Date/Time
Date(s) - 4 May 2012
9:00 AM - 7:00 PM
Location
University of Kent, Canterbury
Category(ies) No Categories
The Centre for Eighteenth-Century Studies, University of Kent, in collaboration with the Agon: La Dispute research project, VALE-Paris-Sorbonne, presents
The ‘Battle of the Books’ and the European Republic of Letters
Friday 4 May, 2012
University of Kent, Canterbury
This one-day colloquium focuses on the British quarrel between the ‘Ancients’ and ‘Moderns’, depicted most memorably by Jonathan Swift in ‘The Battle of the Books’ (1704). Its purpose is to investigate connections between the British quarrellers and their European counterparts – as readers, correspondents, translators and adversaries. One consequence of the international character of this controversy is that its themes and preoccupations are transformed when the exchanges cross national boundaries. The papers at this colloquium chart these shifts, and describe the cultural machinery (journalism, correspondence, print) through which they were mediated.
Speakers: Marcus Walsh, University of Liverpool (keynote); Paddy Bullard, Kent; Sylvie Lafon, Paris VIII; Martine Pécharman, CNRS; Henry Power, University of Exeter; Alexis Tadié, Paris-Sorbonne; Stéphane Van Damme, Sciences Po, Paris; Sophie Vasset, Paris-Diderot
Attendance is free, but numbers are limited: for registration contact [email protected]

