Women's Authorship and Literatures of Small Countries in the 19th Century
University of Nova Gorica, Institute for Cultural Studies in conjunction with European COST Action IS0901 “Women Writers In History” (Women Writers in History ) and in the Context of “Ljubljana-World Book Capital 2010, invites to the international Symposium Women's Authorship and Literatures of Small Countries in the 19th Century, taking place 22-23 September, 2010, in Ljubljana, Town Hall.
The Symposium “Women’s Authorship and Literatures of Small Countries in the 19th Century” will investigate the role and place of women authors within “smaller” cultures, and their connections with their female counterparts in “larger”, dominating cultures. Slovenia is itself one of the small states of Europe, and a small linguistic area. Smallness is thus an intrinsically interesting issue for Slovenia/Ljubljana. The colloquium will link the world of books with the academic world. The symposium will revisit the problematical concept of literary smallness and redefine it in national, linguistic, and (sub) cultural terms, as well as extend it to include female writing. The symposium seeks to explore such questions as:
In which ways did women writers experience the double marginalization caused by their subordination to the patriarchal agendas of the 19th century and, in many “small” cultures, linked to their national subordination?
How did nationalism, feminism and their intersections facilitate or hinder women’s entry into the national and European literary space?
By whom were women writers influenced? By great national male authors or by female iconic figures or even by their female contemporaries from other (small?) literatures?
How have literary canonizing processes treated female writers from small countries? Were they received in the large cultures or were their writings overshadowed by the works of male authors?
The aim of this symposium is to situate the participation of women in “smaller” countries in its international gendered context, for the very period when nationalism was also busy establishing a literary canon, into which very few women were admitted. It will be shown that during the same period there was also a female [and writing] Europe.
Contact
Andreja Leban
Public Relations
T: +386 5 3315 397
E: andreja.leban@ung.si