Robert Southey (1774-1843) was a major figure on the literary scene of his day, though a controversial one. He was appointed Poet Laureate in 1813, and Lord Byron, who vilified him, was forced to admit that he was “the only existing entire man of letters”. However, the prestigious reputation Southey enjoyed during his lifetime did not long survive him. Overshadowed by his canonical friends Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth, he was relegated to the margins of the history of English Romanticism.
Southey was also the first of a series of important British Lusophiles who, from the nineteenth century and well into the twentieth century, devoted themselves to the study and dissemination of Portuguese history and literature.
In recent years there has been a renewal of interest in Southey. After a long period of neglect, a concerted effort is being made to reassess Southey's work and recognize his centrality to British literature and culture in the Romantic age.
The Informal Group for the Study of Classicism and Romanticism (GIECR) of the Centre for English, Translation and Anglo-Portuguese Studies (CETAPS), an interinstitutional Research Unit based in two Portuguese universities, Universidade Nova de Lisboa and Universidade do Porto, is pleased to announce a 2-day international conference on topics related to Robert Southey in particular and European Romanticism in general. The conference aims at contributing to the current discussion and rehabilitation of Southey's work.
The conference will be held in Lisbon, at the Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, on Monday 27th and Tuesday 28th June 2011.
We welcome proposals (max. 300 words) for 20-minute papers.