National
Seminar
Organized by
Research
Department of English
St.
Xavier’s College, Palayamkottai, Tamil Nadu
19, 20 February 2018
The Research Dept. of English is
organizing a National Seminar on “The Textuality of History and the Historicity
of Texts” on 19th & 20th February 2018 in order to help Research Guides and
Research Scholars provide a theoretical framework to their research projects.
The Resource Persons will deliver lectures on critical theory; the Participants
will present papers on literature written in any part of the world, providing a
theoretical framework to their arguments.
THE
PREAMBLE
Louis Montrose defines “historicity of
texts” as cultural specificity and social embedment of all modes of writing and
“textuality of history” as fictionality and constructedness of history. This
approach of New Historicism is similar to Foucault’s notion of social
structures as determined by dominant discursive practices. Recent research has
highlighted the fact that there is no such thing as objective history, because
history is basically a narrative, which, like language, is produced in a
context and is influenced by the social, economic and political interests of
the dominant groups/institutions.
The selection of events also plays a
vital role in the text. It is interesting to note that Stephen Greenblatt turns
to history to explain the formal structures of literary texts while Hayden
White investigates the formal literary structures of history describing the
poetics of history. In fact, words exist within a context. Stephen Greenblatt’s
interpretation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet is
an example.
Edward Said’s contrapuntal reading of
texts and his views on “latent” and “manifest” Orientalism, Homi K. Bhabha’s
investigation of “ambivalence” and “mimicry” in colonial discourses, and
Gayatri Spivak’s views on the predicament of the female subaltern emphasize the
need for fixing the text in its context. Therefore, Research Guides and
Research Scholars must orient their analysis towards the study of how creative
artists present their themes vis-à-vis the text, context and metacontext (e.g.
Amitav Ghosh’s The Hungry Tide and
the Ibis Trilogy; Jeyamohan’s Vellai Yaanai; Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children and The Enchantress of Florence; Gabriel
Garcia Marquez’ One Hundred Years of
Solitude). The greatness of literature lies precisely in the interplay
between literary context and metacontext.
OBJECTIVES
To discuss
the major principles of literary theory and to establish methods of literary
research
To promote
and strengthen interdisciplinary research through familiarity with texts across
disciplines, continents, and cultures
To explore
the various schools of contemporary literary criticism
To discuss
the concepts of History, Nation, Diaspora, Culture and Existence
To study the
process of the text becoming the “product” and “maker” of the historical context
PUBLICATION
OF PROCEEDINGS
The
Proceedings of the Conference will be published with ISBN by the Research Dept.
of English and Folklore Resources & Research Centre, St. Xavier’s College
(Autonomous), Palayamkottai. Copies of the book will be sent to Paper
Presenters by post in July 2018.
Editors: Dr.
V. S. Joseph Albert and Dr. Lizie Williams
Length of
the Paper: Maximum 2000 words
Format:
Times New Roman—12 font—MS WORD—1.5 Spacing—A 4 Size
Parenthetical
Documentation as given in MLA Handbook should be followed.
The paper
should be sent on or before 13th February 2018 by email to vsjalbert@gmail.com
PROGRAMME
19th
February 2018
09.00 a.m. - REGISTRATION
09.30 a.m. - INAUGURATION
Prayer -
Dept. Choir
Welcome Address - Dr. Lizie Williams, Head of the Dept. of English, SXC
Presidential Address - Rev. Dr. V. Britto, S.J. Principal, SXC
Felicitations - Rev. Dr. A. Antonysamy, S.J. Secretary, SXC
10.20 a.m.
Themes and Objectives
Dr. V. S. Joseph Albert, Deputy
Principal & Convener
10.30 a.m.
Keynote Address
Dr. A. S. Dasan, Former Chairman of the Dept. of English,
University of Mysore, and Director of Shukrodaya’s Academy for HRD, Mysore
Theme: Historicity and Textuality:
Relational Striving as a Way forward towards Meaning-Making”
11.45 a.m. COFFEE BREAK
12.15 p.m. PLENARY SESSION – I
Dr. P. P. Ajayakumar, Professor of
English & Former Director, Institute of Distance Education, University of
Kerala
Theme: “New Historicism and Cultural
Materialism”
01.15 p.m. LUNCH
02.30 p.m. PLENARY SESSION II
Dr. S. Samuel Rufus, Asst. Professor of English, MCC, Chennai
Theme: “Archival Silences and Liminal
Spaces in Postcolonial Studies”
03.30 p.m. PAPER PRESENTATION (PARALLEL
SESSION)
05.00 p.m. Closing for Day 1
20th
February 2018
09.30 a.m. Summary of Day 1 Sessions
09.40 a.m. PLENARY SESSION III
Dr.
R. Jeya Sundararaj, Associate Professor of English, St. John’s College,
Palayamkottai
Theme: “Deconstruction: Towards a New
Poetics”
10.30 a.m. PLENARY SESSION IV
Dr. T. Gangadharan, Associate Professor
of English, Govt. Arts
College, Salem Theme: “Theorizing the Indian
Diaspora”
11.20 a.m. COFFEE BREAK
11.50 a.m. PLENARY SESSION V
Dr. V. S. Joseph Albert, Associate
Professor of English, St.
Xavier’s College
Theme: “Existential Angst as a Lived and
Liberating Experience: Situating Existentialism in the Context of Contemporary
Theory”
01.00 p.m. LUNCH
02.00 p.m. PAPER PRESENTATION (PARALLEL
SESSION)
04.15 p.m. VALEDICTION
05.00 p.m. NATIONAL ANTHEM
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