New Perspectives on Virgil’s Georgics
University College London, 3-4 April 2014 (D103 UCLU Building, 25 Gordon Street)
While T. S. Eliot celebrated theAeneid as ‘the classic of all Europe’, the importance of Virgil’s
Georgics within European cultural traditions has often been overlooked. This interdisciplinary and
international conference will provide the forum for a long-overdue reappraisal of theGeorgics and its
contribution to the history of European art, thought, and literature.A diverse range of speakers from three
continents will gather to offer new perspectives on this rich and enigmatic poem.
The registration fee is £20 (£12 for a single day). Attendance is free for UCL students and staff. To
register please visit the following website:
http://onlinestore.ucl.ac.uk/browse/extra_info.asp?compid=1&modid=2&catid=79&prodid=400
Location map:
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=UCLU&hl=en&cid=9411491836217305759&gl=US&hq=UCLU&t=m
&z=16
Conference Programme:
Thursday, 3 April
9-9.30
Registration and Tea
9.30
Keynote Address: Damien Nelis (Geneva)
“History and Geography in Virgil’s Georgics”
10.15
Tea
Panel 1: Clearing the Ground
10.35
Stephen Heyworth (Oxford)
“Clearing the Ground in Georgics 1”
11.00
Sara Myers (Virginia)
“Pulpy Fiction: Columella’snumerosushortus and Georgics 4.116-48”
11.25
Rebecca Armstrong (Oxford)
“The War on Terra: Insurgent Weeds in the Georgics”
11.50
Discussion
12.15-13.45
Lunch
Panel 2: Religion in the Georgics
13.45
Tom Mackenzie (Oxford)
“Georgica and Orphica: The Georgics in the Context of Orphism and Orphic texts”
14.10
Ailsa Hunt (Cambridge)
“Reading Georgic Religion with Servius”
14.35
Discussion
14.55-15.30
Tea
Panel 3: Tragedy & Comedy
15.30
Ian Goh (Manchester)
“A Dash of Comedy in Virgil’s Georgics”
15.55
Elena Giusti (Cambridge)
“BunteBarbaren Setting Up the Stage: Re-inventing the Barbarian on the Georgics’
Theatre-Temple (G. 3.1-48)”
16.20
Discussion
Panel 4: Epic & Elegy
16.40
James Burbidge (New Hall School)
“Arms and the Land: Warfare and Agriculture in Virgil’s Georgics and Aeneid”
17.05
Florence Klein (Lille)
“Posidippus’ Aesthetical Theories and the Georgics: A New Look at Virgil’s
‘Callimacheanism’ and its Reading by Propertius”
17.30
Discussion
17.50
Reception
19.00
Conference Dinner at Tas (Bloomsbury Street)
****************
Friday, 4 April
10.00
Keynote Address: Richard Thomas (Harvard)
“Aesthetics and Meaning in the Georgics”
10.45
Tea
Panel 5: New Approaches to the Georgics
11.10
Robert Cowan (Sydney)
“The Story of rus: Towards a Narratology of the Georgics”
11.35
Martin Stöckinger (Heidelberg)
“From muneravestracanoto ipse donaferam: Language of Social Reciprocity in the
Georgics”
12.00
Discussion
12.20-14.00
Lunch
Panel 6: Early Modern Reception
14.00
Luke Houghton (LBI, Innsbruck)
“Salve, magna parens: Virgil’s laudesItaliae in Renaissance Italy and Beyond”
14.25
Raymond Lambert (Birkbeck)
“‘Hard Pastoral’: John Constable’s Georgic Landscapes”
14.50
Katharine Earnshaw (Oxford)
“The Significance of the Georgics in Shelley’s Poetry”
15.15
Discussion
15.40
Tea
Panel 7: Modern Reception
16.00
Stephen Harrison (Oxford)
“Three Laureates’ Georgics: Translations by Dryden, Wordsworth, Day Lewis”
16.25
Rowena Fowler (Bristol)
“Si crederedignumest: Crediting the Georgics from Browning to Hill”
16.50
Séverine Tarantino (Lille)
“The Teaching of the Georgics in Twentieth-Century France and England”
17.15-17.40
Discussion
We gratefully acknowledge the generous support of our sponsors, the Institute of Classical Studies, the
Classical Association, the UCL European Institute, and the Virgil Society.
For further information, please feel free to contact the conference organisers Nicholas Freer and Bobby
Xinyue at georgics2014ucl@gmail.com