SFU World Literature to host major convention
Ken Seigneurie, conference organizer, 778.782.8846, 604.899.1474; kseigneu@sfu.ca
Carol Thorbes, SFU media relations, 778.782.3035; cthorbes@sfu.ca
Simon Fraser University’s World Literature Program will host some 1,500 participants in the American Comparative Literature Association’s (ACLA) annual convention to be held at the Hyatt and Fairmont Hotels, Vancouver, March 31-April 3.
World and comparative literature is the theme for the 2011 ACLA conference. The event will highlight how cultural renewal follows from exposure to the artistic and literary traditions of other nations.
In 1828, German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote, “Left to itself, every literature will exhaust its vitality, if it is not refreshed by the interest and contributions of a foreign one.”
Delegates from colleges and universities across North America and beyond will examine questions of literary transmission, translation, interference and resistance at the ACLA convention.
Ken Seigneurie, conference organizer and director of SFU’s World Literature Program, says Vancouver is the ideal place to host a conference on the role literature plays in interactions between cultures.
“Vancouver is one of the world’s greatest cultural crossroads,” he says. “Delegates from around the world will explore ideas, texts, films, and works of art that cross national and ideological divides to influence and transform cultures.”
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Backgrounder on ACLA conference at SFU
One of the main highlights of the convention will be a plenary by renowned scholars David Damrosch (Harvard University) and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (Columbia University) April 2, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Other highlights of the convention include:
Internationalizing the Curriculum While Eliminating Foreign Languages: The Paradox of the University in the Current Crisis: A panel discussion featuring academics from British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and New York on the widespread institutional downsizing of the humanities. Haun Saussy, professor of comparative literature at Yale University will be the moderator, April 1, 4:30-6 p.m.
Canadian Voices Today: An exploration of the multi-ethnic cultural production of Canada today, featuring Eleanor Wachtel, CBC radio host; Ken Lum, artist and arts theorist; Ashok Mathur, author and director of the Centre for Innovation in Culture and the Arts in Canada; Deanna Reder, SFU assistant professor of indigenous literatures; Sherry Simon, Concordia University writer, translator and professor, and David Chariandy, novelist and SFU associate professor of English literature. Location and time: Hyatt Regency Hotel, April 2, 4:30-6 p.m.
Bringing Literature to the World: A screening and roundtable presentation on the PBS series, Invitation to World Literature, set to air for the first time this fall. David Damrosch, Harvard University professor of comparative literature, is the program’s lead adviser and will host the presentation and discussion. Location and time: SFU Morris J Wosk Centre for Dialogue, April 2, 4:30-6 p.m.
The Multilingual Poetry Slam: The English, German, Mandarin, French, Farsi, and Spanish slam is being billed as a “vertiginous display of verbal virtuosity in a daisy-chain translation game.” Location and time: Vancouver Public Library, April 2, 4:30-6 p.m.