Hearts of Darkness: Melville and Conrad in the Space of World Culture

Dear Colleague, Dear Friend -

Welcome to the official website and service of Hearts of Darkness: Melville and Conrad in the Space of World Culture, the Sixth International Conference of the Melville Society organized jointly with the Tall Ships' Races Szczecin 2007 Organization Office and the Joseph Conrad Society (PL, UK and US). In the subsections of this website you will find all necessary information about the Conference and the Szczecin Event itself. Thus, this site replaces the long Vaticans and street-stalls of the Earth and is the central tool for our communications. To navigate, browse the menu. To enter submenus - click on arrows to the left of the expandable elements of the menu. Otherwise, download the Conference Program here. Welcome on board!

Current News

Melville and the Mediterranean: Deadline Approaching	2008-08-24 12:28:18
The deadline for the Melville and the Mediterranean conference is approaching. Don't miss the chance to be part of a dramatic symposium situated in the midst of one of the most fascinating cities in the world, down whose figurative lanes Melville followed for years. You will deliver your papers primarily at the L'École Biblique, 6 Nablus Road in East Jerusalem. The Ecole is a French institution established in 1890, making it the oldest research institute in the Holy Land. Its campus lies within a beautiful enclosed garden that even has some archaeological remains, an excellent library and facilities. It is situated within two-minute walking distance from the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem, just outside Damascus Gate. Your will find other about the conference and how to submit proposals at http://www.unc.edu/~marr/jerusalem. Please let the organizers know about your plans and when we might expect your proposal for joining the pilgrim circuit! Tim Marr marr@unc.edu

Melville and the Mediterranean	2008-04-22 01:44:30
Melville and the Mediterranean Jerusalem, 17-21 June 2009 CALL FOR PAPERS download the conference flyer This conference is devoted to understanding the place of the Mediterranean and the “Holy Land” in Western consciousness. Using Melville’s epic Clarel: A Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land as one focus, the conference is meant to open up discussions related to travel, literature, other humanities and the sciences, aesthetics, anthropology, archaeology, ethnography, and religion. Papers and panels are welcome on a range of international writing about the region, including but not limited to the following: - Clarel as a major work of travel in the 19th century and today; its qualities and challenges; relation to political, historical, religious, mythological, scientific, ethnographic, and philosophical views; iconography and aesthetics; resurgence and necessity in the canon - Meaning of the Eastern Mediterranean (Levant) region, its position as a basin of culture, civilization, and mythology; the significance of its landscape and life to larger existential issues, in works by Melville and various writers, in different periods - Interest, comparatively, in other parts of the Mediterranean region - Connections between Melville and other writers and artists (e.g., Goethe, Humboldt, Piranesi, Kinglake, Poe, Hawthorne, Twain); connections to contemporaneous and later American, British, French, German, Italian, Persian, or other Eastern influences, and philosophies - Works encouraging study and translation of Melville in the region; alternative research and outlooks; translation and international context of Melville's works; Melville's poetry and poetics - 1876: U.S. Centennial, publication of Clarel, and other publications and events in that year - Theorizing on topics such as travel writing, Orientalism, postcolonial theory, race and ethnicity, applied to Melville or others The conference organizers welcome various perspectives and session formats. Appropriately, the activities of this world conference will be centered in international venues in the Old City of Jerusalem and its vicinity, and will offer opportunities for touring the region. KEYNOTE SPEAKERS: THOMAS L. THOMPSON, University of Copenhagen; author of The Mythic Past (The Bible in History: How Writers Create a Past) AMY KAPLAN, Professor of English, University of Pennsylvania; author of The Anarchy of Empire in the Making of U.S. Culture Send one-to-two page proposals for papers, roundtable discussions, and panels by 1 September, 2008 to the email addresses of the conference co-chairs: BASEM RA’AD basem48@yahoo.com TIM MARR marr@email.unc.edu and HILTON OBENZINGER obenzinger@stanford.edu

Conference Program Available for Download	2007-07-30 12:22:51
Dear Friends, The full conference program is now available for download. Please, click HERE to download the pdf. file Sincerely yours, Paweł Jędrzejko

Post-Conference Tours Cancelled	2007-07-11 23:43:16
Dear Friends, I regret to inform you that due to the fact that the interest in the post-conference tour packages and daytrips and proved very low, the MittelWest Europa had to cancel all the trips. Colleagues willing to spend more time exploring Poland are most welcome to visit the following websites: 1) http://www.staypoland.com/travel-to-poland.htm 2) http://www.staypoland.com/tour_b.asp 3) http://www.starttravel.pl/ 4) http://www.toursinpoland.com/ 5) http://www.tenetour.com/ Looking forward to seeing you in Szczecin, Pawel Jedrzejko

Last Calls	2007-06-05 18:32:33
Dear Friends, Dear Colleagues, I have just received a nicest letter from Mr. Marco Schuhmann of the Spreebogen Hotel reminding us of the fact that we are now past the deadline for the bookings. If any of the Colleagues still wished to book a room there, this is the last moment to act. You may contact the Hotel either via our conference website www.melville.us.edu.pl, or directly: Internet: www.hotel-spreebogen.de Telephone: +49 (0) 30 / 399 20 988 Telefax: + 49 (0) 30 / 399 20 999 Also, the Partnes at MWE remind us that the deadline for submission of the Booking forms for Post Conference Trips and Transportation Booking Forms expired in May. Should anyone wish to book a trip or transportation, please do it until the end of this week. You may contact the MWE via the "How to get there" and "Additional attractions" sections of our conference website www.melville.us.edu.pl Henceforth, the MWE and the Spreebogen Hotel shall consider their booking lists closed. Looking forward to seeing you in Szczecin, With all my best regards, Pawel Jedrzejko www.melville.us.edu.pl

A Reminder	2007-03-10 03:13:32
Dear Friends, As the time of the Conference is drawing nearer and nearer, Milton and I are getting more and more excited with the prospect of seeing you in Szczecin. At the same time, we are more and more busy with details of the organization process. Bearing in mind that the time is ripe to make flight reservations, we would like to suggest the following: (The suggestions below are tied to the info in the website). 1) The hotel managers would be most grateful if Colleagues participating in the Hearts of Darkness conference who have not heard from the hotels yet -- wrote them e-mails or faxes so that they can update their databases. Also, all Colleagues who have not been contacted by the hotels so far are kindly requested to write me an e-mail with the name of the hotel and details of their reservation; I'll call the hotels and will sort the confirmation out. Milton and I will be in Szczecin on April 2nd; we will talk to the hotels as well. The e-mail addresses and faxes of the hotels are available in our website - click here 2) Director Marco Schuhmann of the Speebogen hotel would very much appreciate it if those of the Colleagues who intend to fly into Berlin booked their rooms as soon as possible. The booking can be done via the hotel website or using the booking form available in our website - click here 3) Dates of the Berlin-Szczecin transports are included in the booking forms. Please download those from our website section "How to get there" (- click here ) The tentative prices of the transportation agreed upon with our partners from MittelWest-Europa are the following: Coach transportation per person - ca. 33 Euro (ca. 40 USD) Car transportation for min. 2 persons - ca. 54 Euro per person (ca. 67 USD) Car transportation for one person - ca. 103 Euro (ca. 127 USD) Participants willing to use this service please download the MWE Booking Form for fax or MWE Booking form for E-mail here and contact Mittel-West Europa by e-mailing the info-desk operated by personnel responsible for this section of our logistics. The dates for the departure of the busses have been set on the basis of the statistics of the reservations in Szczecin hotels, but should you wish to have me tailor another option, please send an e-mail to MittelWest Europa (cc'd to us) and they will try to make additional arrangements. Participants willing to make the booking at the Hotel Spreebogen at a reduced price, are kindly requested to fill in the off-line Spreebogen Hotel Booking Form and fax it to the hotel or send it by e-mail. Alternatively, please book your room using the hotel's online registration system. In such a case, please make sure that in section No. 4 of the form you mention that you are a Participant of the Hearts of Darkness Conference. 4) The deadline for the booking of Post-Conference Tours is getting close: Colleagues interested in this service are kindly requested by director Wojciech Zielinski of MittelWest Europa to do their bookings as soon as possible. To do that, please go to the "Additional attractions" section (click here). Select a tour, download a booking form, fill it in and mail or fax it off to MittelWest Europa. Should you have any questions, please, let me know: I'll be happy to solve problems that might come up. With all my best regards, Pawel Jedrzejko

Currency Converter	2006-09-05 23:44:43
Dear Friends, For your comfort, we have implemented links to a highly user-friendly Universal Currency Converter in appropriate places of this website. You may also wish to enter the Converter here. Yours, Paweł Jędrzejko

Hotel and Transportation from Berlin	2006-08-17 10:16:06
Dear Colleagues, It is our strong recomendation that the Conference Participants (expecially those making transcontinental journeys) converge at a reasonably priced Hotel Spreebogen in Berlin where they could stay at a reduced rate ahead of time should they so wish, and from which the shuttle bus to Szczecin arranged by us in cooperation with a tour operator would leave (the Volos model.) The tentative prices of the transportation agreed upon with our partners from MittelWest-Europa are the following: Coach transportation per person - ca. 100 PLN (ca. 34 USD) Car transportation for max 2 persons - ca. 180 PLN (ca. 65 USD) Car transportation for one person - ca. 350 PLN (ca. 100 USD) Participants willing to use this service contact Mittel-West Europa by e-mailing the info-desk operated by personnel responsible for this section of our logistics. Participants willing to make the booking at the Hotel Spreebogen at a reduced price, are kindly requested to fill in the off-line Spreebogen Hotel Booking Form and fax it to the hotel or send it by e-mail. Alternatively, please book your room using the hotel's online registration system. In such a case, please make sure that in section No. 4 of the form you mention that you are a Participant of the Hearts of Darkness Conference. Paweł Jędrzejko

Patronage of the President of the Republic of Poland	2006-06-07 05:33:36
It is our great pleasure to inform you that the President of the Republic of Poland, Lech Kaczyński, has agreed to become the Official Patron of the Tall Ships' Races Szczecin 2007 and all its events, including the "Hearts of Darkness, Melville and Conrad in the Space of World Culture" Conference. On behalf of the Organizers and Participants of the Conference, we wish to express our sincere gratitude for the recognition of the importance of our event and the honor of the Presidential Patronage. Paweł Jędrzejko and Milton Reigelman Co-Hosts of the Conference

Registration: ACTIVATED!	2006-03-21 16:47:56
Dear Friends, Our website is now fully operational: having negotiated prices with the Partnering Hotels Campanile and Novotel as well as with our Partner in logistics, MittelWest-Europa, we have activated the Online Registration Form and updated the Offline Registration forms. We have also updated information concerning the logistics of travel from Berlin to Szczecin and Berlin hotel booking; interested Colleagues are kindly requested to visit the "How to get there" section of this website. Also, the MittelWest-Europa, our partnering tour operator, have published the first of many post-conference tour offers available for our Participants. Please, check the "Additional attractions" section of the present website. We are looking forward to receiving your submissions! Sincerely yours, Pawe� J�drzejko and Milton M. Reigelman