The Future World of Eighteenth-Century Studies

—a conference organized by Wendy Laura Belcher, Princeton University, and Helen Deutsch, University of California, Los Angeles

In Honor of Felicity Nussbaum

Photographer: Bronson Tran

co-sponsored by the Department of English, UCLA

The field of eighteenth-century British literature has undergone enormous transformations over the past few decades, and no scholar has been more responsible for these transformations than Felicity Nussbaum. Not only has she written influentially in such traditional areas of research as literary genres but has also made groundbreaking contributions to virtually every newer sub-field of the period: feminist and gender studies, maternity and sexuality, ideology and empire, disability studies, critical race theory, and colonial and postcolonial studies. In some cases she has not merely contributed to these areas through her pioneering studies but actually helped create them, giving them the shape and direction they later assumed.

As Felicity Nussbaum nears the end of her teaching career, this conference brings together a group of leading scholars to reflect on the new ways forward in eighteenth-century studies. It is only fitting to organize a conference on new work in honor of the person who has been so influential in bringing about so many of the major transformations in the field over the past several decades. The conference features presentations of work theorizing ways forward, including the paths in eighteenth-century autobiography, disability studies, gender studies, performance studies, and postcolonial studies. Presenters address how the field of eighteenth-century studies may be shaped by the ever more globalized world, by concerns about social justice for all, by the call to interdisciplinarity, and by the many new fields emerging. When the humanities continue to be under fire, what is the future of historically based work? Since many theoretical innovations have occurred in the past ten years, this conference offers the opportunity for early modern scholars to discuss these theories, speculate about how they might synthesize them in new work, and thus make a significant contribution to the continued vibrancy of the field of eighteenth-century studies.

Photo credit: Library of Congress
Jean Pierre Blanchard and John Jefferies arriving in Calais after crossing the English Channel, 1785

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Speakers
Regulus Lynn Allen, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
Srinivas Aravamudan, Duke University
John Bender, Stanford University
Laura Brown, Cornell University
Margaret Anne Doody, University of Notre Dame
Carole Fabricant, University of California, Riverside
Jenna M. Gibbs, Florida International University
Harriet Guest, University of York
Nicole Horejsi, Columbia University
Betty Joseph, Rice University
Ian Newman, University of Notre Dame
Bridget Orr, Vanderbilt University
Manushag N. Powell, Purdue University
Joseph Roach, Yale University
Melissa Sodeman, Coe College

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Program

Friday, November 6

8:30 a.m.
Morning Coffee and Registration

9:00 a.m.
Barbara Fuchs, University of California, Los Angeles
Opening Remarks

9:15 a.m.

New Directions, Part I
Moderator: Helen Deutsch, University of California, Los Angeles

Srinivas Aravamudan, Duke University
“The Future of the Human without Limit”

Laura Brown, Cornell University
“Non-human Genres: Specie, Species, and Forms of Affinity in Eighteenth-Century English Literature”

10:45 a.m.
Coffee Break

11:00 a.m.
Harriet Guest, University of York
“The Celebrated Mary Robinson”

Betty Joseph, Rice University
“Linguistic Turns of the Enlightenment”

12:30 p.m.
Lunch

1:45 p.m.

New Directions, Part II
Moderator: Wendy Laura Belcher, Princeton University

Joseph Roach, Yale University
“The Heavenly City of the Eighteenth-Century Actresses”

Bridget Orr, Vanderbilt University
“The Future of the Eighteenth Century is Dramatic”

3:15 p.m.
Coffee Break

3:30 p.m.
John Bender, Stanford University
“The Eighteenth-Century Fin de Siècle”

Margaret Anne Doody, University of Notre Dame
“Bees, Women, Goths, and Mirrors: How the Future Once Looked, and How Our Study Might Look”

5:00 p.m.
Reception

Saturday, November 7

8:30 a.m.
Morning Coffee and Registration

9:00 a.m.
Helen Deutsch, University of California, Los Angeles
Introductory Remarks

9:15 a.m.

New Directions Panel with Felicity Nussbaum’s Former Students
Moderator: Emily Hodgson Anderson, University of Southern California

Manushag N. Powell, Purdue University
Nicole Horejsi, California State University, Los Angeles
Melissa Sodeman, Coe College
Jenna M. Gibbs, Florida International University
Ian Newman, University of Notre Dame
Regulus Lynn Allen, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

10:30 a.m.
Coffee Break

10:45 a.m.
Carole Fabricant, University of California, Riverside
“Back to the Future: Felicity Nussbaum’s Contributions to the World of Eighteenth-Century Studies”

11:30 a.m.
Felicity Nussbaum, University of California, Los Angeles
Concluding Remarks and Discussion