The Society for Neo-Latin Studies (SNLS) is planning an international conference on Neo-Latin style, to be held in London on 18 and 19 September 2025.
This conference aims to bring people together to stimulate discussion on Neo-Latin material across the two days by offering a range of formats for interaction. Thus, in addition to a keynote lecture and traditional paper sessions (with papers of 20 minutes plus discussion), there will be roundtable discussions, papers followed by comments by respondents as well as a display of posters throughout the conference. Expressions of interest to contribute to any of these formats are now invited.
The conference aims to take a more in-depth look at the question of ‘Neo-Latin style’ by asking the following questions: What is meant by ‘style’? What is the early modern and the contemporary terminology to describe this phenomenon? Is there such a thing as ‘Neo-Latin style’? What features of Neo-Latin texts need to be investigated to be able to define their ‘style’? Does the style of Neo-Latin texts develop over the period traditionally defined as that of Neo-Latin literature and, if so, how? Are there any noticeable stylistic differences between texts in prose and in verse and between texts of literary genres? What is the relationship between ‘style’ and translation? How might ‘Neo-Latin’ style differ from the style of classical antiquity? Can one discern any patterns in the use or imitation of particular classical and / or other contemporary authors? Does style differ between texts produced in different countries (by writers with different vernaculars as their native languages)? How might modern research tools and methods (e.g. access to digitized and searchable texts, databases, digital humanities) contribute to research on Neo-Latin style? What has the subject already achieved in terms of research on Neo-Latin style (for instance, the recent research network on ‘Baroque Latinity’) and what would be projects for the future? These (and other) questions may be looked at in broader overviews or by means of individual case studies.
The conference will start at around midday on the first day and conclude soon after lunch on the second day, so that most attendees would only need to stay in London for one night (unless they wish to stay for longer). All presenters are expected to attend in person, though the option to join online as audience members will be set up in due course. At the moment it is not expected that there will be much funding for this conference (though funding applications are in progress). Thus, presenters and other in-person attendees should expect to pay for their own travel and accommodation; in return, there will not be any conference fees, and refreshments during the day will be provided.
Anyone interested in offering a paper, a response, a poster or participating in a roundtable discussion should send an expression of interest to the organizers (Gesine Manuwald at g.manuwald@ucl.ac.uk and Lucy Nicholas at lucy.nicholas@sas.ac.uk) by 31 October 2024. This expression of interest should include name and affiliation, indicate the format for which the contribution is intended and, where appropriate, a title for the contribution and an abstract of up to 300 words. Informal enquiries before the deadline will also be welcome.