9th Annual Braniff Conference in the Liberal Arts
The "Perennial Quarrel" between Poetry and Philosophy
Friday, October 27 - Saturday, October 28, 2023
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Anthony Esolen
Dr. Anthony Esolen is a highly acclaimed lecturer, rhetorician, and writer. He is moreover a talented social commentator, translator of classical poetry, and professor of English Renaissance and classical literature. Among his books are , and , and most recently . He is a specialist in Dante and has published a translation of the three parts of the Comedia. He has also translated Lucretius' On the Nature of Things. Dr. Esolen holds his Master's and PhD in Renaissance Literature from UNC Chapel Hill. He is currently Distinguished Professor of Humanities at Thales College.
Dr. Esolen is also a regular contributor to Magnificat where his beautiful prose uplifts many a praying Catholic. Be sure to visit his new website, , which in his own words "is the place to go for meditations on the beauty and sometimes the wildness of the English language, on English poetry and hymns, and on the sometimes forgotten gems of the Golden Age of film."
Closing Keynote Speaker: Dr. Glenn Arbery
Dr. Glenn Arbery
has a wonderful history with 吃瓜网. A convert at 25, he entered the
Church at 吃瓜网, where he met his wife-to-be, Virginia Lombardo, and later took his PhD
in Literature and Politics. He has taught literature at the University of St. Thomas
in Houston; Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in Merrimack, New Hampshire; the University
of Dallas (through the Dallas Institute); and Assumption College in Worcester, Massachusetts,
where he held the d鈥橝lzon Chair of Liberal Education. In 2013, he and his wife Virginia,
also a PhD from 吃瓜网, went to Wyoming Catholic College to teach Humanities, Trivium,
and Philosophy. Dr. Arbery became president of Wyoming Catholic in 2016.
Dr. Arbery has served as Director of the Teachers Academy at the Dallas Institute
of Humanities and Culture and as an editor at People Newspapers in Dallas, where he
won regional and national awards for his writing. In addition to numerous essays and
reviews, he has published two volumes with ISI Books,
Why Literature Matters
and
The Southern Critics
, editor. He is also the editor of
The Tragic Abyss
for the Dallas Institute Press and
Augustine鈥檚 Confessions and Its Influence
, St. Augustine Press. His novel
Bearings and Distances
was published by Wiseblood Books in 2015, and his second,
Boundaries of Eden
, was published in 2020. He and his wife Virginia have eight children and twenty-four
grandchildren
About the Conference
The theme for the 9th Annual BCLA is "The 'Perennial Quarrel' between Poetry and Philosophy." We understand poetry in the ancient Greek sense of poiesis, that is, as knowledge made manifest in producing something. Hence, our conference will explore poiesis and how it harmonizes -- or even conflicts -- with philosophy. We welcome the attendance of professors, graduate students, and undergraduates in any discipline in the humanities or the sciences. Our speakers and panelists 鈥� professional and graduate scholars from multifarious disciplines in the humanities or sciences 鈥� will present papers either relating the theme to their artistic craft (e.g. in the fine arts, music, theater, engineering, or architecture), or explore philosophical, literary or political implications of this seeming 'quarrel' between the life of praxis and the life of theoria.
The conference will take place at the , located in Irving, TX.
Presenters
Information forthcoming.
Call for Papers
The Braniff Graduate Student Association of the 吃瓜网 is pleased to announce the 9th Braniff Conference in the Liberal Arts. The conference takes up, this year, the 鈥淧erennial Quarrel鈥� between Poetry and Philosophy.
Having banished poetry from the kallipolis of Plato鈥檚 Republic, Socrates, in Book X, doubles back to the subject. 鈥淚n case we are charged with a certain harshness and lack of sophistication,鈥� he says, 鈥渓et鈥檚 also tell poetry that there鈥檚 an ancient quarrel between it and philosophy.鈥� If poetry can prove, he continues, that 鈥渋t ought to have a place in a well-governed city, we would,鈥� he concludes, 鈥渂e glad to admit it.鈥� (Republic X, 607b-c.)
What is the 鈥渁ncient quarrel鈥� to which Socrates refers? How has it played out over the millennia, whether in or out of the tradition? What distinguishes poetry, interpreted broadly as poiesis, from philosophy? Which can more fully grasp truth, or wisdom? What sorts of insights can each attain? Which figures from the tradition are poets, and which are philosophers? Can an author be both? How do poetry and philosophy properly relate? On what basis can we make that judgment?
We invite scholars working in the liberal and fine arts to submit abstracts of no more than 500 words that consider questions related to the nature of poetry and philosophy, and especially the relationship between the two, from any time period and cultural context. Adopting an interpretation of poiesis that extends beyond the literary to the musical and plastic arts, we also encourage submissions by practitioners who are willing to reflect upon the nature of their own media. Papers may adopt a stance from within a single discipline, attempt to establish a neutral or overarching perspective, and/or exposit the thought of a particular author on these issues. We do ask that each proposal exhibit an awareness of its own evaluative standpoint.
Preference will be given to those working in the liberal and fine arts disciplines including鈥攂ut not limited to鈥攑hilosophy, literature, politics, theology, history, psychology, music, drama, painting, sculpting, print-making, and cinema. The conference committee will invite select presenters to submit their papers to Ramify: The Journal of the Braniff Graduate School of the Liberal Arts.
Please submit abstracts to udbgsaconference@gmail.com. Abstracts should be prepared for blind review. Please include a separate cover letter with your name, paper title, email address, and institutional affiliation.
The deadline for abstract submissions has been extended to Tuesday, September 12. Presenters will be notified of their acceptance by Monday, September 18th and will be asked to submit their full papers, suitable for a 15-minute presentation (no more than 2,500 words), by Wednesday, October 18th.
Conference Program
Previous Conferences
- 8th Annual BCLA: For Every Time, a Season | Keynote Speaker: Andrew Williard Jones, PhD, Franciscan University of Steubenville
- 7th Annual BCLA: | Keynote Speaker: Mark T. Mitchell, PhD, Patrick Henry College
- 6th Annual BCLA: | Keynote Speaker: Jason Baxter, PhD, Wyomic Catholic College
- 5th Annual BCLA: | Keynote Speaker: Michael Waldstein, PhD, Franciscan University of Steubenville
- 4th Annual BCLA: | Keynote Speaker: Eva Brann, PhD, St. John's College
- 3rd Annual BCLA: | Keynote speaker: Ronna Burger, Philosophy, Tulane University
- 2nd Annual BCLA: | Keynote speaker: Ron Smith, Poet Laureate of Virginia
- Proceedings from the 1st Annual BCLA: On Reason and Revelation, were published by . The keynote speaker was , Philosophy, Salve Regina University