Lawrence Durrell & Co:
A Multicultural Circle

University of Ottawa
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, 20-24 June 2002

This conference explores all aspects of Durrell's multifaceted work, with emphasis on his daring synthesis of many idioms and traditions. On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday afternoons, plenary sessions, followed by open discussions, will examine how his ideas do, indeed, "conjoin all fields of thought." The concluding session on Monday is a Poetry Extravaganza designed, in true Durrellian style, to synthesize all the conference themes. We invite everyone to participate in these sessions. Buses will be provided for off-campus locations some distance away.

Thursday, June 20

9:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Special Pre-Conference Program for Graduate Students
Directed by James Gifford, University of Alberta, Canada

10:00- 11:15
"Encountering Lawrence Durrell" - round table
-- Kathleen Foran (Johns Hopkins University)
-- Isabelle Keller (Universite de Toulouse le Mirail)
-- Jessica Fure (Georgetown University)
-- Don Kaczvinsky (Louisiana Technical University)
-- Anne Zahlan (Eastern Illinois University)
MODERATOR: Beatrice Skordili

11:30- 12:45
"Professional Skills: Publishing and Research" - round table
-- Samira Farhoud (student)
-- Beatrice Skordili (Agora)
-- Ian MacNiven (Deus Loci)
-- Carol Peirce (Deus Loci)
-- Shelley Cox (Special Collections, University of Southern Illinois)
MODERATOR: Charles L. Sligh

1:00 - 2:20
Break - Lunch and Orientation

2:30 - 3:40
Humanities Computing - "Effective Uses and Approaches"
-- Introduction: "Technology and the Palimpsest in Literature and Landscape"
-- Susan Hesemeier (University of Alberta) "Using Canonized Theory to Study Tools for the Humanities"
-- Mike Maclean (University of Alberta) "Suggesting Critical Strategies through the Poetics of Blake"
MODERATOR: James Gifford (University of Alberta)

3:50 - 5:00
Humanities Computing - "Tools - Format - Help: Electronic Scholarship Today"
-- Introduction: "Dreaming the Rossetti Archive and the Future of Electronic Editing"
-- Cam Fraser (University of Alberta) "Pitfalls in Developing a Literary Computing Web Site"
-- Joseph Ferenbok (University of Alberta) "Humanities Computing Project Management"
MODERATOR: Charles L. Sligh (University of Virginia)

5:00 - 7:00 PM Registration and Reception

7:00 PM Opening Ceremonies: Welcome and Keynote Panel
Lawrence B. Gamache, University of Ottawa, Canada
Paul H. Lorenz, University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, USA

THE MULTICULTURAL DURRELL
Introducer: David Staines, Dean, Faculty of Arts, University of Ottawa. Scholar, Canadian studies and medieval literature.
Ian S. MacNiven, Athens, New York, USA. Author of Lawrence Durrell: A Biography. "The Multicultural Durrell."
M.G. Vassanji, Toronto, Canada. Novelist and 1994 winner of the Giller Prize for best novel, The Book of Secrets. "The Boy in the Street: A View from Across."
Respondent: David Staines

Friday, June 21

9:15 - 10:30 AM Concurrent Sessions

I. CULTURAL PORTRAYALS OR BETRAYALS
Moderator: James M. Decker, Marycrest International University, Davenport, Iowa, USA
"The Greek Islands and Regional Character," Jill Franks, Austin Peay State University, Clarksville, Tenn., USA
"Exil vs. Expatriation," Samira Farhoud, Université de Montréal, Canada
"Saying Something for America," Jane Eblen Keller, University of Baltimore, USA

II. LIGHTS AND ACTION
Moderator: Michael Cartwright, Chadron State College, Neb., USA
"L'adaptation théâtrale du Quatuor d'Alexandrie," Catherine Venne, Université Laval, Québec, Canada
"Humour and Homage in 'Bromo Bombastes,'" Ray Morrison, Vancouver, BC, Canada
"The Murex-Tinted Cyclorama: City Scenes, Color Tones and Painting in the Quartet," Jack F. Stewart, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

10:45 AM - Noon Concurrent Sessions

I. DURRELL'S WORK HABITS, INSPIRATIONS AND AMBITIONS
Moderator: Charles L. Sligh, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, USA
"Durrell the Omnivore: A Presentation with Slides," Shelley Cox, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, USA
"Durrell en Languedoc: d'une carrière a l'autre," Christiane Séris, Association Lawrence Durrell en Languedoc, Sommières, France
"The Incense of Homage: Durrell and Einstein," John U. Peters, California State University, Northridge, USA

II. THE LANGUAGE OF SEXUALITY
Moderator: Lyn Goldman, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
"Durrell's Synthesis of Desire," J. Robert Baker, Fairmont State College, Fairmont, W. Va., USA
"Durrell's Addiction to Words and Women," R.W. Challoner, Antibes, France
"Homoerotic Anxiety and the East/West Dialectic in Monsieur," James Gifford, University of Alberta, Canada

2:00 - 4:00 PM Plenary Session and Open Discussion

THE MYSTIC DANCE: SPIRITUAL INTERFERTILISATIONS
Introducer: Ian S. MacNiven, Athens, New York, USA
"'Through the bodies of other selves'--Between Eastern and Western History: A Quest for Redemption," Isabelle Keller, Université de Toulouse le Mirail, France
"The Marriage of East and West in the Quintet," Paul Lorenz, University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, USA
Respondents: Ian S. MacNiven, Athens, New York, USA; Richard A. Hood, Denison University, Granville, Ohio

5:30-7:00 PM Cocktail Reception, generously sponsored by Dean David Staines, University of Ottawa, Canada

8:00 PM THE MUSICAL DURRELL: A PERFORMANCE
Sacre Coeur Church
Organizer: James Gifford, University of Alberta, Canada

Saturday, June 22

9:15 - 10:30 AM Concurrent Sessions

I. MAITRE MILLER
Moderator: Donald P. Kaczvinsky, Louisiana Technical University, Ruston, USA
"A Hidden Chain of Death in Miller's 'Jabberwhorl Cronstadt,'" Jeff Bursey, Charlottetown, PEI, Canada
"June Miller: A Biographical Quest," James M. Decker, Marycrest International University, Davenport, Iowa, USA
"A Man Cut in Slices--New Reflections on Henry Miller's Paris Years," Karl Orend, Paris, France

II. SYMBOLIC QUESTS
Moderator: Norman Bradford, Goucher College, Towson, Md., USA
"Sir Perceval and Sir Darley: The Grail Quest and the Fool's Journey," Kathleen Foran, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md., USA
"Occult Symbolism in the Quartet," Vadim Mikhailin, Saratov State University, Russia
"'Freud is there too, very much there': Durrell's Freudian Scenarios," Beatrice Skordili, Syracuse University, USA

10:45 AM - Noon Concurrent Sessions

I. FORMS OF OTHERNESS
Moderator: James R. Nichols, Statesboro, Ga., USA
"Joshua Samuel Scobie: Cross-Dresser as Multiculturalist," Dennis Moran, University of Notre Dame, Indiana, USA
"The 'Negroes' of the Quintet," Anne R. Zahlan, Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, USA
"Still and Troubled Waters in the Quartet," Dan Popescu, University of Oradea, Romania

II. FAR-FLUNG INFLUENCES
Moderator: Dominic Manganiello, University of Ottawa, Canada
"Vision and Blindness: The Quartet and Atwood's The Blind Assassin," Jessica Fure, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA
"Lawrence Durrell and Ford Madox Ford" Beatrice Battaglia, Università di Bologna, Italy
"Eliot's Quartets and Durrell's Quartet: A Poet's Themes in a Novelist's Plots," Jeff Klassen, University of Ottawa

2:00 - 4:00 PM Plenary Session and Open Discussion

TIME AND THE SOUL: PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL READINGS
Introducer: Lawrence B. Gamache, University of Ottawa, Canada
"Durrell's Dionysian Time in Prospero's Cell," John M. Rose, Goucher College, Towson, Md., USA
"Lives Lived Backward--An Archetypal Approach to the Lives and Writings of Durrell and Nin," Jean Bradford, Goucher College, Towson, Md., USA
Respondents: Lawrence B. Gamache, University of Ottawa, Canada; James Gifford, University of Alberta, Canada

4:00 - 5:00PM International Durrell Society Meeting
Presiding: Anne R. Zahlan, President of the Society

Evening free

Sunday, June 23

9:15 - 10:30 AM Concurrent Sessions

I. DANGEROUS KNOWLEDGE
Moderator: Joan Pinkney, St. Paul's College of Visual Arts, Minn., USA
"Nostalgia and the Absolute: Modern Allegory in Durrell and Wilson Harris," Dominic Manganiello, University of Ottawa, Canada
"Servant/Master Relationships in Marlowe's Dr. Faustusand Durrell's Irish Faustus," Nabil M. Abdel-Al, United Nations, New York, USA
"The Quartet and Heimato von Doderer's The Demons," Peter G. Christensen, Cardinal Stritch University, Milwaukee, Wisc., USA

II. WOMEN AND WORDS
Moderator: Virginia Kirby-Smith Carruthers, University of Baltimore, USA
"Woman--The Apotheosis of Mechanism," James R. Nichols, Statesboro, Georgia, USA
"Transcending Cultural Heritage: How Anais Nin Created Her Own Language," Paul Herron, Sky Blue Press, Sterling Heights, Mich., USA
"Durrell and Karen Blixen: Two Sides of Modernism," Finn Jensen, Copenhagen, Denmark

10:45 AM - Noon Concurrent Sessions

I. MEDITERRANEAN CULTURES AND CONFLICTS
Moderator: Jane Eblen Keller, University of Baltimore, USA
"'This betraying landscape': Shrinking Colonial Space in Mountolive," Pamela J. Frances, Northwestern State University of Louisiana, Natchitoches, USA
"'Christians like yourself': Copts in the Quartet," Leslie S.B. MacCoull, Society for Coptic Archaeology (North America), Tempe, Ariz., USA
"Bitter Lemons: A Revisionist Reading," Mona H. Monès, Cairo University, Egypt

II. MEMORY AND TRUTH
Moderator: Edward Hungerford, Ashland, Oregon, USA
"Selective Fictions: Truth, Time and Meaning in the Quartet," Justin Parks, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, USA
"The Ambivalence Between Self and Other in Durrell," Darren Miller, University of Ottawa, Canada
"Durrell's Alexandrian Experience and the Recovery of Meaning in History," V.A. Rao, St. Stephen's College, Delhi, India

2:00 - 4:00 PM Plenary Session and Open Discussion

POLITICS, MORALITY AND THE WEB OF INTERRELATIONSHIPS
Introducer: Anne R. Zahlan, Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, USA
"The Revolt of Aphrodite: Durrell's Cultural Critique," Dianne L. Vipond, California State University, Long Beach, USA
"Cavafy, Sade, Einstein and the Question of Morality in the Quartet," Richard A. Hood, Denison University, Granville, Ohio, USA
"Eroticism, Transgression and Orientalism in the Quartet," Shyamal Bagchee, University of Alberta, Canada
Respondents: Anne R. Zahlan, Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, USA; Shelly Ekhtiar, SUNY Oswego College, New York, USA

4:00 - 5:00 PM Silent Auction Conclusion

6:30-7:00 PM Reception
Banquet Hall, University of Ottawa

7:00 PM Remarks
Presiding: Anne R. Zahlan, President of the Society
Peter J. Chenery, Ottawa, Canada. Director, the British Council. "Durrell, Antrobus and Cultural Diplomacy: Some Personal Reflections."

8:00 PM Dinner (Reservations necessary)

Monday, June 24

9:15 - 10:30 AM Plenary Session and Panel Discussion

I. E-DURRELL: THE WEB SITE TODAY AND TOMORROW
Chair: Anna Lillios, University of Central Florida, Orlando, USA
Panelists: Greg Dickson, Durrell Society Webmaster, Claremont, Calif., USA
Donald P. Kaczvinsky, Louisiana Technical University, Ruston, USA
James Gifford, University of Alberta, Canada

The concluding session merges, as poetry will, mind, heart and soul. All conference participants are invited to read or perform a poem, then celebrate together with a champagne lunch.

11:00 AM - 2:30 PM "Seers and Poets": Poetry Extravaganza
Restaurant Dar Tajine (Transportation Provided)

"But the proverb says that whoever sees
the world from the back of an elephant
. . becomes a seer. I had to be content
to become a poet, but it was enough for
one life."

"From the Elephant's Back"

THE LANDSCAPES OF POETIC IMAGINATION
Moderator: David Radavich, Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, USA
"Orpheus, Homer, Horace: Figures in the Tapestry," Virginia Kirby-Smith Carruthers, University of Baltimore, USA
"Durrell's Poetic Work as Tapestry: The Exile's Layered Robe," Marth Minford Meas, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
"Some Poems of Durrell and Japanese Poetry," Michiko Kawano, Bukkyo University, Hyogo, Japan
Respondent: M.G. Vassanji, Toronto, Canada

1:00-2:30 PM Champagne Lunch (Reservations necessary)

READINGS SCHEDULED AND OTHERWISE
David Radavich, Eastern Illinois, University, Charleston, Ill., USA
Jennifer L. Leonard, Cambridge, Mass., "Reading White Mice Poetry Prize Winners"
Throughout the lunch, participants are encouraged to read poems by Durrell, if so moved.

"Accident or error conquered
By the gods of luck or grace,
Form and face,
Tribe or caste or habit,
All are aspects of the one
Affirming race."

"Cities, Plains and People"
(Beirut 1943)