CFP: 5th BIENNIAL JOHN UPDIKE SOCIETY CONFERENCE
UNIVERSITY OF BELGRADE, FACULTY OF PHILOLOGY (SERBIA, JUNE 1 – 5 2018)
Celebrating the 50th anniversary of COUPLES and Updike abroad and in translation
CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS
— The Fifth Biennial John Updike Society Conference is the first to be held outside the United States. Updike visited Belgrade, then the capital of Yugoslavia and now the capital of Serbia, in 1978.
— Opening keynote address by Ian McEwan, who knew Updike and is well read and widely translated in Serbia.
— A second keynote talk by Prof. Alexander Shurbanov, Updike’s Bulgarian translator and also an accomplished writer and poet — Plenary session by Michael Updike featuring photographs of the
family’s year in London and their travels abroad following the
publication of Couples
—Tracing Updike in Belgrade: walking tours through Kalemegdan Fortress
and Skadarlija Bohemian quarter, with a visit to the Writer’s Union Club for a kind of hedonist mapping of Belgrade and reenactment of a tour Updike took 40 years earlier
—Meeting Updike: a panel of the translators, journalists, writers, editor who have met Updike on this and other trips
—An optional all-day bus tour of Serbian sites: Oplenac (St. George’s Church and vineyards), Viminacium (Roman ruins, mammoth park), and Smederevo Fortress (capital of Serbia in the Middle Ages, built 1427-30), with lunch and wine sampling at Tarposh restaurant and vinery
—Shorter tours of the Tesla Museum and Zemun, with visits to the Hotel Moscow (where Updike stayed) and the National Library, where the society will sponsor a public program on Updike and Politics
—A reception at the residence of Kyle Randolph Scott, U.S. Ambassador to Serbia (subject to change or cancellation because of the fluidity of world affairs)
CALL FOR PAPERS
Keynotes and plenaries are set, but papers on ANY aspect of John Updike’s work or life are still sought for the academic sessions. Especially appropriate topics include:
—Updike and Traveling (inside and outside the U.S.) as both real-life experience and fictional motive/inspiration
—Updike in the U.S.S.R.: his reception, bibliographies, interview(s), translations; Updike in (Post) Socialist Countries
—Updike and Religion(s) and Ideologies (socialism, pacifism, etc.) —Updike and Gender or Ethnic Politics
—Coming of Age / Aging in Updike’s Fiction
—Intertextuality in Updike’s Fiction
—Comparative Perspectives (Updike and Laclos, Proust, Joyce, Danilo Kiš, Ian McEwan, etc.)
—Papers on works celebrating a milestone anniversary in 2018: Couples (50th), The Coup (40th), S. (30th), Collected Poems and Love Factories (25th), Bech at Bay (20th), and The Widows of Eastwick (10th)
Scholars may also wish to consider the anniversaries of the translations of John Updike’s works into their language, and do bring copies with you. At the end of the meeting we will donate these copies to The John Updike Childhood Home in Shillington, Pennsylvania.
Proposal Deadline: January 31, 2018
One-page proposals for 15- to 20-minute papers on all aspects of Updike’s life and work and especially suggested topics should be sent, along with a brief one- or two-paragraph bio, to conference director Biljana Dojčinović:
jus5thconference@gmail.com and cc: jus5thconference@fil.bg.ac.rs
Successful proposals will be acknowledged within two weeks of receipt. To present a paper or moderate a panel at the conference, participants must be members of The John Updike Society and sign up for the full conference registration. Those who have papers accepted can join when they register for the conference.
For membership information and additional information about The John Updike Society, see the society’s website at http://blogs.iwu.edu/johnupdikesociety. For general questions about the society, contact James Plath, jplath@iwu.edu
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON TRAVEL GRANTS, CONFERENCE FEES, PRELIMINARY SCHEDULE PLEASE SEE
https://blogs.iwu.edu/johnupdikesociety/files/2017/07/Updike-in-Serbia-registration-1.pdf