‘Lessons in mutual toleration’? Travel and Cultural Exchanges in the Age of Sterne (Aix-Marseille Université)

[CFP] ‘Lessons in mutual toleration’? Travel and Cultural Exchanges in the Age of Sterne

International conference – Aix-Marseille Université, Nov. 8-10, 2027. 

Organizing committee:

Nathalie Bernard, Emmanuelle Peraldo & David Stoyle (Aix-Marseille Université)

‘Le POUR et le CONTRE se trouvent en chaque nation; there is a balance, said he, of good and bad everywhere; and nothing but the knowing it is so can emancipate one half of the world from the prepossessions which it holds against the other – that the advantage of travel, as it regarded the sçavoir vivre, was by seeing a great deal both of men and manners; it taught us mutual toleration; and mutual toleration, concluded he making me a bow, taught us mutual love.’ – Laurence Sterne, A Sentimental Journey

Laurence Sterne’s visits to France in the 1760s saw him enjoying the role of a celebrity at the Parisian salons, seeking simplicity in the countryside, and above all hoping to restore his ailing health thanks to the drier climate of the South of France. Volume 7 of Tristram Shandy (1765) and, in a more expanded form, A Sentimental Journey (1768), were inspired by their author’s real-life experiences, upending the conventional travel narrative by experimenting with form and focussing on the traveller himself, and his emotional responses to the cultural exchanges and the contacts he made. Sterne’s first voyage began when France and England were still at war, providing a stark contrast to the open-minded and good-humoured encounters described. His work throws light on many aspects of the age, including the role of women in the Parisian salons, contrasting freedom of expression and of religion in Britain and France, the tension between politeness and sentimentality, issues of language and translation, sociability, health and the body.

This conference, taking place in November 2027 in Aix-en-Provence, in the South of France, will bring scholars of Sterne and his age to the town he visited in 1763 on his way to Montpellier. Organised by Aix-Marseille University, it offers a chance to find new perspectives and connections in the beautiful and historic setting of Aix. The conference will be in English.

We welcome 150-200-word proposals (along with a bio-bibliographical notice) for 20-minute papers that engage with any aspect of the conference theme, in relation to Sterne or to other works and writers of the period. Possible topics include:

·       Cultural contact and exchange

·       Literature in time of war

·       Empire and the imagination

·       Health and the body

·       Freedom of expression and religion

·       Politeness and sentimentality

·       Travel literature: voyages, exiles, escapism, migrations, borders, modes of travel

·       Travel and identity

·       Linguistic challenges: Speaking foreign languages, translation, adaptation

·       Reception and influence

·       Genre experimentation

·       Visual cultures, performance, and other art forms

·       Comedy and national identity

We also welcome proposals for panels or roundtables.

—

Keynote speakers: Mary Newbould (Kazimierz Wielki University, Bydgoszcz, Poland) and Gábor Gelléri (Aberystwyth University).

Submission deadline: February 15, 2027.

Please send your proposals to nathalie.bernard@univ-amu.fr, emmanuelle.peraldo@univ-amu.fr and david.stoyle@etu.univ-amu.fr 

 —

Scientific committee :

Paul Goring (Norwegian University of Science and Technology)

Jakub Lipski (Kazimierz Wielki University, Bydgoszcz, Poland)

Sandhya Patel (Université de Montpellier Paul Valéry)

Helen Williams (Northumbria University, Newcastle)

Nathalie Bernard (AmU, Aix-Marseille Université)

Ruth Menzies (AmU)

Emmanuelle Peraldo (AmU)

David Stoyle (AmU)

Nathalie Vanfasse (AmU)

Jean Viviès (AmU).