Dear fellow Nabokovians,
You will find below a Call for Papers for a Conference to be held in Toulouse next Spring, which I co-organize with one of my colleagues Professor Laurence Talairach, specialized in Victorian Literature.
Papers on Nabokv are especially welcome, so feel free to send your proposals.
All my best to you all,
Marie C. Bouchet, PhD
Associate Professor of American Literature
Chair of the English Department
University of Toulouse, France
Insects and
Texts: Spinning Webs of Wonder
Explora International Conference
4-5 May 2010
Toulouse Natural History Museum/CAS (UTM)
Vladimir Nabokov, both writer and entomologist, once explained that he
could not “separate the aesthetic pleasure of seeing a butterfly and the
scientific pleasure of knowing what it is” [Interview with Robert H.
Boyle, Sports Illustrated,
1959].
This conference proposes to examine
man’s fascination with the world of insects as reflected not only in the
rich history of entomological research, from amateur or professional
collecting to scientific expeditions, but also in more artistic forms of
expression - myth, literature, painting, photography, cinema and music.
Whether insects stimulate man’s curiosity or inspire fear, whether
parallels or contrasts are seen between human society and the astonishing
skills of insects, this conference aims to explore the relation between
man and insects. Through the study of either scientific and technological
developments in entomology, or artistic concerns with insects, we invite
specialists of entomology and/or the arts to reconsider the relationship
of man to nature through the magnifying glass of an entomologist. Papers
that offer an interdisciplinary approach on science and art are
especially welcome.
We invite 20-minute papers that engage with, but are not limited to, the
following topics:
- the history of entomology and insect classification
- the history of insect collecting
- the popularization of entomology
- entomology and scientific expeditions
- entomology and technological development
- insects and biodiversity
- representations of insects, ecosystems and ecology
- the resurgence of insect worlds in human society
- entomology and naturalist painters
- entomology and photography
- insects in literature
- insects in illustrated books
- insects in cinema/films
- insects and the fantastic
- insects and music
- entomological metamorphoses in science and art
Please send 300-word proposals (attached as a .doc-file) together with a
short biographical note to exploraentomology@gmail.com. Deadline
for submissions: 15 February 2010.
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