Feeling Real (2015-2016)

British Modernities Group Schedule 2015-2016

The British Modernities Group’s 2015-16 theme will be “Feeling Real.”

Drawing on recent scholarship at the intersection of affect theory and literary studies, readings will consider how fictional realities are a lived, felt, and experienced phenomenon. Questions we will examine include:

How might affect theory contribute to our understanding of aesthetic objects? How can literature inform affect theory? What is the relationship between feeling and fiction? What is “real” in… fiction? Can imaginative works engender alternative lived realities? In our monthly meetings, we will discuss topics such as emotion, imagination, subjectivity, immersive reading, genre, and embodiment. 

The British Modernities Group was established in 2005 to spur discussion in British studies across period boundaries. It discusses recent literary scholarship, workshops group members’ original work, and organizes an annual graduate student conference. Scholars from all fields are welcome!