The Atkins Goethe Conference
Metamorphoses: Goethe and Change
University of Illinois at Chicago
3-6 November 2011
The Goethezeit was a time of momentous innovations, radical paradigm shifts, and revolutionary changes. Throughout his life, Goethe adopted many different attitudes toward change. He experienced it actively and passively, contributed to it, but at times he also sought to stem the tide and remain at a distance from contemporary events.
This conference explores how Goethe’s works respond to contemporary changes and to change in general. Papers might address changes in the economic, political, military,social, literary, aesthetic, philosophical, and scientific arenas. They might also ask how our present experience of change impacts our understanding of change around 1800.
Organized by the Goethe Society of North America, the conference will feature two full days of panels and keynote lectures by Dieter Borchmeyer, Martin Walser, and David Wellbery. We are extremely grateful to Mr. Stuart Atkins for his generous support of this conference in honor of the memory of his parents, Lillian and Stuart P. Atkins. We are also grateful to the Max Kade Foundation, the DAAD, the German Consulate General of Chicago, the Goethe Institut of Chicago, and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago for their support of this conference.
