Symposium to Bring Literary Theorists to Honor Jameson

Fredric Jameson, who is stepping down as chair of Duke's Literature Program, will be honored with a four-day conference on utopia - one of the recurring themes in his work.

Jameson said he was pleased by the gesture.

"It really has to do with the future and possible futures," he said. "This is a whole new historical situation and questions about the future ought to be asked even if people don't want to ask them."

The conference, The Future of Utopia: Is Innovation Still Possible in Politics, Culture, Theory?" begins April 24 with opening remarks by Jameson and concludes April 27 with a roundtable discussion.

Jameson will give the keynote address 6 p.m. April 24 in the Richard White Auditorium.

Participants include top scholars from around the world who will address topics such as utopia in mass culture, race and the nation, writing history and critique, the politics of promise and modernity.

Novelist Kim Stanley Robinson, author of the literary science fiction epic the "Mars" trilogy, will give a reading at 5:30 p.m. April 25 in the Richard White Auditorium.

Alexander Glage, a doctoral student in literature who is helping organize the conference, said the organizers wanted to acknowledge Jameson's 18 years as head of the literature program, as well as his work as a thinker. Jameson will continue teaching at Duke, but will step down as chair. Literature professor Barbara Herrnstein-Smith will serve as interim chair next year, and Jan Radway will take over as chair the following year.

"He has been an influential figure in all sorts of disciplines," Glage said.

Over the past 30 years, Jameson has helped change the field of literary theory in various ways. He was one of the first scholars to bring French theory to the United States, introducing thinkers such as Jacques Derrida and Gilles Deleuze in a sympathetic but rigorous way.

His 1971 book, "Marxism and Form" helped revitalize Marxist study in literary theory, and his emphasis on the connection between the historical and political has played a role in the turn toward political concerns in literary criticism.

He came to Duke in 1985 and pioneered a new kind of literature program. Duke's Literature Program, which parallels more traditional comparative literature programs but is focused on critical theory, offers students a place to examine philosophical issues connected to culture and literature.

"There are very few other programs that do that," Jameson said. "I think we have a rather special reputation."

He said he didn't think the change of leadership would alter the program.

"I don't think the program is going to change," Jameson said. "It's a program that doesn't have an equivalent anywhere else."