The Byron Society of America is pleased to announce one of its two Special Sessions at the 2008 MLA Convention in San Francisco: 

"Byron and/as/in Popular Culture"
Byron’s fascination with popular culture; his representation of it; Byron as a populist; Byronic artefacts and commodities; Byron’s appropriation in popular culture in his lifetime and beyond.

We solicit papers on any aspect of Byron’s interest in the popular culture of his time, the circulation of his works among a popular audience, and the ways in which Byron and his works were appropriated and redeployed in popular texts.  Papers could address topics ranging from boxing to Luddism, texts ranging from piracies to theatrical adaptations, and artefacts ranging from gift annuals to satiric prints.  Interdisciplinary or multi-media approaches are especially welcome, as are papers that pursue Byron’s reception history into unexpected places.

Please send 300-word abstracts to Tom Mole by 15 March 2008.