This June, the BARS Early Career and Postgraduate Conference gathered researchers from around the globe to celebrate and to appreciate Romanticism and its legacies at the University of Edinburgh by exploring the theme of ‘boundaries’ within the context of Romantic-period literature and thought. The Oxford English Dictionary defines the term ‘boundary’ as: ‘That which serves to indicate the bounds or limits of anything whether material or immaterial; also the limit itself.’ Such a term seems at odds with the spirit of Romanticist thought, which has long been associated with mobility and boundlessness. Conference delegates aptly addressed the complexity of the concept through various representations of boundaries—both tangible and intangible—from a wide range of viewpoints. To continue such a diverse critical dialogue, in collaboration with Romantic Textualities: Literature and Print Culture, 1780–1840, they plan to produce a special ‘Romantic Boundaries’ edition of the journal. To widen the scope of our scholarly conversation, not only do they welcome all the conference delegates to consider expanding their conference papers for publications, but they also invite researchers and scholars in general for submissions.
Echoing our conference theme, topics of interest may include, but are not limited to:
- Geographical and spatial boundaries; transnationalism
- Borders, liminal spaces, and boundary crossing
- Temporal boundaries
- Dialogues between genres and disciplines
- Translations and transgressions
- Lived boundaries (including those pertaining to identity, such as gender, race, or sexuality)
- Digital boundaries
- Human and nonhuman boundaries
- Boundaries and reception; public versus private writings
- Past, present, and future limits of the field of Romantic studies and its canon
Successful abstracts will suggest articles that broaden our understanding of Romantic boundaries by illuminating the elasticity and multiplicity of their meanings. For those who are interested, please submit 500-word abstracts with 5 keywords. Abstracts are due by 10 October 2023. The result will be announced by mid-November.
Essays (5000–8000 words, including footnotes) that grow out of accepted abstracts will undergo peer review and are due by 31 January 2024.
Please email submissions to Yu-hung Tien (yuhung.tien@ed.ac.uk), with a subject line (Romantic Boundaries, ‘Paper Title’, Author Name).
Papers will be published in a special issue of Romantic Textualities (Summer 2024), guest edited by Professor Li-hsin Hsu, Professor Andrew Taylor, and Yu-hung Tien.
Please note that the essay submission date and publication schedule are tentative and subject to change, depending on the reviewing progress.
