By Janelle Henderson
In 1962, retired University of Louisville French professor Patrick Thomas envisioned a place where scholars could discuss literature and language, and subsequently created the 20th Century Literature Conference. Thirty-three years later, after much expansion and a new name, the 20th Century Literature and Culture Conference, held on Feb. 24-26, gathered professors and graduate students from around the world to discuss language and literature.
With over 600 people in attendance, the conference offered 150 sessions for conferees to attend, including a special Hispanic presentation given by Mary S. Vasquez, Spanish professor at Davidson College.
Other keynote speakers included Samuel Weber, professor of Humanities at Northwestern University and co-director of the school’s Paris Program in Critical Theory, and Octavia E. Butler, science fiction and fantasy novelist.
The opening presentation was given by Bob Perelman, avant-garde poet and English professor at the University of Pennsylvania, who read from his books “Ten to One: Selected Poems” and “Playing Bodies.”
Perelman said he decided to attend the festival not only for the new slants on literature and interesting papers being discussed but also “to get educated.”
While Perelman was being educated, other attendees were learning how “Kindred” novelist Octavia Butler came to write her book and become a science fiction writer from her creative keynote speech entitled “From Woe to Wonder: The Writing of Octavia E. Butler.”
The witty and highly personable speaker told of her love affair with writing that began at age 10, an affair that would lead her to science fiction a few years later.
“When I was 12, I got into science fiction on account of a bad movie: ‘Devil Girl from Mars,’” Butler said. “I decided it was so bad, even I could write a better story than that.”
Dr. Karen Chandler, U of L associate professor of English, credits English professor and Commonwealth Center for Humanities and Society director Thomas Byers for pursuing Butler for a keynote speech.
“Byers thought it was really important to think of someone who bridged the academic and popular world, for someone to have a following in academia and a following outside of colleges and universities. [Butler] seemed like an obvious choice.”
Closing the ceremony was Alan Nadel, a Language, Literature and Communication professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, with his presentation entitled “The Fugitive, Black and White: Cinematic Narrative, Rodney King.”
Although geared towards professors and graduate students, the keynote speeches were free to the public and U of L students.
Conference coordinator Sylvia Berger believes that the conference being a “well-kept secret” leaves conferees with a reason to come back next year.
“A lot of our conferees say they just love this conference, that it’s friendly, informative and that they do a lot of networking. They take a lot of the knowledge they receive here and take it back to their classrooms.”
