4th Biennial John Dos Passos Society Conference: May 23-25, 2024
4th Biennial John Dos Passos Society Conference: May 23-25, 2024
Bassano del Grappa, Italy
Important dates:
Abstract Submission Deadline: February 1, 2024
Notification of Acceptance: February 28, 2024
Registration Fee Deadline: April 1, 2024
Payment for Optional Gala Dinner (70 euros): April 1, 2024
Graduate Student Travel Grant Deadline: April 15, 2024
The John Dos Passos Society is proud to announce its 2024 biennial conference in Bassano del Grappa, Italy, at the stunning fifteenth-century Villa Cà Erizzo Luca, where Dos Passos was stationed as an American Red Cross ambulance driver in the winter of 1918.
All panels will take place in the beautiful Cappella Mares within the Villa’s grounds. It was from atop the Cappella’s bell tower that Dos Passos would often make landscape sketches, write in his diary, and compose lines of poetry (which were included in the “Nights at Bassano” section of his 1922 collection A Pushcart at the Curb). The Villa is also the home of the Hemingway and Great War Museum, which offers a number of fascinating displays detailing Hemingway’s ambulance assignment in nearby Schio.
We invite abstracts for twenty-minute presentations dealing with any aspect of John Dos Passos’s life, works, and/or professional relationships. Comparative approaches are also welcome. In keeping with the setting and venue, we especially encourage proposals that relate to Italy, World War I, or the relationship with Hemingway.
For consideration, please send an abstract of 250-300 words and a brief CV to conference organizers Aaron Shaheen and Rosa María Bautista-Cordero at Aaron-Shaheen@utc.edu and rosa.bautista@uam.es by February 1, 2024. The conference language is English.
Nestled in the foothills of the Italian Alps, which saw some of the harshest fighting of World War I, Bassano del Grappa is an hour train ride from Venice’s Mestre rail hub. Most major cities in the United States and Europe offer daily flights to Venice’s Marco Polo International Airport. Everything in Bassano, including the Villa Cà Erizzo Luca, is accessible by foot. Enjoy meandering through the city’s winding medieval streets, visiting its twelfth-century church, or drinking grappa from its famous covered bridge spanning the Brenta River.
The conference registration fee is 100 euros for full-time scholars and 50 euros for graduate students and the general public. The registration fee includes the following:
1. One-year John Dos Passos Society membership
2. Lunch at the Villa on the first day of the conference
3. Admission to the Hemingway and Great War Museum on the Villa’s grounds
4. Guided tour of nearby Monte Grappa, the site of three battles between the Italian and Austrian armies
5. Certificate of participation
The conference gala dinner, held in the Villa’s eighteenth-century dining hall, is not included in the conference fee but is offered at a discounted price of 70 euros.
There is no sponsoring hotel for the conference. Hotel accommodation in Bassano must be made separately by participants. All major travel websites list the city’s many lodging options.
Graduate students may apply for a travel grant by sending a short letter of motivation and their full paper to the conference organizers by April 15, 2024. Grants will be awarded to recipients after the conference.
