Event: Periodisation, Generation, and the Gaps Between Symposium

Periodisation, Generations, and the Gaps Between

Date & Time: Wednesday 7 May 2025, 13.00-17.00

Venue: International House, Institute of Advanced Studies, Loughborough University (Hybrid)

This symposium examines how periodisation, ageing and generational thinking shape our understanding of literary history. It will address how categorising individuals by period or movement shapes perceptions of their relevance, timeliness, and value, and how biases like ageism play a role. We consider how different genres, forms, and archives reveal the complexities of literary generations and explore the impact of periodisation on research and teaching practices.

Confirmed speakers:

• David Amigoni (Keele) – ‘What to do with a young late stylist? Structures of generational feeling and age autobiography in Paul Bailey’s At the Jerusalem (1967)’
• Fatima Borrman (KU Leuven) – ‘Imagining Grandmama: Skipping a Generation in Women’s Fiction’
• Helen Kingstone (Royal Holloway) – ‘Ageing and generations, between sociology and Victorian literature’
• Helen Small (Oxford) – ‘The Concept of the New across Generations’

The event is hybrid and free, but you do need to register (for in person or online attendance). 

Please register here: https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias/events/2025/may/jade-french-symposium/