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Romance in the Air

2009 NASSR conference focuses on Romanticism and modernity

"It's alive! It's alive, it's alive! Oh, in the name of God! Now I know what it feels like to be God!"

Before Dolly the cloned sheep and cryogenic laboratories became realities, the science-fiction creature in the book Frankenstein captured imaginations world-wide.

Introduced by author Mary Shelley's in her 1818 novel, Frankenstein is perhaps the most famous monster in history, a result of man's experiments in the grey area between life and death. And like the quote from the 1931 movie "Frankenstein," the idea of the character evokes feelings of horror and awe.

The birth of Frankenstein paralleled the evolution of our modern understanding of the sciences, says Rob Mitchell, associate professor of English. A conference at Duke, May 21-24, will examine the connection between the modern era and ideas in science and diverse other fields that emerged during the Romantic period, generally considered the late 18th century and early 19th century.

"Modern chemistry is emerging at the end of the 18th century. Biology is a term coined during this period," he says. "It's also a period in which an educated layperson could understand cutting-edge work. Many of the Romantic-era poets or authors [like Shelley] were interested in science."

The annual conference of the North American Society for the Study of Romanticism (NASSR) will bring more than 200 Romance scholars to the Washington Duke Inn to discuss topics including the poetry of William Wordsworth, William Blake and Lord Byron, as well as themes such as the emergence of scientific disciplines, secularization, aesthetics, art and ethics. The conference, last held at Duke in 1994, is open to the public.

In addition to scholarly presentations, a book exhibit, plenary sessions and keynote lectures, Duke's Ciompi Quartet will perform Romantic-era music at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, May 22.

Mitchell, who studies the relationship between the sciences and literature of the Romantic era, says the period occurred just as the sciences were about to become more isolated into specific disciplines.

"Frankenstein serves as a reference point in discussions through the 20th century about what can go wrong when science becomes autonomous, about the moral and ethical issues related to the atomic bomb and nuclear power and genetics," he says. "One could see things as both dangers and possibilities."

In addition to the emergence of the sciences, Romanticism changed the face of a lot of disciplines in the humanities, says Gregson Davis, professor of classics and dean of the humanities at Duke.

"We are still in a kind of post-Romantic era as far as basic ideas about disciplines and the way they have been structured," he says. "What we've come to understand of the modern world would not have taken shape without Romanticism."

"Our interest is in thinking about ways in which Romanticism speaks to much larger forces of modernity that began (during that period) and continue into the present," says English professor Thomas Pfau, who helped organize the conference with Mitchell.

Pfau, who teaches a course on secularization and modernity, says the Romance period gave rise to a number of modern concepts such as the emergence of paper currency and economic expansion, the growth of industrial society, and came to reflect critically on cosmopolitanism and globalization as these traits of the modern era continued to acquire momentum.

Ernest Zitser, librarian for Slavic and East European Studies at Duke Libraries, is presenting a paper on "Romanticism and Pornography" at the conference that examines the impact of cultural transmissions across borders.

Citing the example of a drawing of Catherine the Great and her lover from the 1800s as a "political use of pictorial obscenity," Zitser argues that Russian nationalism is fundamentally shaped by European Romanticism.

"Russians take from the Romantic movement an interesting mix of French pornography and German idealism to create the Russian nationalist, anti-monarchist story," he says. "The notion of pornography is invented at this time. The modern concept of how we define what is licit and illicit in terms of visual obscenity is formed at this time."

Tilottama Rajan, professor of English at the University of Western Ontario, founded NASSR in the early 1990s and believes that although the Romantic era is relatively short, it is a critical period in history.

"It is important to protect the Romantic period because it does something different from the 19th century," she says. "It impacts the organizing of that whole period and is determined by issues the late 20th century has found interesting, such as materialism and colonialism."

Mitchell, who with Pfau will compile essays from the conference into two special issues of the NASSR journal, says they want to "make sure Romanticism remains an important part of the academy and of teaching."

"Romanticism is an absolutely essential era," he says. "It is the cusp between Enlightenment and modernity and is something that shouldn't be forgotten."

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Conference: Romanticism & Modernity Thursday, May 21 through Sunday, May 24 at the Washington Duke Inn Members of the public interested in attending lectures may register for a free, one-day conference pass (food and beverages not included). Information: For a full schedule of events and to register for the conference, go to nassr2009.english.duke.edu.