"Reason, Fiction and Faith:
An International Flannery O'Connor Conference"
(Rome, 20-22 April 2009)
The international conference, Reason, Fiction and Faith, to be held in Rome, 20-22 April 2009, forms part of the biennial "Poetics and Christianity Project" series at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross.
The Conference will provide an occasion for scholars, academics and artists to reflect not only on Flannery O'Connor and her work but also on the issues that both raise, such as
• violence and the grotesque,
• the artistic use of humor,
• moral vision in narrative art,
• the relationship of reason to art and faith, and
• the various ways that Christian faith illuminates and is reflected in literature, music, film, sculpture and painting.
The rich combination of keen intelligence, literary art and Christian faith was central to the work of American short-story writer and novelist Flannery O'Connor (1925-1964).
Her stories and novels reveal a penetrating grasp of the human condition, an uncompromising moral vision, and craftsmanship of the highest order. Her posthumously-published letters, The Habit of Being, reveal a life that - in the face of sickness, suffering and death - was lived with both a deep, sophisticated faith and a remarkable grace. And in her essays, Mystery and Manners, O'Connor is a "hillbilly Thomist" with a keen critical mind and a fresh, coherent vision of her vocation as an artist and a Christian.
A Roman Catholic woman writing in and about the Protestant American South, she managed to balance a rational, unsentimental approach to art and faith with a respectful appreciation of the mystery at the heart of each, in a way that offers a model for what can be accomplished when reason, artistry and faith come together in a single writer.
The goal of this international conference on Reason, Fiction and Faith is to analyze and appreciate this remarkable convergence and the art that it can produce.
Confirmed Invited Speakers:
Ralph Wood
Professor of English Literature at Baylor University and visiting professor at Notre Dame University. He is the author of Flannery O’Connor and the Christ-Haunted South.
William Sessions
Professor of English at Georgia State University. He is now writing the authorized biography of Flannery O’Connor.
Henry T. Edmondson, III
Professor of Government at Georgia College and State University. He is the editor of The Moral of the Story: Literature and Public Ethics (Lexington Books, 2000) and the author of Return to Good and Evil: Flannery O’Connor’s Response to Nihilism.
Susan Srigley
Professor of Religion and Religions and Cultures at Nipissing University (Canada). She is the author of Flannery O’Connor’s Sacramental Art (University of Notre Dame Press).
John Wauck
Professor of Literature and the Communication of the Faith at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross.
Guadalupe Arbona Abascal
Translator of Flannery O’Connor in Spanish. She is professor of Contemporary Literature in the Department of Information Sciences at the Universidad Complutense of Madrid, where she directs the Department of Spanish Philology III.
Irwin Streight
Professor of English at the Royal Military College of Canada. He is the author of Flannery O’Connor: the Contemporary Reviews (Cambridge University Press, 2008).
Davide Rondoni
Poet, dramatist, translator, essayist and novelist, he is the founding director of the Centro di Poesia Contemporanea dell'Università di Bologna. He writes regularly for Avvenire.
Contacts:
Fr. John Paul Wauck, Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Co-Director (wauck@pusc.it);
Professor Henry T. Edmondson III, Georgia College & State University, Co-Director (hank.edmondson@gcsu.edu);
Prof. Juan José García-Noblejas, Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, President (noblejas@pusc.it)
LOCATION
Aula Giovanni Paolo II
Pontificia Università della Santa Croce
Piazza di Sant’Apollinare 49
00186 Roma- Italy
ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
Prof. Juan José García-Noblejas (Presidente)
Prof. Rafael Jiménez Cataño (Proceedings' Editor)
Rev. Prof. John Wauck (Co-Director)
Prof. Henry T. Edmondson (Co-Director)
Rev. Dott. Pablo Pérez-Rubio (Segretario)
Correspondence: Rev. Dott. Pablo Pérez-Rubio (convegnocsi@pusc.it, Tel: +0039.06681641, Fax: +0039.0668164400)
Submit Papers
-- Each Paper should last 30 minutes, with roughly 20 minutes for the presentation and 10 minutes for questions.
-- The title and a brief summary (15-20 lines) of all proposed Papers should be submitted by January 30th, 2009.
-- The submission should include the name of the author, academic/professional affiliations, and the author's email address. The submission should be sent to the Secretary of the Conference via email: convpec2009@pusc.it
-- If a Paper will require technical assistance (audio, visual, CD-ROM, Powerpoint, etc.), please indicate the precise requirements in the submission.
-- If, within a two week period of time of submission,
a presenter has not been informed to the contrary, the submission
should be considered accepted. If a written confirmation is needed,
please request one from the Conference Secretary.
- An abstract of the accepted Paper (1,500 characters, spaces included) should be sent to the Conference Secretary by March 1st, 2009. This will facilitate the organization of the afternoon group sessions.
Conditions for the Proceedings publication of papers
* The complete text of a Paper (notes included) should be no longer than 20,000 characters (spaces included), if it is to be considered for inclusion in the published proceedings.
* A selection of the papers presented at the conference will be published.
* The final date for submission is May 30th, 2009.
* The organizing committee requests that papers be submitted in electronic format (either by email or on CD).
* The editing process will be simplified if bibliographical references
follow the format below (as found in the proceedings of the 2003
conference):
Stanley CAVELL, Pursuits of Happiness: The Hollywood Comedy of Remarriage, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts 1981.
David MAMET, "El arte como profesión de ayuda", en La ciudad de las patrañas, Debate, Madrid 1997, pp.100-105.
Robert SPAEMANN, "L'unità del mito. Culto ed ethos come fondamento della cultura", en Il Nuovo Aeropago, 3-4(1991), pp.37-41. Para la cita, p.37.
Maria SANILIPPO, "Amores Perros", March 2001, Senses of Cinema, 4.06.03, http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/01/13/amores.html
