14th International Student Byron Conference
Theme: “Byron and Revolution”

Keynote Speakers
Professor Roderick Beaton, King’s College London
Professor Andrew Stauffer, Virginia University USA

The Messolonghi Byron Research Center welcomes proposals for 20-minute papers to be delivered at the 14th International Student Byron Conference, to be held at Messolonghi, Greece May 20-25, 2019.

The last act of Byron’s life was to dedicate himself to the cause of the Greek Revolution, which began in 1821 and ended with the recognition of Greece as an independent state by the Great Powers in 1830. The circumstances of his death and later commemoration at Messolonghi have been much discussed ever since. But the whole of Byron’s life and career took place in the shadow of revolutions: notably the three great revolutions that together have defined the modern world: the American (1776), the French (1789) and the Industrial Revolution that was rapidly transforming Britain and Europe throughout his lifetime.

On a smaller scale, from 1817 onwards, revolutions or threats of revolution in different parts of Europe deeply affected Byron’s personal life as well as his political thinking: the ‘Peterloo massacre’ in England, the ‘constitutionalist’ revolutions of Spain and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in 1820, revolutions in Piedmont and Greece in 1821, as well as the continuing anti-colonialist revolutions in South America. How did Byron respond to these transformative upheavals? In what ways can aspects of his life and work can be described as ‘revolutionary’? Was Byron, fundamentally, by temperament, by conviction, or under the special circumstances of particular moments, a revolutionary?

Presenters at the conference will span all academic levels from undergraduates through graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and faculty members.

Proposals should be sent by email to Professor Peter Graham (pegraham@vt.edu) and Professor Roderick Beaton (rod.beaton@kcl.ac.uk) with cc to Mrs. Rodanthi-Rosa Florou, President of the International Byron Research Center (byronlib@gmail.com) by February 10, 2019.

Further conference details will follow soon.

Detailed descriptions of the previous International Student Conferences can be found on the Messolonghi Byron Society’s web page, www.messolonghibyronsociety.gr

View here the Call for Papers in pdf format