European Society for Textual Scholarship

Annual Conference, 13-14 April 2023

University of Kent

‘‘Authorship, Identity, and Textual Scholarship”

CALL FOR PAPERS

To what extent does the identification of an author’s identity affect how we approach and edit their texts? Or, to pursue a contested poststructuralist line of thinking, why might it matter to an editor, or any reader, that they know who is speaking? Though the Barthesian idea of the ‘Death of the Author’ has been largely dismantled, theoretical questions about agency, intentionality, and reception still loom large in modern critical discourse. Given our present-day concerns with anonymity, fake news, misattributed quotations, and the spread of disinformation, this timely conference shines a light on the relationship between the identification of an author-figure and the transmission, mediation, and reception of their texts.

The organisers invite proposals for creative, critical, and analytical papers, panel sessions, roundtables, posters, and digital exhibitions that approach and analyse the overlap between studies in attribution, authorship, biography, and textual scholarship from antiquity to modern day.

We particularly encourage proposals which consider the range of identities that authors take and investigate how the imperative for diversity, relates or challenges conventional concepts of authorship The digital turn in literary studies has enlivened debates about authorship, reflecting a concurrent rising interest in textual issues related to co-authorship, revision, and adaptation. Traditional canons of literary and non-literary works have been challenged vigorously in recent years.

So, too, authorship has figured significantly in the detailed analyses of the lives and output of scribes and stationers (publishers, printers, booksellers) from the premodern to modern periods, producing rich new evidence about the transmission and circulation of text. Similarly, the material turn in literary scholarship has provided original insights into the material conditions of authorship, from the everyday experience of life as a practicing author to the tools used in producing the material book itself. The work that is produced and disseminated is now studied as a social as well as textual object.

Registration website:

https://bit.ly/ESTS2023

Contributions to the ESTS Conference may take the following forms:

Research Papers

Individual scholars are welcome to submit proposals for papers which may then be selected for panels. 20 minutes in length. Please supply an abstract of 150 words (max) + bio of 100 words (max).

Panel sessions

We also invite groups of scholars (3 speakers) to submit proposals for thematically linked research paper panels. 90 minutes in length (3 x 20 minute papers + q&a). Please supply 3 abstracts of 150 words (max) each + bios of 100 words (max) for each speaker. The organisers will give preference to panels that reflect the diversity of our field.

Roundtable

We also invite groups of scholars (up to 6 speakers) to submit proposals for thematically linked roundtable sessions. 90 minutes in length (10 mins per speaker + q&a). Please supply an overall abstract of 250 words (250 words) for the roundtable + bios of 100 words (max) for each speaker. The organisers will give preference to panels that reflect the diversity of our field.

Digital Projects Exhibition

We invite scholars working on DH projects related to authorship to showcase their work through a poster/exhibition session. A DH project session will be held during one of the days of the conference. Please supply abstract of 150 words (max) + bios of 100 words (max) for each presenter; if the project is live, please supply a link.

Poster Session

We invite scholars to submit an abstract for a poster presentation linking their research to the

themes of the conference. A poster session will be held during one of the days of the conference.

Please supply abstract of 150 words (max) + bios of 100 words (max) for each presenter. All proposals are due by 1st October 2022. Please send proposals to ESTS2023@gmail.com

If you have any queries about the submission process, please contact R.Loughnane@kent.ac.uk or any of the members of the Planning Committee.

ESTS 2023 Planning Committee: Rory Loughnane (Kent, Chair); Bashir Abu-Manneh (Kent); Anne Alwis (Kent); Claire Bartram (Canterbury Christ Church University); Jennie Batchelor (Kent); Karen Brayshaw (Kent); Helen Brooks (Kent); Robert Gallagher (Kent); Emily Guerry (Kent); Anna Jordanous (Kent); Ryan Perry (Kent); Catherine Richardson (Kent); David Rundle (Kent); Amy Sackville (Kent); Wim Van Mierlo (Loughborough University); Matthijs Wibier (Kent); and Cressida Williams (Canterbury Cathedral Library and Archives). Postgraduate Advisors: Ségolène Gence (Kent; MEMS PG Ambassador); Samantha McCarthy (Kent); Jonathan Pinkerton (Kent Lille).