Northern Renaissance Seminar

Writing the Renaissance North, 22 June 2013

at Sheffield Hallam University

This one-day symposium will focus on the ways in which the idea of the north was understood, imagined and represented in the writing of the early modern period. Recent work by critics such as Andrew Hadfield has shown that conceptions of the north inherited from classical understanding of the barbarian ‘other’ remained influential in the English Renaissance imagination, while persistent Catholic insubordination in Lancashire and Yorkshire and the accession to the throne of a Scottish king in 1603 meant that the north was ever present in the political consciousness of the period. We invite proposals for 20 minute papers that consider early modern literary or cultural engagements with the north, either as a geographical space or an intellectual concept. Also welcome are considerations of the significance of the north in the textual or performance afterlives of Renaissance works.

Themes to address might include, but are not limited to:
• Scotland
• Northern England
• Migration to/from the north
• Political ideals associated with the north (e.g. Republicanism)
• Modern dramatic performance
• James VI & I
• Cartography
• Barbarism
Please send 250-300 word abstracts to renaissancenorth@yahoo.co.uk.
Closing date for proposals: 26/04/2013