Expanded Poetics: Romantic, Modernist, Contemporary

For the Jena Romantics, the term poesie was understood not as restricted by reference to poetry as a form of literary writing, but rather as a form of knowledge and practice encompassing the arts and sciences as well as the conduct of everyday life. This “expanded” concept of poetry, or poiesis, was articulated at the outset of the Industrial Revolution and intimately tied to the transformation of social life by modern technology.

The goal of this two-day symposium is to situate contemporary practices of "interdisciplinary" poetics with respect to this Romantic precedent, considering the intervention of modernist pan-artistic experimentation as a key mediating term of their relation. How have interdisciplinary approaches to poetry and poetics been transformed across the history of modernity by social, political, and technological changes at the beginning of the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries?

Expanded Poetics: Romantic, Modernist, Contemporary will bring together poets, critics, and theorists to address this question from a variety of perspectives, modeling examples of contemporary poetic practice and theorizing the historical, political, and aesthetic stakes of poetic interdisciplinary in the present.

Attendance is open to all, but seating is limited. Priority will be given to those who reserve a place in advance by emailing expandedpoetics@gmail.com.