TZVETAN TODOROV 2004: AN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
24-27 June 2004
Bakhtin Centre, University of Sheffield, UK
It is now possible to register for the whole or part of the conference. A booking form, including rates and details about meals and accommodation, and the preliminary programme are available at:
http://www.shef.ac.uk/uni/academic/A-C/bakh/homeconf.html
Please note that Early Bird rates are only available until 31 January 2004.
Description and aims:
Tzvetan Todorov, who has gradually emerged as a leading intellectual figure in Europe, has consistently refused enclosure in established disciplines, and has approached human experience from a variety of angles. The clarity of his style and accessibility of his thought enhance the unifying perspective he has adopted within the human sciences. A growing trend in the humanities today
consists, precisely, in questioning the boundaries erected between the various disciplines of the human sciences and in addressing the need for research in the humanities to develop in new
directions. It is our belief that critical theory should provide the
platform for this debate rather than remaining at a theoretical second
remove and commenting only after the fact. It therefore appears imperative to create a forum for discussion of the works and thought of Tzvetan Todorov in a manner that would bridge the divides between academic disciplines, considering that Todorov is an outstanding exemplar of what has been achieved in overcoming disciplinary boundaries, and of the potential that still remains for doing so.
The conference proposes to assess the position and contribution of Tzvetan Todorovs thought to the human sciences and to evaluate the potential of his concept of critical humanism as an alternative to theory. Therefore, the conference seeks to bring together scholars from various disciplines who engage with Todorovs work and to foster
cross-disciplinary thought in the humanities (critical theory, literature,
history, philosophy, philosophical anthropology, semiotics) with a view
to publishing at least one thematically focused volume of articles.
TZVETAN TODOROV will give a public lecture in the French Embassy Lecture Series on 26 June 2004 and will participate in a roundtable with the conference participants on 27 June.
Keynote speakers include:
Stoyan ATANASSOV (University of Sofia) on Todorov or the Dialogical Self at the Crossroads of Cultures;
Frances FERGUSON (Johns Hopkins University) on Tzvetan Todorov on Narratives and Societies;
Eugene GOODHEART (Brandeis University) on Todorov, Berlin, Kolakowski and Me;
Robert ZARETSKY (University of Houston) on Uncommon Histories: An Evening with Jean-Jacques Rousseau at the Drury
Lane Theatre.
Speakers from over 15 countries and four continents will be taking part in the conference. For more details, please refer to the conference programme (http://www.shef.ac.uk/uni/academic/A-
C/bakh/program.rtf).
Please address any query to the conference organisers by e-mail (k.zbinden@sheffield.ac.uk or d.g.shepherd@sheffield.ac.uk) or by
post at:
Tzvetan Todorov Conference
Bakhtin Centre
Arts Tower, floor 8
University of Sheffield
Sheffield S10 2TN, UK
Please pass on this message to whoever may be interested. Thank you.