Ninth International Milton Symposium

Call for Papers

2008 marks the quatercentenary of John Milton's birth in Bread Street, London - the city in which he was to live and work for much of his life. It is therefore appropriate that the Ninth International Milton Symposium will be celebrating this event with a five-day conference, 7-11 July 2008, under the auspices of the Institute of English Studies at the University of London. Plenary speakers include Ian Archer, Stanley Fish, Achsah Guibbory, Ann Hughes, Laura Knoppers, Nicholas von Maltzahn, John Rumrich, Regina Schwartz, and Quentin Skinner.

The Planning Committee (see below) invites papers on - but not restricted to - the following broad themes:

Places

London itself provides one obvious focus of interest since Milton was unquestionably the most important writer the city has ever produced. But places, whether real or imaginary, play a large and arguably under-examined part in his writings.

Beliefs

There has recently been a resurgence of interest in Milton‚s religious beliefs, sparked off in particular by the debate over the authorship of De Doctrina Christiana. We would therefore welcome papers on such themes as heresy, orthodoxy and unorthodoxy, and radicalism.

Writings

Papers will be welcome on such topics as the texts, contexts, and conditions of publication of Milton‚s writings in various genres on various occasions.

Events

Papers dealing with key events in Milton‚s life and times will be welcome as will those dealing more generally with his responses to the revolutionary upheavals of the seventeenth century.

Proposals for papers (500 words maximum, and preferably in the form of an email attachment) should be submitted in the first instance to Professor Martin Dzelzainis, Department of English, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX; m.dzelzainis@rhul.ac.uk. Deadline for submissions has now been extended to 12 October 2007.

Planning Committee: Warren Chernaik (King‚s, London); Martin Dzelzainis (Royal Holloway, London); Karen Edwards (Exeter); Stephen M. Fallon (Notre Dame); Tom Healy (Birkbeck, London); Michael Lieb (Illinois, Chicago); Peter Lindenbaum (Indiana); David Loewenstein (Madison-Wisconsin); Regina Schwartz (Northwestern); Kevin Sharpe (Queen Mary, London)

Detailed information about registration fees and fringe events will be available shortly. For the Institute of English Studies, contact: ies@sas.ac.uk