Event Schedule

Faulkner and Chopin Conference Program
Center for Faulkner Studies
Southeast Missouri State University
October 2-4, 2008

Meeting Place

The conference will be held in the University Center (on Normal Avenue) on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University. Paper sessions will meet in the Missouriana Room, Indian Room, the Board Room (all on the third floor), and Room 205 (on the second floor). The Banquet and Keynote Address will be held in the Ballroom (on the third floor).

Banquet

The conference banquet is scheduled for 6 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 2, with a buffet dinner followed by the keynote address. Tickets to the banquet are $15, and paid reservations must be received by Sept. 1.

Keynote Address: "Storm Stories: Chopin and Faulkner in New Orleans"

The keynote speaker will be Barbara C. Ewell, Dorothy Harrell Brown Professor of English at Loyola University New Orleans. Professor Ewell is the author of a critical study of Chopin and numerous articles on Chopin, Faulkner, and other Southern writers.

Papers

This conference will feature scholarly presentations on a variety of topics related to William Faulkner and/or Kate Chopin. Topics will include Faulkner's and Chopin's narrative techniques as well as their treatments of race, gender, class, family, the South, New Orleans, and the role of the artist. There will also be papers on Faulkner and Chopin in the classroom. Sessions are scheduled for all day Friday (beginning at 8:30), and Saturday morning.

Faulkner/Chopin Exhibits

Books, manuscripts, and other memorabilia from Southeast Missouri State University's Louis Daniel Brodsky Collection of William Faulkner materials will be on exhibit throughout the conference. Also available for viewing (arranged by Kathleen Nigro of the University of Missouri--St. Louis) will be Kate Chopin materials from the Missouri Historical Society library archives and the Chopin collection at Maryville University. Both exhibits will be mounted in the Rare Book Room of Kent Library, next door to the University Center. Louis Daniel Brodsky, the Curator of the Brodsky Collection; Dr. Lisa Speer, Head of Kent Library's Special Collections; and Dr. Nigro, Assistant Director of the Institute for Women's and Gender Studies at the University of Missouri--St. Louis, will host a special showing of the exhibits from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., Friday, October 3. A reception for conference registrants will accompany that event.

"A Salon with Kate Chopin and William Faulkner"

7 p.m., Friday, October 3, University Center Ballroom
(public invited, free admission)

A readers' theater presentation based on the writings of Faulkner and Chopin. Scripted and directed by Roseanna Whitlow.

Historical Tour

On Saturday afternoon, Oct. 4, from 1:30 to 3:30, Dr. Frank Nickell, director of Southeast Missouri State University’s Center for Regional History, will conduct a bus tour of the Mississippi River riverfront and other historic sites in and around Cape Girardeau. Seating is limited, so please register in advance. Cost is $12 per person. (For those not taking the historical tour, the conference will conclude at noon on Saturday.)

Papers Presented

The Center for Faulkner Studies is sponsoring this program in partnership with the Missouri Humanities Council and with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 2

Registration 4:30-6:00 p.m.

University Center

Opening Banquet 6:00 p.m.

University Center Ballroom        

Welcome 7:00 p.m.

Provost Jane Stephens                                                                                               

Keynote Address:

“Storm Stories: Chopin and Faulkner in New Orleans”

Dr. Barbara C. Ewell

Dorothy Harrell Brown Professor of English at Loyola University New Orleans. Professor Ewell is the author of a critical study of Chopin and numerous articles on Chopin, Faulkner, and other Southern writers.

Supported by the Missouri Humanities Council

Reception for Professor Ewell 9:00 p.m.

At the home of Dr. Robert and Kaye Hamblin, 313 Themis

All conference participants are invited to attend.                                                  

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 3

Registration 8:00 a.m.

University Center

Panels and Presentations

(Missouriana & Indian Rooms)

Session 1

Faulkner and Latin America

8:30 a.m.-10:00 a.m., Friday, Missouriana Room

Organizer and Moderator: Emron Esplin, Kennesaw State University

“Black, Mexican, and Black Mexican: Collapsing Mexican and Black Identities”

—Emron Esplin, Kennesaw State University

“Faulkner and Mexican Moderism”

—Charles L. Etheridge, Jr., Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

“Diasporas At Home: The Synecdoche as a Narrative of the Nation in William Faulkner”

—David M. Montieth, University of Western Ontario

“Faulkner, Capitalism, and Liberation Theology”

—Carolina Miles, University of Texas-Pan American

Faulkner, Chopin, and Race

8:30 a.m.-10:00 a.m., Friday, Indian Room

Moderator: Matt Turner, Southeast Missouri State University

“Blank Canvases: Chopin’s Narrative Art in ‘Desiree’s Baby’”

—Samantha Tieu, California State University, East Bay

“The Oppression of Caddy and Ikkemotubbe in Faulkner’s ‘Appendix’ to The Sound and the Fury”

—Sarah Adams, University of North Texas

“Miscegenation and the Mystique of New Orleans: Identity and Race Consciousness in Chopin and Faulkner”

—Ryan Crider, University of Louisiana at Lafayette

Session 2

Faulkner, Chopin, and Gender

10:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m., Friday, Missouriana Room

Moderator: Alisa M. Smith- Riel, Northern Illinois University

“In Search of Agency: Edna and Charlotte Find Independence, and Death, in The Awakening and Wild Palms”

—Alisa M. Smith-Riel, Northern Illinois University

“How Merry Are the Widows in Kate Chopin’s At Fault and William Faulkner’s ‘There Was a Queen’?”

—Julie Kares, Southern Illinois University - Carbondale

“You’ll Never Find a Woman Who Is Worthy of You”

—Victoria Bryan, University of Tennessee - Chattanooga

Faulkner and Chopin: Plantation Tradition

10:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m., Friday, Indian Room

Moderator: Gretchen Martin, The University of Virginia’s College at Wise

“The White Woman’s Burden: Chopin, Faulkner, and the Inheritance of the Old Plantation”

—Jeremy Wells, Southern Illinois University - Carbondale

“The Green Breast of the Southern Plantation: Equating Women and Property in Faulkner’s Go Down, Moses and Chopin’s ‘A No-Account Creole’”

—Christopher Rieger, Southeast Missouri State University

“Empowering the Pedestal: Unvanquishable Grannies in Faulkner and Chopin”

—Gretchen Martin, The University of Virginia’s College at Wise

Session 3

Faulkner Suite (poems)

1:30 p.m.-3:00 p.m., Friday, Missouriana Room

Moderator: Dale Haskell, Southeast Missouri State University

“How I Read Faulkner”

—Sue Walker, Poet Laureate of Alabama, University of South Alabama

“Making Faulkner Suite into a Book”

—Mary Ann Sampson, The One-Eye Opera Company Press 

Faulkner and Chopin: Reacting Against Gender Roles

1:30 p.m.-3:00 p.m., Friday, Indian Room

Moderator: Leslie Loyd, Southeast Missouri State University            

“Failing to Know Their Roles: Examining Parallels between Addie Bundren and Edna Pontellier”

—Jessica Copous, Bethel College           

“The Impediments of Intimacy: The Problem of Love and Marriage”

—Jonathan Sedberry, University of South Carolina

“Moving Beyond Acceptable Boundaries: Another Critical Awakening”

—Donna J. Essner, Southeast Missouri State University

Session 4

Faulkner, Chopin, and History

3:30 p.m-5:00 p.m., Friday, Missouriana Room

Moderator: Kathleen Butterly Nigro, University of Missouri-St. Louis

“Some Medical History Embedded in Faulkner’s Characters”

—Geri Harmon, Atlanta Metropolitan College

“Faulkner and the Great Depression’s Ideological Crisis”

—Benjamin T. Foster, Southern Illinois University - Carbondale

“Kate Chopin, Free Love, and Spiritualism”

—Kathleen Butterly Nigro, University of Missouri - St. Louis

Faulkner and Chopin: Class and Property

3:30 p.m-5:00 p.m., Friday, Indian Room

Moderator: William L. Frank, Longwood University

“Is Edna Really a ‘Courageous Soul That Dares and Defies’?”

—Marlene Hendricks, Indiana University of Pennsylvania                                                         

“Disowning the Environment:  The Problem of Relinquishing Ownership in Faulkner’s Go Down, Moses”

—Scott Cameron, Brigham Young University - Idaho

“Economy of Race:  Exploring the Links between J. Christ and J. Christmas in Faulkner’s Light in August”—Constance Beitzel, Southern Illinois University - Carbondale

Reception & Viewing of Rare Book Room 5:30-6:30 p.m.

Kent Library, Main Floor, West Wing

Hosts: Louis Daniel Brodsky, Curator of the Brodsky Collection; Lisa Speer, Southeast’s Archivist/Head of Kent Library’s Special Collection; Dr. Kathleen Nigro, Assistant Director of the Institute for Women’s and Gender Studies at University of Missouri - St. Louis

Readers’ Theater Presentation  7:00 p.m.

University Center Ballroom

“A Salon with Kate Chopin and William Faulkner”

Based on the writings of Chopin and Faulkner

Scripted and Directed by Dr. Roseanna Whitlow

Instructor of Communications Studies, Southeast Missouri State University

Supported by the Missouri Humanities Council

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4

Coffee Service 8:00 a.m.

University Center

Panels and Presentations

(Missouriana and Indian Rooms)

Session 5

Faulkner and Chopin in the Classroom

8:30 a.m.-10:00 a.m., Saturday, Missouriana Room

Moderator: Branimir Rieger, Lander University

““Perspectives of Experience:  Chopin’s ‘The Story of an Hour’ and the Non-Traditional Student”

—Tiechera Samuell, Three Rivers Community College (Missouri)

“New Southern Studies in the Classroom:  Understanding the South as Borderlands through Faulkner, Chopin, and Velazquez”

—Jee Eun Kim, University of Southern Mississippi