, and theoretical advances in the study of poetry generally and the lyric in particular. This spirit of exchange across boundaries (translational work, in a large sense) has inspired the organization of a conference to bring together in Boston scholars from disparate fields and traditions to discuss “situating lyric.” Conference language is English. The next INSL conference, in summer 2019, will be held at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. |
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