[AMS-announce] CFP: Concepts of Creativity in Seventeenth-Century England, University of Manchester, UK, 6–7 September 2008

[ams-announce-admin at list.bowdoin.edu]

CONCEPTS OF CREATIVITY IN SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND

Two-day International Interdisciplinary Symposium, 6–7 September 2008
School of Arts, Histories and Cultures, University of Manchester, UK

Invited speakers: Prof. James Winn, Boston 
University (Keynote speaker); Prof. Andrew 
Walkling, Binghamton University; Prof. Amanda 
Eubanks Winkler, Syracuse University

Creation: 'a making or forming of something, as it were, out of nothing'
Edward Phillips, A Nevv VVorld of VVords, Or a 
General English Dictionary (London, 1678)

The early modern period witnessed the flowering 
of what, today, we would call the creative arts 
in England, and in recent years the social and 
cultural significance of such activities has come 
to be appreciated increasingly by scholars across 
a broad range of disciplines. But what exactly 
did it mean to form something, ‘as it were, out 
of nothing’ in the seventeenth century? While our 
modern understanding of creativity is firmly 
based around ideas of imagination and 
originality, it is far from clear that such 
concepts were always relevant to the production 
of visual art, music, plays, poetry and 
literature in the seventeenth century; moreover, 
basic tenets that we tend to take for 
granted—such as the primacy of the author—have 
been shown to be inappropriate in a number of 
significant studies. The aim of this 
interdisciplinary symposium is to explore ways in 
which we can seek to understand what it meant to 
be creative in the early modern period.

We welcome proposals for papers from an 
interdisciplinary field, including cultural 
historians, art historians, dance historians, 
theatre historians, musicologists and literary 
scholars. The deadline for receipt of abstracts 
is 31 January 2008; full details of the call for papers can be found at:
http://www.arts.manchester.ac.uk/subjectareas/music/research/musicalcreativity/conference

The symposium forms part of a four-year research 
project directed by Dr Rebecca Herissone; see
http://www.arts.manchester.ac.uk/subjectareas/music/research/musicalcreativity/