AHRC Science in Culture - new Innovation Awards announced

The AHRC has announced seven new Innovation Awards as part of their Science in Culture theme - lots of fascinating projects, and several of interest to Science and Literature scholars, including 'Metamorphoses: Gaming Art and Science with Ovid', and 'Poetry by Numbers, Then and Now: Metre, Mathematics, Machines and Manufacture'. Details here.

CFP - Biological Discourses

Biological Discourses: The Language of Science and Literature around 1900

A two-day conference at the University of Cambridge, 10-11 April 2015

The decades around 1900 are a crucial period for the impact of biological thought on the intellectual cultures of the western world. The impulses of Darwinism were taken up by intellectuals, writers and artists from the 1860s onwards, and both Darwinian and anti-Darwinian currents of thinking exercised a powerful influence on the intellectual climate of the early decades of the twentieth century. It was a period that saw major developments in cell biology and the establishment of genetics as we know it, the movement of medical science and psychiatry beyond mechanistic conceptions of illness, and the emergence of psychoanalysis and sexology as new disciplines. "Biological Discourses", a student-led conference to be held in Cambridge on 10-11 April 2015, is part of a collaborative venture between the Cambridge Department of German & Dutch and the Institute for Modern Languages Research, London, investigating the interplay and the forms of mediation between literary and biological discourses in that period.

The conference builds on the substantial body of research literature that has evolved in the last few decades both in English and other languages on the 'hermeneutic potential' of Darwin's thought (Gillian Beer) and the interrelationship between biological thought and literature and the visual arts more broadly. Recent work has also brought out the senses in which the historical emergence of such biological terminology as 'heredity' and 'genealogy' should be seen as part of European cultural history (e.g. Sigrid Weigel, Genea-Logik (2006); Staffan Müller-Wille and Hans-Jörg Rheinberger, A Cultural History of Heredity (2012)). Key issues relating to these and other strands of inquiry were reviewed at an initial workshop hosted by the collaboration partners in London in March 2014 (see here).

The conference in April 2015 is intended to provide an opportunity to explore certain of those issues more closely, homing in particularly on the processes and potentials of mediation between biological science and literature, and to extend the inquiry to countries beyond the German-speaking world. The themes on which the organisers particularly wish to invite contributions are these:

• What kinds of relationship do we see between the discourses of  biological science and literature in the late 19th and early 20th centuries? Are there senses in which we find them sharing models, metaphors, and elements of each other's discourse?
• How are developments in biological and medical thinking reflected in the print media of the time, both verbally and visually?
• How are the emerging discourses of sexology and psychopathology reflected in the literary writing of this period, and what insights arise from comparisons between writings of the early 20th century and the critical perspectives of the present day (e.g. gender theory)?
• How do the developments in biological thinking inform the world-views and ethical values of western societies in the period, and what evidence of this do we find in literary and other writings?
• To what extent do we find the discourse of German writings on biological issues taken up and developed in other European languages, and with what implications?
  

Proposals (no more than 500 words please) should be sent to Conference-ge@mml.cam.ac.uk by 30 November 2014.

Building Interdisciplinary Bridges Across Cultures - October 2014

CFP - Two BSLS events

British Society for Literature and Science - Symposium on Teaching
University of Westminster, Regent Street, London – 8^th November, 2014

CALL FOR PAPERS AND PARTICIPATION

Literature and Science is currently gaining popularity amongst undergraduates, but opportunities for discussing how – and why – to teach it remain thin on the ground. This one-day symposium, led by the British Society for Literature and Science with support from Westminster’s Centre for the Study of Science and Imagination, is designed to help further that discussion.

We are keen to hear from as many different perspectives as possible, and therefore invite contributions from anyone with experience as a teacher, postgraduate teaching assistant, student, or administrator of an undergraduate course on (or containing elements of) Literature and Science, broadly defined.
For this event, we have adopted a different format from the standard academic twenty-minute conference paper, and will ask speakers to present in a more informal tone and for different lengths of time depending on the session. These shorter, less formal presentations will minimise preparation time for speakers as well as increasing discussion time for all participants.

With this low-preparation, discursive format in mind, we warmly solicit expressions of interest (not more than 200 words, including a brief biography and details of experience with Literature and Science teaching) from potential speakers. These should be sent to Dr. Will Tattersdill (w.j.tattersdill@bham.ac.uk) not later than October 10^th 2014. Subjects we are anxious to discuss include, but are not limited to:

• Why Literature and Science is worth teaching to undergraduates (and why it might not be)
• Reflections on how, if at all, Literature and Science needs to be taught differently from other undergraduate programmes.
• Particular difficulties encountered in convening a Literature and Science course, be they conceptual, administrative, logistical, or pedagogical.
• Experiences collaborating with academic staff from other disciplines, including the sciences.
• Student reactions to Literature and Science material, positive and negative.

We are committed to inviting contributions from those teaching literature and science across all historical periods, working across international educational contexts as well as within the British higher education system. There will be invited speakers as well as this open call, and current undergraduates will hopefully be among the delegates.

Many of us teach literature and science on our own initiative, coping individually with both the joys and challenges raised by the endeavour. This is an important chance to consolidate those experiences and build strategies – and collegial networks – which will continue to drive the field forward at its grass roots: undergraduate teaching.

Cian Duffy (St. Mary’s)
Allyson Purcell-Davis (St. Mary’s)
Janine Rogers (Mt. Allison)
Will Tattersdill (Birmingham)
Martin Willis (Westminster)


British Society for Literature and Science - Annual Conference 2015

CALL FOR PAPERS

The tenth annual conference of the British Society for Literature and Science will take place at the University of Liverpool, on 16-18 April 2015. Keynote talks will be given by Professor Keith Barnham (Imperial College London), Dr Patricia Fara (University of Cambridge), and Dr Claire Preston (Queen Mary University of London).

The BSLS invites proposals for twenty-minute papers, or panels of three papers, on any subjects within the field of literature and science. In addition, ‘flash talks’ of up to 7 minutes on any topic are invited for a special plenary session. Other formats are also welcomed, but please email your suggestion to the organisers (via bsls2015@liverpool.ac.uk) for consideration, well in advance of the submission deadline.

This year the organisers would particularly welcome proposals addressing the themes of light, optics, vision and colour, and proposals for papers, panels or roundtables on engaging the public with literature and science research. However, the BSLS remains committed to supporting and showcasing work on all aspects of literature – including comparative literature and European and world literatures – and science, medicine and technology.

Proposals of no more than 250 words, together with the name and institutional affiliation of the speaker, and a biographical note of around 50 words, should be sent in the body of messages (not in attachments) to bsls2015@liverpool.ac.uk. Proposals for panels should include a separate proposal and biographical note for each paper. The closing date for submissions is Friday 5 December 2014.

The conference fee will be waived for two graduate students in exchange for written reports on the conference, to be published in the BSLS Newsletter. If you are interested in being selected for one of these awards, please mention this when sending in your proposal. To qualify you will need to be registered for a postgraduate degree at the time of the conference.

Accommodation: please note that those attending the conference will need to make their own arrangements for accommodation. Information on local hotels will be made available soon on the forthcoming conference website.

Membership: conference delegates will need to register as members of the BSLS (annual membership: £25 waged/ £10 unwaged). It will be possible to join the BSLS when registering for the conference online.
For further information and updates about the conference, please contact Greg Lynall (bsls2015@liverpool.ac.uk). A conference website will be available in due course.

Radio play - 'The Chemistry Between Them'

This afternoon’s play at 2.15pm on Radio 4 is ‘The Chemistry Between Them’ by Adam Ganz, which explores the relationship between Margaret Thatcher and Dorothy Hodgkin. Details here. 

There is an article by Alice Bell on the play here, and a response by Katharine Hodgkin, Dorothy's granddaughter, here.

Jon Agar's article on 'Thatcher, Scientist', is available here.

Science and Literature Festival - UCL, 6th September

On 6 September 2014, University College London hosts a new Science and Literature Festival organised by The Memory Network:  ‘Memory in the twenty-first century’, featuring, in conversation:

• Ian McEwan & Paul Bloom (Yale, USA)
• Suzanne Corkin (MIT, USA) & Hugo Spiers (UCL)
• Maud Casey, Timothy J. Jarvis & Sebastian Groes (Roehampton)
• Anna Stothard & Jason Tougaw (CUNY, USA)
• Naomi Alderman & Jessica Bland (Nesta)

The Memory Network is a research networking organisation funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the Wellcome Trust, bringing scientists, scholars and writers together to think about memory in new, twenty-first century contexts.
In association with The Guardian, The Memory Network is organising a festival at which writers discuss the relationship between storytelling and memory in dialogue with a neuroscientist, technology futures specialist, and a neuro-literary critic. How does the digital environment change our memory and storytelling? Can you tell a story via objects? In what ways is psychiatry dependent on fictional narratives? How can we turn the life of an amnesiac man into a story worth remembering? These and many other questions will be debated, whilst neuropsychologist Paul Bloom will interrogate one of the finest, and most provocative, contemporary writers who throughout his career has sought to realign the fraught relationship between literature and science: Ian McEwan.
The literary festival is held in the Gustave Tuck lecture theatre at UCL, starts at 12.30. The programme finishes at 6pm. Entry is free but seats must be reserved by sending an email to memorynetwork@roehampton.ac.uk.

Commission on Science and Literature Inaugural Conference - Report

As the July sun baked the Athens streets, delegates attending the first conference of the International Commission on Science and Literature sheltered behind the doors of the Hellenic Research Institute, taking refuge in its (mostly) air-conditioned seats. We were there to hear papers on topics from plague to cyberpunk, given by presenters hailing from Austria to Australia, at an event which certainly lived up to its global billing, and to its wide disciplinary remit.

Listening to the talks, we met old favourites such as Charles Dickens and Emily Dickinson, but were taught to think of them in new ways: seeing, for instance, the Darwinian themes in Dickinson’s verses, as James Levernier emphasised; or, as Helen Goodman revealed, the layers of grief and masculinity in Dombey and Son. Ryan Sweet’s engaging tour of adventure fiction revisited some childhood classics, but from the novel angle of the history of disability: what was the significance of these particularly prosthetic pirates, from Long John Silver to Captain Hook?

Other talks focused more explicitly on discussions over what science and its practitioners and audiences could be: who could be involved, and in what ways? Gunhild Berg, for instance, analysed German portrayals of both magicians and men of science, demonstrating how fictional writing was used to challenge easy distinctions between the two. For Claire Jones, the gender of scientific practitioners formed the starting-point of her analysis, as she discussed anxieties over women’s laboratory research, introducing in particular a deeper consideration of The Call, a thinly-veiled biography of Hertha Ayrton.

The process and form of both science and literature were also key areas of analysis: Rachel Crossland fascinatingly explored how periodicals in the early twentieth-century reported on science ‘in progress’; in Will Tattersdill’s bravura analysis, the tricky generic categorisation of a marvellous monster story revealed the unstable nature of the literary, scientific, and physical forms under consideration in late nineteenth-century palaeontology. Clare Stainthorp, meanwhile, elegantly introduced the unified scientific philosophy of Constance Naden, looking in depth at her poetic output.

Some of the most interesting talks engaged closely with particular national contexts: Kostas Tampakis, for instance, revealed that it was not only the boundary between science and literature that was called into dispute by nineteenth-century Greek professor-poets but also national and natural boundaries: the scientific domain undermined, they argued, Ottoman claims to territory that was ‘naturally’ Greek. The French ‘anticipation’ fiction of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was also, as Valérie Stiénon, Christèle Couleau, and Claire Barel-Moisan demonstrated in their panel, drawn from specific Parisian journalistic and scientific anxieties of the day.

Claire’s paper on the delightful illustrations by Robida confirmed the importance of considering images and material forms of texts alongside their words. Indeed, historical predictions of what form the book might yet take was central to Valérie’s argument: would we soon be able to touch or even smell stories? A presentation by Fay Tsitou of her charming toy theatre show on the Greek language (and our many Greek terms for scientific objects and concepts), “τῆλε, τήλε…, tele…”, affirmed the effectiveness of multisensory approaches.

Overall, the truly international scope was the great strength of this event: the impressive range of topics but also the backgrounds of participants demonstrated the value of global comparison and connection. My particular thanks go to George Vlahakis and Kostas Tampakis as well as the rest of the organising team for their wonderful hospitality and lunch-wrangling. Watch out for news of the next CoSciLit event, scheduled for 2016.

Clare Hall Event - Gillian Beer and Louise Ells in conversation on Alice Munro

Thursday 3rd July, 1.15pm. Further details here.

Poetry Foundation - 'Sciences'

The Poetry Foundation website has a wonderful collection of poems online under their 'Sciences' theme: take a look!

Recap - Entomological Adventures

Many thanks to everyone who came along and contributed to last night's discussion! Building on the previous meeting, we continued to talk about children's natural history books, and saw the academic year out in style with suitably entomological refreshments.

The introduction and subsequent conversation touched on many crucial themes for literature and science scholarship, from anecdote, antagonists, and autobiography, to childhood and colonialism, objectivity and observation, changes of scale and moments of wonder. We thought about these works in relation to the contemporary rise of Nature Study in Britain and American, situating the pond-dipping anecdotes of Fabre, in particular, against attempts to teach children through 'Nature, not books', and against other attempts such as the Boy Scout movement to engage young groups with their surrounding worlds. We considered Fabre's work as a nostalgic piece of writing, looking back on his earliest natural historical experiences, and characteristic of his particular blend of the personal and informal with the scientifically-specific, as - for instance - when he pulled focus at the end of the 'pond' chapter to consider the planet as a whole. What connections could we draw, we wondered, to the development of ecological and ethological sciences? We also analysed Madalene and Louisa as a work of the 1980s, looking back at the Victorian period: its connections to nineteenth-century domestic practices of watercolours, scapbooks, and Brontesque juvenilia, as well as to comic journalism and - back in the twentieth century - graphic novels; the surprising, perhaps, subversion of the received view of dour Victorian childhood.

Many thanks to Daniel for alerting us to the existence of Maya the bee and her own Adventures: there is a 1922 English translation (with beautiful illustrations) available here.

See below for some photos of the group in action, of some of the texts we looked at, and - of course - of the creepy-crawly catering.