14th ANNUAL CONFERENCE

Poetry and Poetics

Saturday 9th November 2002
University of Southampton

[Conference report] [Programme]

Conference report from the secretary:

On Saturday 10 November 2002, the WIGS annual conference was held at Southampton University, hosted by Andrea Reiter.

We heard papers by Elizabeth Boa, Bridget Thomson, Margot Paterson, Anja Peters, Jo Catling, Heike Bartel and Emily Jeremiah, on different aspects of German poetry from the eighteenth century to contemporary authors such as Anna Duden and Dorothea Grünzweig. The papers all looked closely at poems which had been circulated in advance (and which were in front of us on the day), which led to very animated and detailed discussion. Many of us came away inspired to use more poetry in teaching.

At the AGM, Teresa Ludden (Warwick) very kindly volunteered to take on the role of Part-timer representative, which will be her second spell on the committee (she was previously Postgraduate representative). The Committee is very grateful to Teresa for taking on the position.

There was relatively little business to discuss. Birgit Roder was forced to return to Germany at short notice and sent her apologies - her treasurer's report confirmed that WIGS' financial situation remains strong (encouraging for those who might like to apply for travel or research awards).

The call for papers has already gone out for Bath 2003. Cambridge was tentatively suggested as a venue for 2004, and the meeting was very enthusiastic about the prospect of a three-day open conference in 2005 in Galway, coinciding with the Galway film-festival. If anyone would like to volunteer a venue for a future one-day or three-day WIGS conference, please let Charlotte Woodford know on cw268@cam.ac.uk.

Many thanks again to Andrea Reiter for hosting such a splendid day!

Programme:

9.15 OPENING OF CONFERENCE
9.30-11.00 Elizabeth Boa: Musings on Muses
Bridget Thomson: Poetry and Pedagogy
11.00 COFFEE
11.30-13.00 Margot Paterson: Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz's poem Liebe auf dem Lande (1776)
Anja Peters: 'Eingeschlossen in meiner Träume Zauberturm'. Das Turmmotiv bei Annette von Droste-Hülshoff
13.00 LUNCH
14.00-15.00 AGM
15.00 TEA
15.30-17.15 Jo Catling: 'Vom Sein des Hunds in das der Katze' - towards a 'weibliche Poetik'
Heike Bartel: 'Steinatem'. Zur Poetik des Atmens in Anne Dudens 'Steinschlag'
Emily Jeremiah: 'O unsere Wörter': Language and National Identity in the Poetry of Dorothea Grünzweig
17.15 CONFERENCE CLOSES