EPIC 30/2023 - Edinburgh

30^th EZRA POUND INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

University of Edinburgh

27-30 June 2023

CALL FOR PAPERS FOR THE CONFERENCE VOLUME

Rethinking Modernist Internationalism:
The Cantos of Ezra Pound as a Global Epic

Given the range and quality of the papers addressing the theme of “The Legacy of The Cantos” at the 30^th Ezra Pound International Conference, Edinburgh University, June 2023, the Conveners now plan to select and edit for publication a collection of essays (possibly two), developed from those papers. We especially encourage scholars to submit essays on a new volume theme, “The Cantos of Ezra Pound as a Global Epic.” We also invite those who were unable to attend the conference to consider submitting essays on this topic. Papers on other subjects read at the conference may also be sent, but they will likely be referred to the editors of the Pound Biennial, Volume 2. Please consider submitting your essay to the volume editors, once you review the guidelines below.

Our topic and focus

We propose a volume of essays focusing on The Cantos as a global poem establishing lines of communication between Europe, The United States, and Asia. These lines are geographical and historical, as well as aesthetic; they go along axes of communication in literary cultures, together with their sites of emergence and publication; philosophies and morals of East and West; economics, whether liberal or alternative; and regimes of power, democratic, monarchic, or imperial. These articulations reflect Pound’s inclusive approach to a great number of cultures of the world, coupled with a care for the specificities of locale and historical periods. Essays exploring the ways The Cantos speaks for or to a particular country or region, as well as comparative essays investigating the poem’s international approach more generally, will be welcome.

In a second dimension, as a mirror reflection to Pound’s attempt to trace, include, and express lineaments of the world in his poem, the volume editors also welcome essays on the various ways The Cantos has been received and understood in various parts of the globe. Our conference in June was especially strong in papers delineating postmodern and contemporary poets’ readings of the poem, as well as nationally inflected approaches to translation and editing. These studies reflect not only The Cantos’ sustaining power to respond to the world, but also the diverse ways it has been mirrored, interpreted, and propagated in a variety of countries.

All  papers presented at the conference and reshaped for publication along our guidelines will be considered for the volume, or alternatively,
for the Pound Biennial, Volume 2, to be published by Clemson University Press.

Additional essays on the volume topic are also welcome.

Our guidelines:

1. Papers may be revised and expanded, but submissions should be no more than 5000 words, and may be less. 
2. Citations and documentation should follow Chicago Style, using endnotes only– except that references to The Cantos of Ezra Poundmay be cited by Canto number and page number (in parentheses) from the 1996 New Directions edition. For an overview, see https://www.libs.uga.edu/ref/chicagostyle.pdf
3. Please observe the following format: Font: Microsoft Word, Georgia 12, double spaced for text. Quotations of four lines or more should be double spaced and indented. Quotations of less than four lines may be incorporated in the text. Cite using endnotes; no Bibliography or Reference list is necessary.
4. Title should be centered in above text, followed by Author’s Name.
5. For Notes on Contributors, please include your own brief identification, such as professional title, institution, preferred address, and email address.
6. As a scholarly book, the provision for “fair use” of quoted material applies, meaning that short quotations require only that the source be identified without explicit permission. Longer quotations and other materials, besides those by Pound, may need written permission from the source, if the essay is accepted.

Please send your completed essay to the editors as an email attachment in a WORD file, clearly labeled with your name and essay topic. 

Roxana Preda This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Walter Baumann at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Deadline for receipt of essays: 1 February 2024