“Expanding the Frontiers of Comparative Literature”

An interesting conference to be held this August in Seoul. Unfortunately, the deadline for paper submission is passed, but some of the topics on the agenda look pretty good. Held triennially (what?why?) it is described as:

The Congress of the International Comparative Literature Association (ICLA) is the Olympics of literature. Held triennially, this monumental event brings together over 1,000 academics and writers from more than thirty different nations and provides a platform for lively exchange about literary studies, creative writing, and pedagogy. Transcending the national, linguistic, theoretical, and geographical boundaries which, more often than not, compartmentalize literature and its studies, the ICLA Congress also has an interdisciplinary approach to literature through an inclusive and extensive consideration of philosophy, politics, economy, science, technology, environment, and culture as they relate to literature.

And the Korean Comparative Literature Association sees it as an opportunity to “fix” something

KCLA would like to reestablish the status of humanities in Korea and demonstrate its potential to the international academic community. As president of KCLA, I sincerely would like to ask for your interest in and genuine commitment to the XIXth Congress of the ICLA in 2010 in Seoul, Korea.

If anyone is going to come and check this out, drop me a line and I’ll happily tour-guide.

I am amused (which comes before “appalled” in your comprehensive dictionary) to see that they can’t spell “abstract” correctly.