The University of Liège in Belgium will hold a symposium titled “Altered States: Configuring Madness in Caribbean Literature” in April, with renowned international scholars and Caribbean writers participating.
The event is being hosted by CEREP
(Centre d’Enseignement et de Recherche en Etudes Postcoloniales / Centre for
Teaching and Research in Postcolonial Studies), one of the first research units
in Europe to focus on postcolonial and formerly Commonwealth studies. Founded in
1968 by Prof. Hena Maes-Jelinek, an acclaimed academic and author, the Centre frequently
organizes seminars, lectures and conferences at the University of Liège.
Current director Bénédicte Ledent says that the
symposium takes as its main starting point the "ubiquitous representation of
various forms of mental illness, breakdown and psychopathology in Caribbean
literature" and the fact that this topic has been relatively neglected in
criticism, especially in Anglophone texts, apart from scholarship devoted to
Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea.
“While acknowledging a small number of recent
publications on the topic … we believe that much remains to be done to rethink
the trope of ‘madness’ across Caribbean literature by local and diaspora
writers,” she said.
Those interested in attending the sympsium can find registration information here: http://www.madness.ulg.ac.be/programme.html
