Brine Family Charitable Trust Announces April 17-18, 2008 Multidisciplinary Conference on Iconography of Judith and Holofernes at New York Public Library
"The Sword of Judith" is a multidisciplinary scholarly conference and publication on the iconography and textual traditions of the biblical heroine Judith. The conference will be held April 17-18, 2008.
(PRWEB) October 10, 2007 -- The Brine Family Charitable Trust announces a call for papers for the April 17-18, 2008 multidisciplinary academic conference "The Sword of Judith" for art historians, literary critics and Italian renaissance and biblical scholars. "The Sword of Judith" conference will use technology to enable multidisciplinary collaboration and community with the philosophy that creative scholarship is a social process. With a combination of a private Web site and wiki technology, scholars will be able to pre-circulate their work and utilize an electronic forum to converse before and after the conference.
This multidisciplinary scholarly conference and publication is designed to promote collaboration and exchange between scholars, writers, and critics working on Judith in biblical studies, literary criticism, narratology, gender, art history, Italian Renaissance, English, and Hellenistic studies.
The biblical heroine Judith is one of the most challenging and provocative figures in the Judeo-Christian tradition and Western art. Why does Judith continue to receive so much scholarly and critical attention? For over 2,200 years the canonicity of The Book of Judith, the historical basis of the narrative, and its authorship has been challenged and disputed. Donatello's sculpture Judith and Holofernes is studied as a metaphor for the Medici rule of Florence; Artemisia Gentileschi's painting Judith and Holofernes is studied as a metaphor for female resistance to male dominance.
The powerful appeal to the visual imagination of the Judith narrative has inspired and challenged Western scribes, illustrators, draftsman, painters, and sculptors for two millennia. The Judith text is part of the earliest and most complete manuscript of Beowulf. Judith was portrayed by both Dante in The Divine Comedy and Chaucer in The Canterbury Tales. The intellectually influential Lucrezia Tornabuoi Medici wrote an important religious poem titled "Judith" in the fifteenth century. Donatello, Mantegna, Giorgione, Michelangelo, Artemisia Gentileschi, Caravaggio, Botticelli, Johann Liss, Egon Schiele, Gustav Klimt, Oskar Kokoschka, Mozart, Scarlatti, Martha Graham, and Lope de Vegas have all presented us with creative interpretations of Judith. Judith's beheading of Holofernes is a paradigm for female agency; its depiction invokes the aesthetic of sublime terror.
The figure of Judith is kept alive in the Jewish tradition on the festival of Chanukah. Pope John Paul's homily on Judith and Mary reaffirmed Judith's traditional parallel to the mother of Christ. Roman Catholics still chant Judith's liturgy as part of the triennial lectionary on appointed days.
Up to ten university- or operating foundation-administered grants are available from $6,000 to $11,000 for research on the Judith theme. Submissions should include the scholar's CV and a proposal limited to 1,500 words. Grant request submissions must include the administering institution's name, address, federal tax identification number, nonprofit designation, the name of the department/program chair or director, a detailed pro forma budget request, and the e-mail address of the institution's administrative contact. Grant requests require the signature of the department chair/program director. The budget can include up to 20 percent department allocation. Direct all submissions to Judith2008 @ rarewildflower.org.
Submission and Publication Timeline
- November 30, 2007 Proposal submission deadline.
- December 31, 2007 Papers selected (Distinguished Academic Panel in formation). Applicants notified by e-mail.
- December 31, 2007 Rollout of "The Sword of Judith" Web site and PBwiki. "The Sword of Judith" conference will use technology to enable multidisciplinary collaboration and community with the philosophy that creative scholarship is a social process. With a combination of a private Web site and wiki technology, scholars will be able to circulate their work and utilize an electronic forum to converse before and after the conference.
- January 15, 2008 Grants remitted for university- and foundation-administered grants.
- March 21, 2008 Completed papers must be ready to be posted on the conference website
- April 17-18, 2008 "The Sword of Judith" conference held for invited participants in the Celeste Bartos Room at the New York Public Library. All travel expenses and accommodations will be paid for participants.
- August 31, 2008 All final entries submitted by e-mail for publication. On receipt of the publishable final paper, the remaining 30 percent of the research/production stipend remitted. Work submitted after August 31 will not be eligible for the final payment or publication.
- Fall 2008/Winter 2009 Publication of "The Sword of Judith" by Jason McCoy Inc./Caryatid LLC Publications.
About the sponsorship of "The Sword of Judith" Conference and Publication
"The Sword of Judith" conference and publication is sponsored by the Brine Family Charitable Trust, founded by Kevin R. Brine in 1989 to support academic research at New York's educational, medical, and cultural institutions. Past exhibitions and conferences funded by the trust have included The Sir William Jones Symposium: "Scholarly Reflections," held at New York University in 1994; Heroic Armor of the Italian Renaissance: Filippo Negroli and his Contemporaries, held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1999; and Warriors of the Himalayas: Rediscovering the Arms and Armor of Tibet, held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2006. Mr. Brine's books include Objects of Enquiry: The Life, Contributions, and Influences of Sir William Jones (1746-1794) (co-edited with Garland Cannon), New York: New York University Press, 1995; and The Porch of the Caryatids: Drawings, Paintings, and Sculptures: With essays by Kevin R. Brine, Graham Nickson, Adam Weinberg, Mariët Westermann and Alexandra Munroe, New York: Jason McCoy; Watermill, NY: Caryatid LLC, 2006.
"The Sword of Judith" 2008 Conference and Publication
The Brine Family Charitable Trust
Copyright Brine Family Charitable Trust
E-mail Judith2008 @ rarewildflower.org
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