Society of Dix-Neuviemistes

THE SOCIETY OF DIX-NEUVIEMISTES (SDN)

At the March 2000 Society for French Studies conference, a meeting was held to discuss the possibility of forming an association for nineteenth-century French studies in the UK and Ireland. The convenors of that meeting agreed to set up a steering group, which would make initial decisions about the way forward. We are able to report that considerable progress has been made, and would like to update you on the present state of play.

The steering group has agreed that the new association should be called The Society of Dix-Neuviémistes (SDN). The aims of the society will be:

-- To provide a forum for the promotion and dissemination of research in nineteenth-century French and Francophone studies in the UK and Ireland
-- To encourage interdisciplinary and comparative approaches to the 'long' nineteenth century (1789-1914) in France and Francophone countries, embracing linguistic, literary, historical, cultural and philosophical perspectives
-- To foster nineteenth-century French studies in the postgraduate community
-- To organise an annual conference, and to establish an international, fully-refereed journal
-- To liaise with related societies in the UK, USA and France

By way of launching SDN, an afternoon conference will be held on the final day of the next Society for French Studies Conference at University College Dublin (2-4 July 2001). This will take place on Wednesday 4 July from 2.00-4.45 p.m., on the theme 'Alterity and Marginality in the Nineteenth Century'. It will be followed by a general meeting at which the proposed society will be formally established and an executive voted in. A charge of £5 (IR£6) will be payable for the conference. General information about the conference will be sent out with the SFS conference programme early in 2001, and a separate programme and registration form made available subsequently.

Following formal establishment of the society, a major conference will be planned for 2002 (a number of possible venues are currently under discussion), with annual conferences thereafter. A newsletter will be produced and sent to members to report on the activities of the society, and to provide information on relevant conferences or other activities.

The steering group has agreed that a web-based journal should be established. One of the major advantages of a web publication is that production costs will be limited, enabling a much lower membership subscription fee. The journal will be fully refereed, with both an editorial board and an advisory board of internationally renowned scholars in the field. Access to the journal will be restricted to members, or to institutions which have paid a subscription. The journal will initially be delivered as a series of multi-article (and/or theme-based) volumes, though the possibility of cumulative or 'drip-feed' delivery might eventually be envisaged.

Over the coming months, the SDN web site will be set up. The web site will eventually host the journal, whose launch will be planned following the first conference in 2002. In the meantime, the web site will also be a source of information about the society and its activities, with contact details for the current steering group and, in due course, the executive.

The following is a list of the members of the steering group. Please feel free to contact any of these individuals should you require further information:

SARAH CAPITANIO, University of Wolverhampton: le1959@WLV.AC.UK
LISA DOWNING, QMW (London): L.M.Downing@QMW.AC.UK
NIGEL HARKNESS, The Queen's University of Belfast: n.harkness@QUB.AC.UK
ROBERT LETHBRIDGE, Royal Holloway (London): R.Lethbridge@RHBNC.AC.UK
PAUL ROWE, University of Leeds: P.Rowe@LEEDS.AC.UK
TIM UNWIN, University of Liverpool: tunwin@LIVERPOOL.AC.UK (University of Bristol from January 2001: T.A.Unwin@BRISTOL.AC.UK)
JENNIFER YEE, University of Newcastle: Jennifer.Yee@NEWCASTLE.AC.UK

We look forward to your support in this new initiative and hope to welcome you as a member of the Society in due course.

RA (source: Francofil)