CFP: Reworking Walter Scott

31^st March – 2^nd April 2017, University of Dundee

Plenary Speaker: Professor Alison Lumsden

As we continue to celebrate the 200^th anniversaries of the first publication of many of Walter Scott’s major works, including Waverley (2014), Rob Roy (1817) and Ivanhoe (1819), and as works by Stevenson, Conan Doyle, and other Scottish writers continue to appear on screen and other media, this conference invites papers or panels that reconsider the theory and practice of reworking Scottish texts. With a particular focus on the influence of Walter Scott’s novels, short stories, poems and plays, contributors will illuminate new approaches to the study of adaptation, appropriation, continuation, parody, pastiche, and other forms of secondary authorship. How have writers, musicians, artists and other creators responded to the writings of Scott and others? Have they imitated poems or prose wholescale or have they favoured specific passages and characters? And how might we encourage new creative reworkings of Scottish writing in the 21^st century? Topics might include, but are not limited to:

* The publication and republication of Scott’s and Scottish works in stand-alone editions, collected works, anthologies, abridgements, magazines or other print fora.
* Translations and other forms of textual appropriations of Scott’s and Scottish works.
* Filmic, theatrical, operatic, musical or visual adaptations of Scott’s and Scottish works.
* Continuations, extensions, parodies or pastiches of Scott’s and Scottish works.
* Allusions to and imitations of Scott in the works of other prose writers or poets. Counterfeits, forgeries, plagiarisms or other unacknowledged alterations.
* Issues or problems associated with the theory and practice of adaptation and appropriation.

This conference has been supported by the Royal Society of Edinburgh and The Centre for Scottish Culture at the University of Dundee. Speakers will be invited to submit an expanded version of their paper for a special issue of a leading academic journal (enquire within). Conference abstracts should be directed to Daniel Cook by 16^th December 2016. Applicants will be informed of the outcome within 10 days. A limited number of Postgraduate bursaries will be available (enquire within). The conference programme will be circulated in mid-January 2017.

Conference Schedule:

Friday 31^st March 2017, 12pm-5pm – “drop in” creative workshops in which we will collaborate on adaptations in different forms. Also scheduled: arranged performances and a film screening.

Saturday 1^st April 2017, 9am-5pm – a full day of conference panels and roundtable discussions.

Sunday 2^nd April 2017, 10am onwards – arranged trips.

Committee: Daniel Cook, Lucy Linforth, Paul Barnaby, Chris Murray, and Brian Hoyle