About the event
To celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of the publication of Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick's paradigm-shifting Between Men: English Literature and Male Homosocial Desire. The Graduate Center, CUNY, in collaboration with the History of Art Department at the University of York, will host a one-day, interdisciplinary and international conference addressing both the singular impact of Sedgwick's ground-breaking work and its multiple and on-going ramifications.
"Universally cited as the text that ignited gay studies,” according to Rolling Stone magazine, and as "in many ways the book that turned queer theory from a latent to a manifest discipline,” the symposium features a series of short papers engaging with the text, its reception, and its relevance to the evolving field of queer studies. Additionally, a panel of editors who have published, and continue to publish, Sedgwick’s writing will discuss working with her and the nature of her authorship as its image or significance changed over the decades.
The reception will feature exhibits of two new publications: A thirtieth anniversary edition from Columbia University Press of Sedgwick’s Between Men, with a new foreword by Wayne Koestenbaum, and a chapbook by Guillotine Press of a previously unpublished 1990 essay of Sedgwick’s, [Censorship & Homophobia], with a foreword and notes by Sarah McCarry.
CONFERENCE SCHEDULE 10:00-5:30pm
Talk Session 1 10:00-11:30 am
Moderator: Jason Edwards, University of York
“The Eve Effect”
-Wayne Koestenbaum, CUNY Graduate Center
"Reckless Pleasure: The Style in Sedgwick's Preface"
-Angus Brown, University of Oxford
“Eve Between the Lesbians: Lesbian-Feminist Criticisms of Between Men”
-Kathryn R. Kent, Williams College
"Between Men's Bodies"
-Michael Moon, Emory University
Panel “Publishing Eve” 11:30am-1:00pm
Moderator: Andrew Parker, Rutgers University
Jennifer Crewe, Columbia University Press
William Germano, Cooper Union
Sarah McCarry, Guillotine Press
Nancy K. Miller, CUNY Graduate Center
Ken Wissoker, Duke University Press and CUNY Graduate Center
Lunch 1:00-2:30pm
Talk Session 2 2:30-4:00pm
Moderator: Joshua Wilner, City College and Graduate Center, CUNY
“A Piss on the Grass: Between Men at Thirty”
-Jason Edwards, University of York
"Beyond Between Men: Eve Sedgwick's The Warm Decembers"
-Carolyn Williams, Rutgers University (New Brunswick)
“Looking Back Up the Postern Stair: The Open Secret of Meaning in Edwin Drood”
-Ben Westwood, University of Oxford
"Between Men in 30 Years”
-Cathy Davidson, CUNY Graduate Center with the assistance of Kalle Westerling and Danica Savonick, CUNY Graduate Center
Talk Session 3 4:00-5:30pm
Moderator: Carolyn Williams, Rutgers University (New Brunswick)
“Between Women, Between Men”
-Michele Wallace, City College and Graduate Center, CUNY
“Analytic and Unpresuming: Intellectual Suppleness in Between Men”
-Ben Nichols, Kings College, London
"Gen/Ten"
-Sharon Marcus, Columbia University
“Misgivings”
-Jonathan Goldberg, Emory University
Reception and book exhibits 5:30-7:00pm
For more information about Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick's life and work, visit: http://evekosofskysedgwick.net
Co-sponsored by the CUNY Graduate Center’s Advanced Research Collaborative, the CUNY Graduate Center’s Futures Initiative, Guillotine Press, Columbia University Press, and the CUNY Graduate Center’s Ph.D. Program in English.
