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News
Conrad Society Awards for 2007
The Ian P. Watt Prize for Excellence in Conrad Scholarship for 2007 was awarded to Norman Sherry. Professor Sherry is author of Conrad's Eastern World (Cambridge 1966), Conrad's Western World (Cambridge 1971), and Conrad and His World (Thames & Hudson, 1972). He is also editor of Conrad: The Critical Heritage (Routledge & Kegan Paul 1973) and Joseph Conrad: A Commemoration, Papers from the 1974 International Conference on Conrad (Macmillan 1976). His books on Conrad's Eastern and Western worlds in particular have served as major resources to generations of Conrad scholars. The gracious generosity of the late Ruth Watt originally made this award possible. The Adam Gillon Book Award in Conrad Studies 2005 for book published from 2001 through 2004 was presented to Michael Greaney for his book Conrad, Language, and Narrative (2002). The judges wrote: "Exploiting the insights of various theorists while coming to terms with Conrad's skepticism, Greaney's study incorporates various recent concerns, not least issues of gender, in an eminently informed but consistently lucid and purposeful examination of Conrad's fiction from Almayer's Folly to The Arrow of Gold." "[I]t combines an adventurous conceptual project . . . with a deft empirical feel for Conrad as a whole." Greaney writes "with wit and elegance often hard to attain when discussing the metaphysical issues involved. What could have been . . . merely a poststructural, Derridean thesis about writing vs. speech becomes an unexpected entre into the quandaries of society and art that have continually perplexed Conrad and his more sensitive readers alike." Second place went to John Peters for his book Conrad and Impressionism (2001). The judges wrote, "[S]uch is the rigor with which this study exfoliates the implications of Conrad's commitment to what Walter Pater famously calls the "relative spirit" in human perception that one finishes the study ready to call Pater Conrad's absent father as well as Woolf's." Third place went to David Adams for his book Colonial Odysseys (2003). The judges wrote that this is one of the top works "by virtue of its philosophical sweep . . . and also by the mix of subtlety and audacity that characterizes his readings of Nostromo and the neglected "Karain." Honorable mentions went to Martin Bock's Joseph Conrad and Psychological Medicine (2002), Lissa Schneider's Conrad's Narratives of Difference: Not Exactly Tales for Boys (2003), Andrew Mozina's Joseph Conrad and the Art of Sacrifice: The Evolution of the Scapegoat Theme (2001), and Stephen Ross's Conrad and Empire (2004). Conrad Society Elections
The Joseph Conrad Society (UK) has launched an impressive new web site. It should be of interest and use for all students of Conrad's life and works. (See our Links page for the a link to the site.) Special Issue of The Conradian Special issue of The Conradian:
Under Western Eyes
Joseph Conrad Foundation Looks for New Editor
Sad News for Conrad Scholars
Please send relevant news items to John Peters at jpeters@unt.edu |
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