Event overview
A one day Symonsposium
Keynote Speakers:
Marion Thain (New York University)
Nick Freeman (Loughborough University)
Arthur Symons (1865-1945) is the dominant figure in English Decadent verse of the late nineteenth century. Some of his best poems had already perfected some of the techniques often attributed to the modernists, distilling the energy of the impression in a way that proved inspirational for the next generation. He was also a prolific translator and influential critic and wrote on a diversity of art forms, including ballet and music, championing the French schools of Impressionism, Decadence and Symbolism. His critical writings on the work of Paul Verlaine and Stéphane Mallarmé stimulated new thinking about the possibilities of modern poetry, and served as an important conduit through which French literary movements reshaped English literature. Symons stood at the crossroads of tradition and modernity. At the heart of his Decadent poetics was the paradoxical notion that poetry should ‘fix’ fleetingly ‘the quintessence of things’, an idea which looks back to the psychological unfixities of Baudelaire’s verse and forward to the melancholy and romantic modernism of T. S. Eliot.
This one-day symposium explores the contribution of Symons to the literary and artistic culture of the fin de siècle, with a particular focus on his early verse.
9.30 Registration
10.00 Keynote
Marion Thain (New York University), ‘Decadent Epistemologies: Arthur Symons’s Cognitive Somatics’
11.00 Intermezzo: Coffee
11.20 Panel I: Moods and Memories
Alex Murray (Queen’s University, Belfast), ‘Symons and Elizabethan Decadence’
Catherine Maxwell (Queen Mary, University of London), ‘Arthur Symons: Perfumed Thoughts and Fragrant Memories’
Kostas Boyiopoulos (Durham University), ‘The Shore-line of Infinity: Symons’s Infinite Self and the Misuses of Symbolism’
12.40 Lunch
1.40 Panel II: Continental Influences
Leire Barrera-Medrano (Birkbeck, University of London), “‘A first step towards modern harmony”: Arthur Symons and the Primitivist Modernity of Flamenco’
Sarah Green (Oxford University), ‘Insincere Obscenities’: Lionel Johnson’s Assessment of Arthur Symons’s Work’
Bénédicte Coste (University of Burgundy), ‘Arthur Symons at the Fin de Siècle: The French Experience’
3.00 Intermezzo: Tea
3.30 Panel III: Symons and Friends
Laurel Brake (Birkbeck, University of London), ‘“The Painting of the Nineteenth Century”: Symons, Simeon Solomon and Walter Pater at the Fin de Siècle’
Rita Dirks (Ambrose University), ‘A Literary Friendship: Arthur Symons and Bliss Carman, Mediators of Decadence’
John Stokes (King’s College London), ‘For Api: Arthur Symons’s canine elegy’
4.50 Interlude
5.00 Plenary
Nick Freeman (Loughborough University), ‘Never Say No: Arthur Symons and the Profession of Authorship’
6.15 Jewelled Tortoise: Drinks and Books Launch
Dates & times
| Date | Time | Add to calendar |
|---|---|---|
| 21 Jul 2017 | 9:30am - 7:00pm |
Accessibility
If you are attending an event and need the College to help with any mobility requirements you may have, please contact the event organiser in advance to ensure we can accommodate your needs.
