MLA 2021

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Taking part in the first conference this year – MLA 2021, and the first time I participate in the MLA. The conference is obviously an online conference. It is most likely that I would not have been able to participate, for a variety of reasons, in the conference otherwise, so this is a good opportunity to listen in to talks by colleagues from my home sofa. But I obviously miss all the informal discussions that take place in the fringes of conferences, the inspiring encounters, surprising comments, reunions with old acquaintances… and the way a conference thrives also on the material embeddedness within a city or campus.

One session that stood out for me yesterday was the session on “Rural Modernity, Metropolitan Modernism, Global Circulations.”

Very much looking forward to today’s session “Literary Urban Studies now”, presided by Liam Lanigan of Governors State U, and with several colleagues presenting. Abstract below:

“Literary urban studies connects historical, interdisciplinary, critical, and narrative-led approaches to the city and literature. Following an urban renaissance in Western countries and a huge expansion of Global South cities, the city’s future as a physical entity is deeply uncertain. Participants give five-minute talks on changing conceptions of the city in the twenty-first century, followed by discussion welcoming audience participation.”
Some of the (many) other sessions I’m interested in:
167 – The Abstract and the Particular343 Form and Space in Latin American Literature

405 – City Myths

Hope to start seeing more colleagues in real time later this year!

 

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