Event
The Center for Italian Studies at the University of Pennsylvania
and the Italian Consulate General in Philadelphia
present
The Monk, the Priest, the Nun
March 22-23, 2013
Jan Van Eyck, Virgin and Child with Saints and Donor, detail: St. Elizabeth of Hungary
Copyright The Frick Collection
The conference, held at the University of Pennsylvania, will explore how monks, priests, and nuns dwell in literary texts and the visual arts quite comfortably, from Saint Anthony's life to Boccaccio's Decameron, from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales to Diderot's La religieuse, from Giotto's frescoes to Salvator Dali's surrealistic visions. What is their destiny in our desacralized age? Are they the new wanderers, do they live as foreigners in a world of people who no longer recognize them? From Lewis to Manzoni, from Bernanos to Chesterton, from Fogazzaro to Parise, priests, monks and nuns still inhabit our literature, art, cinema, as a sort of uncanny presence.
The keynote speaker will be Victoria Kirkham. Plenary speakers will include Kevin Brownlee, Fabio Finotti, Armando Maggi, Millicent Marcus, Giuseppe Mazzotta, Ronald Martinez, Christine Poggi, Janet Smarr, Elissa Weaver, Rebecca West, and others.
Please follow the links below to submit your proposal and to register for the conference. We ask that you register as soon as possible after notification of acceptance of your proposal. The registration fee will be $150 for faculty and $100 for graduate students.
Deadlines
- Proposal by December 15, 2012
- Registration by February 1, 2013