Just a Series of Interpretations of Bob Dylan's Lyrical Works:  An Academic Conference at Dartmouth College AUGUST 11-13, 2006 Sponsored by: The Provost, Dartmouth College Dean of the Faculty, Dartmouth College The John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding Dartmouth College Master of Arts in Liberal Studies Program, Dartmouth College The Department of English, Dartmouth College The Leslie Center for the Humanities at Dartmouth College Conference Director: Louis A. Renza, Department of English

  Previous conferences and symposia on Bob Dylan have addressed the complex composition of his works: their orientation toward (vocal, musical, live-concert, and/or recorded) performance; their links to and revisions of musical precedents; their social-historical significance; and Dylan’s own status as a cultural icon. But the singular quality of his imaginative art clearly lies as much if not more in his songs’ poetic density. The goal of the Dartmouth Conference is to give premier attention to this last side of Bob Dylan’s works--in short, to offer variant critical interpretations of them, lashed firmly to close readings.

            Speakers include (in alphabetical order):

Betsy Bowden
Aidan Day
Michael Denning
Janet Gezari
John Hinchey
Eric Lott
Michael Marqusee
Christopher Ricks

Conference papers will focus on the Dylan work in relation to the following topics: misogyny, anti-politics, the failure of romance, judgment, and the album as aesthetic unit.  Other topics include "Fast and Loose in Street-Legal" and Love and Theft and "Love and Theft."

Send all inquiries to Louis A. Renza at louis. a. renza @ dartmouth.edu, or (603)-646-2928.

Biographical information on conference participants

Conference Papers