Call for Papers

In the past decade our understanding of T. S. Eliot and his work has been significantly enhanced by a number of important studies. Most recently, Barry Spurr’s ‘Anglo-Catholic in Religion’: T. S. Eliot and Christianity (2010) helped to clarify the nature and evolution of Eliot’s Christian belief. Elsewhere, in T. S. Eliot and the Cultural Divide (2003), David Chinitz challenged the previous perception of Eliot as a highbrow elitist opposed to popular culture. In addition to the aforementioned seminal works, the commencement of the T. S. Eliot Research Project has granted researchers and academics unprecedented access to archival resources from around the world, including those owned by Mrs Valerie Eliot, the Eliot Estate, and Faber & Faber Ltd. To date, this has resulted in four volumes of correspondence, and scholars now eagerly await the release of new fully comprehensive collections of Eliot’s complete poems, prose and plays. Undoubtedly, this is an exciting period in Eliot studies and as we approach the 50th anniversary of Eliot’s death, this conference seeks to draw attention to the multifarious research into Eliot’s life and work which is currently being undertaken.


We welcome papers from postgraduate and early career researchers which address all areas of Eliot studies, which may include:

• Eliot and Popular Culture

• Eliot and Interdisciplinary studies – art, music, film, theatre, dance etc.

• Psychoanalysis – gender, sexuality and desire.

• Landscape, environmentalism and ruralism

• Eliot and Modernism

• Eliot and anti-Semitism

• Eliot and Publishing

• Eliot and Correspondence

Organisers: Jeremy Diaper (University of Birmingham) and Matt Geary (University of Birmingham)

The format of the day will consist of 20 minute presentations, followed by a discussion of each paper. The conference will be introduced with a keynote speech from Dr Jason Harding and Professor Steve Ellis will conclude the conference with his thoughts on the future of Eliot studies.

Please send 300-400 word proposals along with a brief 100 word academic biography to Jeremy Diaper (jxd668@bham.ac.uk) and Matt Geary (mkg703@bham.ac.uk) by December 1st 2013.

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