Ninth International Melville Conference to be held June 4-7

Abraham Lincoln’s 1961 Inauguration Library of Congress – Civil War Photos – Item 96511712

The Melville Society’s ninth international conference—to be held June 4-7, 2013, in Washington, DC—features the Civil War writings of two of the major poets of the nineteenth century: Walt Whitman and Herman Melville.  Sponsored by the Melville Society, the Washington Friends of Walt Whitman, the Mickle Street Review http://micklestreet.rutgers.edu/) at Rutgers University-Camden, and the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences at George Washington University, the conference is timed to coincide with the Sesquicentennial of the war and a rich array of museum exhibits, artistic performances, and commemorative activities in and around the nation’s capital.  The conference will be held on the campus of George Washington University and the Arts Club of Washington, just blocks from the White House, Corcoran Gallery, National Portrait Gallery/Museum of American Art, Ford’s Theater, and other museums and historical sites in downtown DC.  More than one hundred scholars from the United States and many other countries—from Europe, the Middle East, and Asia—will be speaking, presenting papers, and participating on panels on a host of topics related to Whitman’s and Melville’s writing about the Civil War and its aftermath.  Additional conference-sponsored activities will include guided tours of special collections at the Library of Congress and the Folger Shakespeare Library; walking tours of Civil War Washington and Walt Whitman’s Washington; an exhibit of Melville- and Whitman-inspired art by contemporary artists; and a choral performance of Whitman’s and Melville’s poetry. 

For further information and to register for the conference, consult the Melville Society website (www.melvillesociety.org) or contact Chris Sten (csten@gwu.edu) or Joe Fruscione (josephk@gwu.edu). 

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