Dr Paul March-Russell, Specialist Associate Lecturer in the Department of Comparative Literature, will be giving the keynote speech at the third Northern Comparative Literature Network symposium to be held at the University of Birmingham on 28 October 2017.

The symposium, entitled ‘Of Borders and Ecologies: Comparative Literature and the Environment’ will bring together scholars working on questions of the Environment and its representation in Comparative and World Literature.

Paul’s paper is titled ‘Combined and Uneven Developments: World Literature and Ecocriticism’. He will respond to the Warwick Research Collective’s ‘Towards a New Theory of World-Literature’ published in 2015.  The authors argued that world literature must be undergirded by a Marxist analysis that proffers a world-historical view of the unevenness in economic and cultural production, exemplifying their argument by making comparisons with Franco Moretti’s application of Immanuel Wallerstein’s theory of world systems to literary development. Paul will broadly accept their argument but will also contend that their criticism of Comparative Literature is misplaced.  Instead, he will show, via an analysis of how the discipline emerged, that their real target is the traditional Marxist bete noire of Formalism.  He will argue that Comparative Literature has already evolved beyond its Formalist inheritance and that  part of this evolution has involved an engagement with Marxism.

Attendance at the conference is free, but places are limited. To register, please email Jade Douglas stating your name, affiliation and position (MA, PhD, ECR etc.)

The full programme for the conference is available here.