Phenomenology and Literature: An Afternoon Workshop

Thursday 14th January, 12.00-18.00

at TORCH (The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities)

Oxford Phenomenology Network invites anyone with an interest in literature and/or phenomenology to join us for this half-day event. We hope to provoke stimulating and productive conversations about how phenomenology and literature can inform each other.

The event will have a colloquial atmosphere, comprising no more than 30 participants. The event will include a workshop element with pre-circulated readings. We are also delighted to welcome a panel of five researchers working at the intersection of phenomenology and literature: Dr Elizabeth Barry (University of Warwick), Dr Carole Bourne-Taylor (University of Oxford), Professor Maximilian De Gaynesford (University of Reading), Dr Ulrika Maude (Bristol University), and Dr David Nowell Smith (University of East Anglia). Each researcher will deliver a 10-to-15-minute talk on how they approach the phenomenology-literature relationship; these brief provocations are designed to stimulate subsequent open discussion on questions such as:

What is at stake in using phenomenology as a theory to be applied to literary texts?

How can phenomenological contexts for literature operate fruitfully alongside
other formal, historical and theoretical contexts?

How can phenomenological ideas help us to understand the process of reading?

How can literary texts help us to illuminate phenomenological ideas?

To what extent are phenomenological texts ‘literary’ in their own right?

Thanks to our TORCH Network Grant, this event will be free to all participants. A sandwich lunch, plus tea and coffee, will be provided. If you would like to attend, please email the organisers – Dr Cleo Hanaway-Oakley, Dr John Scholar, and Erin Lafford – at phenomenology@torch.ox.ac.uk, briefly (in no more than 100 words) outlining your interest in the topic. As places are limited, we urge you to get in touch soon (definitely by Wednesday 23rd December) – places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.