American Literature Association
Symposium
On
American Poetry
Sheraton Buganvilias Resort
& Convention Center
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
December 13- 15, 2007
Conference Director:
Alfred Bendixen
TexasA&MUniversity
Acknowledgments:
The Conference Director, Alfred Bendixen wishes to express his appreciation to the many people who organized sessions and contributed to the development of this conference. Special appreciation goes to the hotel staff of the English Department of TexasA& MUniversitywho contributed time, energy, and boundless good will to the functioning of the program, and the ALA is particularly grateful for the good work of Teri Czajkowski, Dawn Brown, and Angela Dunn. Finally, I wish to express my appreciation to the administrators at TexasA&MUniversity who have welcomed the American Literature Association and thus made this conference possible, particularly Charles A. Johnson, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, and M. Jimmie Killingsworth, Head of the Department of English.
Thursday, December13:
6-7 PM Welcome Cocktail Party (CarretaGarden)
Friday, December 14:
All sessions in the Cattleya Room
9:00 AM Introduction and welcome: Alfred Bendixen, TexasA&MUniversity
Session 1
9:10-10:00Chair: Alfred Bendixen, TexasA&MUniversity
1.“The Failed Quest of American Poetry: 20th Century Re-assessments,” Paul Christensen, TexasA&MUniversity
2.“Songs of Monogamous Devotion,” Robert von Hallberg, University of Chicago
Session 2
10:10 -11:00 Chair: Roger Stanley, UnionUniversity
1.“Emerson’s Nature and Contemporary Poetry,” Jay Parini, MiddleburyCollege
2.“The Poetics of Prose,” Robert Cohen, MiddleburyCollege
Session 3
11:10-12:30 Chair: Catherine Christensen, TexasA&MUniversity
1.“Ghosting Evangeline: Joaquin Miller’s The Ship in the Desert,” Mary Loeffelholz, NortheasternUniversity
2.“My Emily Dickinson -- a Portrait of her Life and Poetry,” Wendy Martin, ClaremontGraduateUniversity
3.“Visuality, Blankness and Trauma in Stephen Crane’s Black Riders and Other Lines,” Gustavus Stadler, HaverfordCollege
12:30-1:40 LUNCH BREAK
Session 4
1:40-2:30Chair: Catherine Christensen, TexasA&MUniversity
1.“Of Flowers, Silence, and Space: Japanese Literary Aesthetics and the Emergenceof Early Modernist Poetry,” Paula Bennett, Southern IllinoisUniversity, Carbondale
2.“Turning Far, Far, West: Importing Classical Chinese Poetics into California Poetry,” Alan Soldofsky, San JoseStateUniversity
Session 5
2:40 – 3:30 Chair: Kathy Wagner, WashingtonCollege
1.“Dissecting the Conflation of Forces: Metaphors of Nature and Culture in Sylvia Plath's Bee Poems,” Lisa Narbeshuber, AcadiaUniversity (Canada)
2.“Scenes from H.D.: A Life,” Sasha Colby, Simon Fraser University, British Columbia, Canada
3:40 – 5:00Poetry Reading: Chair: Alfred Bendixen
Participants:
Jacqueline Vaught Brogan, University of Notre Dame
Christine Casson, EmersonCollege
Paul Christensen, TexasA&MUniversity
William Virgil Davis, BaylorUniversity
Robert Miltner,” KentStateUniversity
Jay Parini, MiddleburyCollege
Steven Schneider, University of Texas-Pan American
Alan Soldofsky, San JoseStateUniversity
Roger Stanley, UnionUniversity
Daniel Tobin, EmersonCollege
Kathryn VanSpanckeren
Kathy Wagner, WashingtonCollege
5:00-6:00Group gathering in the club lounge for complimentary wine
Saturday, December15:
All sessions in the Cattleya Room
Session 6
9:00-10:20 Chair: Kathy Wagner, WashingtonCollege
1.“'Good Luck in Cracked Italian': Richard Hugo in Italy,” William Virgil Davis, BaylorUniversity
2.“Couplings and Uncouplings: The Interconnections of Sandra M. Gilbert's Belongings and Death's Door,” Jacqueline Vaught Brogan, University of Notre Dame
3.“Travelogues and Catalogues: Campbell McGrath and the Prose Poem,” Robert Miltner,” KentStateUniversity
Session 7
10:30- 11:50 Chair: Roger Stanley, UnionUniversity
1.“The House in Robert Lowell and Elizabeth Bishop,” Kathryn VanSpanckeren, University of Tampa
2.“Dissolution, Madness and Identity: A Re-Appraisal of Yvor Winters’ ‘Change of Direction,’” Paul Tyndall, KwantlenUniversityCollege(Canada)
3.“"Material Words: The Body in Contemporary Visual Poetics," Elisabeth Frost, FordhamUniversity
11:50-1:10 LUNCH BREAK
Session 8
1:10-2:30Chair:Gary Scharnhorst, University of New Mexico
1. “Walt Whitman and Oscar Wilde,” Gary Scharnhorst, University of New Mexico
2.“A Syntax of the Place: Walt Whitman and Robert Creeley,” Matthew Hofer, University of New Mexico
3.“Poetry of Fabrication: Walt Whitman and Robert Duncan,” ScarlettHigginsUniversity of New Mexico
Session 9
2:40-3:30Chair: Ed Folsom, University of Iowa
1. “What Does It Mean to Construct Whitman as a Manuscript Poet?”Kenneth M. Price, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
3. “So Long, So Long!: Walt Whitman, Langston Hughes, and the Art of Longing,”Ed Folsom, University of Iowa
Session 10
3:40-5:00 Chair: Steven Schneider, The University of Texas-Pan American
1.“Emplotment and Polyphony in Hart Crane’s The Bridge,”Daniel Tobin, EmersonCollege
2 “The Place of Narrative in A.R. Ammons’s Poetry,” Roger Gilbert, CornellUniversity
3.“Derek Walcott’s Omeros: Narrative, Post-Colonialism, and the Paradox of Form,” Steven Schneider, The University of Texas-Pan American
4.“Historical Narrative in the Lyric Sequence,” Christine Casson, EmersonCollege
5:00-6:00Group gathering in the club lounge for complimentary wine
Invoice and Registration form for
American Literature Association
Symposium on American Poetry
PUERTO VALLARTA, MEXICO
DECEMBER 13-15, 2007
The conference fee of $75 covers the costs of the conference including the receptions. You may pay at the conference or mail in this form and the fee as soon as possible.
Please make checks payable to American Literature Association and send check and this completed registration form to:
American Literature Association
C/O Professor Alfred Bendixen
Department of English
Dept. of English
TexasA&MUniversity
College StationTX77843-4227
Tax Id Number: 95 4044252
Registration Form: Please Print or type the following for each individual attending the conference. The form will be used to add you to our mailing list:
Registration Fee:$75
Name:______
Affiliation: ______
Mailing Address: ______
______
______
If you wish to be listed on the directory of scholars on our website ( please email with the phrase ALA Directory in the subject line and your name, preferred address, phone number (optional), and email (optional but strongly recommended) in the text.
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