A Panel Discussion on Period and
Profession
The six position papers that follow were written for a plenary
panel at the 1997 NASSR (North American Society for the Study of
Romanticism) meeting, "Romanticism and Its Others," held at
McMaster University (October 23-26 1997). The panel,
"'Romanticism' in Crisis: A Panel Discussion on Period and
Profession," was inspired by exchanges over the past year--at the
1996 NASSR meeting, over the NASSR-L, on the Romantic Circles
website, at the 1996 MLA Convention, and elsewhere--on changing
definitions of British Romanticism, canon revision, the new
Romantics teaching anthologies and (most of all) the future of
British Romanticism as a hiring field. (The informal survey by Wolfson and Galperin that
helped galvanize these discussions, as well as some initial
reactions to it, are available elsewhere on this page.) The
panelists included William Galperin (Rutgers University), Susan
Wolfson [in absentia] (Princeton University), Greg Kucich
(University of Notre Dame), Charles Rzepka (Boston University),
Beth Lau (California State University, Long Beach), Clifford
Siskin (SUNY, Stony Brook), and Elizabeth Jones. The discussion
that followed was unusually lively and has continued on the
NASSR-L. We have posted the six position papers on the Features
page of Romantic Circles so that those who could not attend the
1997 NASSR meeting can now read them and join the ongoing
debate.