Allegory Studies?
7th November 2013
CONFERENCE REPORT
The aim of the one-day conference, held at the University of Warwick on 7 November 2013, was to
explore and promote the notion of allegory studies as an emergent nexus of interdisciplinary
scholarship. It was a truly interdisciplinary and international event, bringing together delegates from
a variety of academic backgrounds, coming to Warwick from a number of universities in the UK, as
well as Israel, Switzerland, and the US. Support for the conference came from Warwick’s Humanities
Research Centre, the Early Modern Forum, and the Department of English and Comparative Literary
Studies.
The programme began with a masterly keynote lecture by Jon Whitman, one of the most
distinguished scholars of the Western allegorical tradition, continuing with three exceptional panels,
each followed by lively discussion. The featured papers covered a wide array of topics in
contemporary allegory studies, including aspects of scriptural hermeneutics and their influence,
allegorical representation in classical and early modern art, views of allegory in contemporary
Marxist and queer theory, configurations of the subject in medieval and early modern quest
allegories, and the role of allegorical narrative as a fundamental mode of human cognition. The
event has stimulated further collaboration on the subject and several developments are afoot,
including the editing of a volume of essays partly based on the conference presentations.
Keynote: Jon Whitman (English, The Hebrew University). Speakers: Lisa Rosenthal (Art and Design,
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), Raymond W. Gibbs, Jr. (Psychology, California at Santa Cruz), Marco
Nievergelt (English, Lausanne), Ery Shin (English, Oxford), James Christie (English and CLS, Warwick),
Penelope Murray (formerly Classics, Warwick). Chairs: Catherine Bates (English and CLS, Warwick),
Philip Gaydon (Philosophy, Warwick), Andrew Laird (Classics, Warwick). Conference staff: Iman
Sheeha (English and CLS, Warwick), Máté Vince (English and CLS, Warwick). Conference organizer:
Vladimir Brljak (English and CLS, Warwick).