INTERNATIONAL WHITMAN WEEK 2010

Università di Macerata, Macerata, Italy, 14-20 June, 2010

The Transatlantic Walt Whitman Association (TWWA), founded in Paris in 2007, invites students, researchers, and Whitman enthusiasts to participate in its third annual Whitman Week, consisting of a seminar for advanced students interested in Whitman and Whitman’s poetry, and a symposium bringing together international scholars and graduate students.

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International Whitman Seminar: Walt Whitman’s Poetry in the 21st Century

Università di Macerata, 14-18 June 2010

Walt Whitman’s poetry, written in the nineteenth century, continues to have a strong impact on literatures and cultures worldwide. Every year new editions of Whitman’s work are published in a variety of languages; an ever-expanding group of poets “reply” to him in their poetry; his poems are set to music and are quoted in films; he is invoked in the discussion of political and cultural issues as well as of gender and sexuality; and he continues to be a huge presence in college and university curricula globally.

In order to respond adequately to this international phenomenon, The Transatlantic Walt Whitman Association sponsors a series of International Whitman Seminars, where students from different countries come together for intensive, credit-bearing classes taught by an international team of Whitman specialists.

The first seminar was held in Dortmund, Germany, in June 2008. The second took place in Tours, France, in June 2009. The third will take place in Macerata, Italy, 14-20 June 2010. In the regular classes, focusing on some of Whitman’s major poems, students will have an opportunity to confront Whitman’s books, share their readings of key poems and clusters, and discuss Whitman’s attempts at a multilingual English, his cohesive representation of human relations, and his work’s international significance in the twenty-first century. In addition, there will be special presentations on the reception of Whitman in various countries and languages, as well as other topics. This year’s instructors will be Éric Athenot (Université François-Rabelais, Tours), translator of the 1855 Leaves and author of Walt Whitman, poète-cosmos; Betsy Erkkila (Northwestern University), author of Walt Whitman among the French and Whitman the Political Poet; Kenneth M. Price (University of Nebraska, Lincoln), co-founder and editor of the Walt Whitman Archive, author of To Walt Whitman, America; and Andrew Lawson (Leeds Metropolitan University), author of Walt Whitman and the Class Struggle.
Students will also participate in the symposium held at the end of the week, featuring Whitman scholars from various countries.
Credits will be issued by the Università di Macerata. International visiting students will live with their Italian counterparts, thus keeping expenses as low as possible and creating opportunities for a meaningful intercultural dialogue. In addition to class work on Whitman and the symposium, students will visit Giacomo Leopardi’s house in Recanati and will be shown some of the artistic and architectural treasures of the area. Macerata is a historic city of 42,000 people in the Marche region of Italy set on the hills sloping down to the Adriatic Sea. Located in the beautiful, original walled city, the university owns some of the most interesting historical buildings, including Palazzo Ugolini—the first Neoclassical palace in Macerata, designed by the famous architect Valadier—where the Seminar and Symposium will be held .
Application: 15 non-Italian international students will be accepted to the Week. Applications should include a curriculum-vitae, a one-page statement of interest in the seminar, and a short letter of support by an instructor who knows the applicant. Applications should be sent to camboni@unimc.it by 4 April 2010 at the latest.

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International Whitman Symposium: “‘In Paths Untrodden’: The 1860 Leaves of Grass”
Università di Macerata, 18-19 June 2010

This year’s symposium will celebrate the 150th anniversary of Leaves of Grass 1860.It will be devoted to the body of the 1860 Leaves with a particular focus on the many new paths Whitman opened with it. Papers are invited to cover a wide range of approaches to Whitman’s poems: his experimenting with multilingualism and textual construction, his focus on the cohesive and energizing power of human relationships and attachments, his belief in the creative force of love, language and poetry, his anxieties about the impending civil war. Papers focusing on international responses to the poems in the 1860 Leaves, including translations into other languages, are also strongly encouraged.

One-page abstracts should be sent to Marina Camboni, Università di Macerata (camboni@unimc.it), Ed Folsom (ed-folsom@uiowa.edu), and Jay Grossman (j-grossman@northwestern.edu) by 21 April 2010.

“Stop this day and night with me and you shall possess the origin of all poems”

New York, NY: Sixth Annual “Song of Myself” Marathon

Sunday, September 6, 3:00-5:30 pm (free to SSS Museum members; $5 non-members) aboard the tall ship Peking at the South Street Seaport Museum. A reading of Whitman’s great poem, hosted by NYU Professor Karen Karbiener, in which you are heartily invited to participate! For more information or to sign up for the reading, please contact Christine Modica at cmodica@southstseaport.org or 212. 748. 8738. Leave your name, email, and poem sections of preference (if any).

Bravo Walt Whitman’s 1855 Leaves of Grass Audiotext!

Fellow international Whitmanists…

Check out this link for a choral reading and virtual experience of the 1855 Leaves of Grass.

http://www.laits.utexas.edu/leavesofgrass/

“My voice goes after what my eyes cannot reach.”

International Whitman Week 2009

Within me latitude widens, longitude lengthens…

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“My spirit has pass’d in compassion and determination around the whole earth,

“I have look’d for equals and lovers and found them ready for me in all lands,

“I think some divine rapport has equalized me with them.”

-“Salut au Monde!”