As an Allied Organization of the Modern Language Association, the Byron Society of America sponsors a Byron session at the annual convention of the MLA, held in late December each year. Recent sessions are described below.
2007 - Byron and America
Saturday, 29 December
10:15 - 11:30 a.m., Columbian, Hyatt Regency Chicago, IL
Presiding: Jonathan Gross, DePaul University
1. “Byron in American Music: From Schoenberg to Goth,” John Clubbe,
Professor Emeritus, University of Kentucky
2. “Bryon, Stowe, and Lady Byron Vindicated,” Austin Graham, University
of California at Los Angeles
3. “Byron, Hawthorne, and Anglo-American Tourisn,” Maureen McCue,
University of Glasgow
2006 - Byron, Don Juan, and Ottava Rima
Friday, 29 December, 8:30-9:45 a.m.
Liberty Ballroom Salon B, Philadelphia Marriot, Philadelphia, PA
Presiding: Peter W. Graham, Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ.
Speakers: Catherine A. Addison, Univ. of Zululand; Fred D'Aguiar, Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ.; Evan Gurney, Univ of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Maria Schoina, Aristotle Univ.; Andrew M. Stauffer, Boston Univ.
2005 - Byron, Scotland and the Scots
Wednesday, 28 December, 3:30-4:45 p.m.
Kennedy Mariott Wardman Park Hotel, Washington, D.C.
Presiding: Hermione B. Almeida, Univ. of Tulsa
1. “‘A-roving’: Byron, Burns, and the Erotic Intertext,” Carol McGuirk, Florida Atlantic Univ.
2. “Strange Liberties: Reading between Inchbald, Byron, and Ferrier,” Ben P. Robertson, Troy State Univ., Troy
3. “Crossing ‘Dark Barriers’: Intertextuality and Dialogue between Byron and Sir Walter Scott,” Susan Oliver, Univ. of Cambridge, Wolfson Coll.
2004 - Byron in the East: Research: Resources on the Atlantic Coast
Monday, 30 December, 12:00-1:15 p.m.
Independence Ballroom Salon II, Philadelphia Marriot, Philadelphia, PA
Presiding: Charles E. Robinson, University of Delaware
1. "Institutional Collections in New England and New York: Where Money Reigned," Donald H. Reiman, University of Delaware.
2. "The Byron Society Collection at the University of Delaware: ‘Many things most new to ear and eye,'” Marsha M. Manns, The Byron Society of America
3. "Byron in Philadelphia," Stuart Curran, University of Pennsylvania.
2003 - Byron and Gender
Monday, 29 December, 3:30-4:45 p.m.
Gregory A, Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel, San Diego, CA
Presiding: Paul Douglass, San Jose State University.
1. "Byron's Mysterious Sexuality," Gary R. Dyer, Cleveland State University.
2. "Don Juan in America: 'The Sultana,' Slavery, and Cross-Dressing," Susan J. Wolfson, Princeton University
3. "No Sex Please, We're Literary: Reviewing Byron's Biographies, Reading Childe Harold's Pilgrimage," Jonathan David Gross, Simon Fraser University.
2002 - Byron and Romantic Politics
Saturday, 28 December 2002, 7:15-8:30 p.m.
Sutton Center, Hilton Hotel, NYC
Presiding: Jeffery W. Vail, Boston University
1. "The Vision of Judgment and the Specters of 'Author,'" Susan J. Wolfson, Princeton University
2. "Byron and the Death of Napoleon," John Clubbe, Santa Fe, NM
3. "A Tale of Two Citizens: Byron, Wordsworth, and Political Idealism," James P. Soderholm, Lewis and Clark College
2001 - Byron as Muse
Thursday, 27 December 2001, 7:00-8:15 p.m.
Grand Couteau, Sheraton, New Orleans, LA
Presiding: Jonathan David Gross, DePaul University
1. "Byron as Mask, Muse, and Model," Peter W. Graham, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
2. "Old Man! 'Tis Not So Difficult to Die": A Schopenhaurean Reading of Lord Byron's Manfred," William A. Martin, McMaster University
3. "Schumann's 'Manfred' Overture as an Interpretation of Byron's Dramatic Poem," Elizabeth Paley, Duke University
4. "On Being Manfredic: Byron and Mapplethorpe," Elizabeth Fay, University of Massachusetts, Boston.
2000 - Images of Byron
Saturday, 30 December 2000, 12:00 noon-1:15 p.m.
McKinley, Marriott Wardman Park, Washington, D.C.
Presiding: Peter W. Graham, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
1. "An Unknown Portrait of Byron," John Clubbe, Santa Fe, NM
2. "The Female Gaze: Some Women's Portraits of Byron," Susan J. Wolfson, Princeton University
3. "Byron's Modern and Postmodern Images," Jerome J. McGann, University of Virginia
1999 - Byron and Disability: A Roundtable
Monday, 27 December, 7:00-8:15 p.m.
Columbian, Hyatt Regency, Chicago, IL
Presiding: Andrew Elfenbein, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Speakers: Stuart Samuel Peterfreund, Northeastern University; Marjean D. Purinton, Texas Tech University; Christine Kenyon Jones, University of London; Paul Youngquist, Penn State University, University Park
Respondent: Rosemarie Garland Thomson, Howard University
1998 - Byron's Feminine Circle
Monday, 28 December 1998, 8:30-9:45 a.m.
Franciscan Room C, San Francisco Hilton, San Francisco, CA
Presiding: Cheryl Fallon Giuliano, University of California, Los Angeles
1. "Byron's Satiric Blues," Steven E. Jones, Loyola University, Chicago
2. "'The Byron of Our Poetesses': Letitia Elizabeth Landon," Adriana Craciun, Loyola University, Chicago
3. "Writing 'At the Peril of My Life': Clairmont, Byron, and Epistolary Prophecy," Natalie E. Kapetanios, New York University
1997 - Writing Lives: Byron and The Biographer's Art
Monday, 29 December 1997, 8:30-9:45 a.m.
Manitoba, Royal York, Toronto
Presiding: Paul M. Curtis, Universite de Moncton
1. "A Biographer's Approach to Byron," Phyllis M. Grosskurth, University of Toronto
2. "Detached Thoughts on 'Detached Thoughts,'" Peter W. Graham, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
3. "Byron's Acting Career: The Biography of a Figure," Margot F. Harrison, University of California, Berkeley
