The 31st Annual International Conference on Virginia Woolf, with its theme “Virginia
Woolf and Ethics,” has issued a call for papers, with 250-word abstracts due Jan. 31, 2022.
Next year’s conference, which will be held June 9-12, 2022, at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas, aims to promote conversation about the topic across disciplinary boundaries. Conference organizers hope to explore Woolf’s engagement with specific ethical issues in her writing.
These may include, but are not limited to, war and pacifism, human rights, human–animal relations, environmental ethics, bioethics, fascism, empire, patriarchy,
racism and bigotry.
Woolf in relation to ethical approaches
The theme also suggests a reconsideration of Woolf in relation to various ethical approaches. For instance, participants may wish to read Woolf’s thought in conversation with care ethics, narrative ethics, moral psychology, moral imagination, moral luck, virtue ethics, deontology, utilitarianism, communitarianism, liberalism, religious or spiritual ethics (Christian, Quaker, Jewish, Buddhist, Indigenous, etc.), or other moral theories or concepts.
Papers might address the moral philosophy of Woolf’s milieu, including the thought of Russell, Moore or Leslie Stephen. Participants may wish to consider Woolf’s thought with continental theorists who address ethical concerns.
Organizers invite participants to consider Woolf in relation to broader ethical considerations, such as the relation of ethics to reading practices (or to literature); ethics of teaching, scholarly community and academic life; and secularism, religion and/or mysticism in Woolf’s thinking.
Woolf as an ethical theorist
Papers may also address reading Woolf as an ethical (or social or political) theorist.
What might a Woolfian ethic look like? How might we read Woolf’s aesthetic practices in ethical terms (e.g. narrative indeterminacy and the cultivation of certain
forms of attention, moral imagination, or empathy)? How does Woolf navigate competing demands of justice, individual liberty and rights, and collectivity and social responsibility, in her fiction and non-fiction?
Non-English presentations welcome
The conference welcomes proposals for presentations in languages other than English to foster a more open exchange at this international conference. A few caveats: the organizers ask that all abstracts and proposals be submitted in English. Also, to ensure a more effective exchange among all participants, we ask that non-English presentations be accompanied by a handout of main points in English as well as (if possible) a PowerPoint presentation in English. Note that Q&A sessions will be conducted in English as well.
Where to send abstracts
Abstracts (250 words) should be sent to Virginia.Woolf@lamar.edu by 31
January 2022. Check the call for papers for more details.
Participants among the books at the Mercantile Library during a reception at the 29th Annual International Conference on Virginia Woolf, the last in-person Woolf conference before the pandemic hit.
Alice Lowe
Catherine
Kaylee Baucom
Paula Maggio
Stefano Rozzoni
seanmcphail
suzannebellamy1
veronikakra
Vara Neverow
William Patrick Wend
Zoe Wolstenholme
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