SHAKESPEAREAN CONFIGURATIONS

An International Symposium on Shakespearean Forms from the 16th to the 21st century

Salle Jourda, Bâtiment de Recherche Marc Bloch (BRED) University of Montpellier (France), Wednesday 29 September to Friday 1 October 2010

Jointly organised and funded by the Universities of Montpellier (IRCL), York and Bergen

Shakespearean Configurations is a follow-up from last year’s conference held at the University of York (UK) during which participants took a fresh look at configurations—and reconfigurations—of Shakespeare from the first quartos to the most recent visual incarnations. They also offered new materials and new approaches for studying the packaging of the plays and poems through time, between cultures and across media.

The theme of the conference was prompted by two sweeping developments in Shakespeare studies: the sustained attack on the idea of an authentic, original text produced by a single, isolated author; and a corresponding attention to the reformulation and assimilation of Shakespeare’s texts in cultures very different from the one in which they were created.

Participants in this year’s conference are invited to continue investigating these themes. They are also encouraged to explore more specifically the relation between the editing and/or configuring of Shakespeare’s works through time and the various ways in which these works were appropriated by readers and audiences.

Contributors will employ a range of materials, including early printed versions, bindings, illustrated editions and paintings, library and museum collections, stage sets and later forms including photography and Manga Shakespeare.



Agnes Lafont and Jean-Christophe Mayer, Montpellier

Bill Sherman, York

Stuart Sillars, Bergen



Conference organisers

Contact and registration : vanessa.kuhner-blaha@univ-montp3.fr





PROGRAMME



wednesday 29 september



2:00-2:15 Welcome



Theatrical Adaptations and Configurations





2:15-2:45 Atsuhiko Hirota (Kyoto University), “Kingdoms of Tate’s Lear and Shakespeare’s Lear: A Restoration Reconfiguration of Archipelagic Kingdoms”

2:45-3:00 questions



3:00-3:30 Agnès Lafont (University of Montpellier), “Mythological Reconfigurations on the Contemporary Stage: Giving A New Voice to Philomela in Titus Andronicus”

3:30-3:45 questions



Coffee



4:15-4:45 Varsha Panjwani (University of York), “ ‘What is the chance?’: Shakespeare fighting for limelight at the Swan”

4:45-5:00 questions



5:00-5:30 Florence March (University of Avignon), “Richard II in la cour d'honneur of the Popes' Palace, Festival d'Avignon 2010”

5:30-5:45 questions



8:00 Dinner in town



thursday 30 september



Visual Configurations: Painting, Architecture, Photography, Mangas





9:15-09:45 Dympna Callaghan (Syracuse University), “From the Colossal to the Diminutive: Anthony and Cleopatra Versus Hamlet”

9:45:10:00 questions



10:00-10:30 Stuart Sillars (University of Bergen), “Photography and Victorian Shakespeare”

10:30-10:45 questions



Coffee



11:15-11:45 Svenn-Arve Myklebost (University of Bergen), “Abbreviation and Ekphrasis: Iconotextual Shakespeare Translation”

11:45-12:00 questions



LUNCH (on campus)





Textual Configurations: Editing, Publishing, Educating





2:00-2:30 Bill Sherman (University of York), “Standing upon Points: Re-configuring Shakespeare's Punctuation”

2:30-2:45 questions



2:45-3:15 Erica Sheen (University of York), “Un-American Shakespeare” (title t.b.c.)

3:15-3:30 questions



3:30-4:00 Sarah Stanton (Cambridge University Press), “Publishing Shakespeare”

4:00-4:15



Coffee



4:45-5:15 Emma Smith (Hertford College, Oxford), “ ‘Read it, but buy it first’: Buying Shakespeare”

5:15-5:30 questions



5:30 Planning Session – The Future of the Shakespeare Configured Project



8:00 Conference dinner (Brasserie du Théâtre, Place de la Comédie)



friday 1 october





The Material Text—Reading, Collecting, Curating

9:15-9:45 Jean-Christophe Mayer (CNRS and University of Montpellier), “Shakespeare and the Order of Books”

9:45-10:00 questions



10:00-10:30 Alan H. Nelson (University of Berkeley), “Shakespeare and the Bibliophiles: The Next Generation”

10:30-10:45 questions



Coffee



11:00-11:30 Noriko Sumimoto (Meisei University, Tokyo), “Updating Folios: Customising Readers’ Reconfigurations of Shakespeare”

11:30-11:45 questions



11:45-12:15 Jeffrey Knight (University of Michigan), “Shakespeare’s Early Curators”

12:15-12:30 questions



CLOSING LUNCH (on campus)