Holger Schott Syme delivers the first keynote of the conference—about Marlowe in the German theater since Brecht.

Methods • Wednesday, July 11

July 12, 2018 in #marlowe 18, conferences, wittenberg 2018

THIS POST IS THE THIRD IN A SERIES OF DAILY CONFERENCE RE-CAPS WRITTEN BY EARLY CAREER SCHOLARS ATTENDING THIS YEAR'S CONFERENCE.

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By Meghan Andrews

Wednesday at the MSA International Conference was just as lively, intellectually stimulating, and provocative as the first day. Moreover, it felt unexpectedly yet rewardingly cohesive, as a distinct thread ran through most of the sessions I attended and helped the sessions, as well as the papers, speak to each other. It was not always the explicit topic of the panel (though sometimes it was), and the question was addressed more obliquely in some sessions than others, but what bound Wednesday together for me was the question of early modern authorial collaboration—and the productive tensions surrounding both our attempts to understand it and the rhetoric we use in so doing.

Reading the Past in the Present • Wednesday, July 11

July 12, 2018 in #marlowe 18, conferences, wittenberg 2018

THIS POST IS THE SECOND IN A SERIES OF DAILY CONFERENCE RE-CAPS WRITTEN BY EARLY CAREER SCHOLARS ATTENDING THIS YEAR'S CONFERENCE.

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By Megan Heffernan

The Marlowe Society of America is in the midst of an experiment in historiography. The conference is meeting this year in Wittenberg, a town in the east of Germany best known as the birthplace of the Reformation. It is home of Martin Luther, Lucas Cranach, Philipp Melancthon, and of course Marlowe’s Dr. Faustus (at least in one textual tradition). Drawing participants from across the globe, the 2018 MSA has wagered that location matters: that we as scholars can learn as much from the spaces that housed history as from the textual records of the past.

This ambitious gambit has already started to pay off, and in ways I hadn’t quite anticipated before I arrived. Walking the streets where Luther and his cohort of thinkers fomented a radical break with tradition, I have been startled to encounter the ways in which the history can inform or even live on in the present, perhaps becoming most vividly felt in the moments that emphasize the distance between then and now. Beyond a literal encounter with the world of Faustus, this conference is an opportunity to rethink how we tell responsible, passionate, and timely stories about the nature of our scholarly engagement with Marlowe, as well as the bodies and books that deliver versions of his authority to us today.

Marlowe Society of America President Kirk Melnikoff delivers the opening address in Wittenberg's magnificent Schlosskirche. (Luther is buried underneath the pulpit on the right.)

[Enter, SCHOLARS, Bearing Sundrie Papers.] • Tuesday, July 10

July 11, 2018 in #marlowe 18, conferences, wittenberg 2018

THIS POST IS THE FIRST IN A SERIES OF DAILY CONFERENCE RE-CAPS WRITTEN BY EARLY CAREER SCHOLARS ATTENDING THIS YEAR'S CONFERENCE.

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By Matt Carter

Settle thy studies, Faustus, and begin / To sound the depth of that thou wilt profess

The day started with a groggy breakfast but ended with Kirk Melnikoff’s august opening address in the Schlosskirche—the very place where Luther “published” his 95 theses. The Eighth International Conference of The Marlowe Society of America kicked off today in high fashion, and, much like the decorative bosses on the historic church’s vaulting, each scholar’s unique perspective added flavor to our first-day endeavors.

Tuesday offered two concurrent panel sessions, plus the official welcome address. Having to choose which panel to attend is always difficult at large conferences, and I chose “Marlowe and Shakespeare” and “Tamburlaine Before Marlowe: Authorship, Reading, & The Book.” What follows responds primarily to these two panels, but rest assured, during a late-evening reception at the Lutherhaus Refektorium, scholars who attended the other two sessions had nothing but praise for the work of their colleagues.

Welcome to Wittenberg and #marlowe18!

July 10, 2018 in conferences, wittenberg 2018, #marlowe 18

The Marlowe Society of America's Eighth International Conference in Wittenberg, Germany, begins later today! We are excited to welcome more than 80 scholars from around the world for four days of panels, keynotes, performances, sightseeing, and lively conversation. The full program is available here.

Please check back here each morning this week for re-caps of the previous day's talks and events written by the brightest early career scholars in the field. And, as always, follow along and connect with us on Twitter @MarloweMightyLn. The hashtag for the conference is #marlowe18.