CFP: Poetics vs Philosophy at Texas A & M University, April (poetics of the Americas)

poet Eduardo Espina of Texas A&M

Call for Papers
Symposium: Poetics Versus Philosophy:
Life, Artifact, and Theory
Texas A & M University

April 11, 12, 13, 2013

The Departments of Hispanic Studies, Philosophy, and Digital Humanities, along with the Melbern G. Glasscock Center for Humanities at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas will host a symposium titled Poetics Versus Philosophy: Life, Artifact, and Theory on April 11-13, 2013.

Since Plato, the controversy between poetry and the philosophical project has been legendary, repeated in multiple variations throughout history until the present day. This initial antagonistic gesture by the ancient philosopher against poets, can perhaps lead us to expand our range of reflection about crucial topics today, regarding for example; the semantic and syntactic mysteries of artistic and scientific artifacts, or the imaginary value that dwells within theoretical speculation. Creating an interdisciplinary dialogue between fields such as art and architecture, philosophy, political and natural sciences, poetical and literary studies is unavoidable. The unresolved ancestral conflict between poetry and rational knowledge must be restated in the XXI Century, and serve as a metaphor around which this symposium is conceived.

Possible Topics for discussion include but are not limited to:

  • Reception of American poetics in Spanish writing
  • Reception of Hispanic poetics in American writing
  • Aesthetic theory and philosophy of art in the Spanish language
  • The hidden political character of poetic and artistic invention
  • New horizons in aesthetics
  • Scientific and artistic artifacts helping us to understand the complexity of life
  • The nature of the artist´s meditation
  • Utopia and possibility of unification of human knowledge
  • New sources of architectural thinking
  • Poetical a priorities in theoretical models
  • Authors on authors
  • Translation and Trans-creation
  • Memory and Mourning
  • Exile and artistic thinking on displacement
  • The teaching of creative thinking and writing
  • Visual thinking

Papers can be written in English or Spanish. Abstracts of no more than 300 words should be submitted to:

Professor DIANE ROLNICK  <dmrolnick    @    gmail.com>
The deadline for submission is February 20th, 2013.

Keynote speaker: MARJORIE PERLOFF
Keynote poet: CHARLES BERNSTEIN