Previous Comparative Literature Conferences ~ 1966 to present
2010-present conferences
48th Annual (2013)
Theme: Popular Culture(s)
Speaker: Hillary Chute
Special Event Screening: “Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman”
47th Annual (2012)
Theme: Drawing the Line(s): Censorship & Cultural Practices
Speaker: Ilan Stavans
B-Word Project Speaker: Azar Nafisi
46th Annual (2011)
Theme: The Comic Spirit in the Modern Age
Speakers: Judy Carter and Ray Lacoste
45th Annual (2010)
Theme: Visual Culture & Global Practices
Speaker: W. J. T. Mitchell
2000-2009 conferences
44th Annual (2009)
Theme: Johnny Got His Pen: Artists Involvement in Peace & War
Speaker: Milcho Manchevski
43rd Annual (2008)
Theme: Arrivals and Departures
(Host of Annual American Comparative Literature Association Conf.)
Speaker: Marjorie Perloff
42nd Annual (2007)
Theme: Women, Sexuality & Early Modern Studies
Speakers: Laurie Finke, Stacey Schlau
41st Annual (2006)
Theme: Ancient and Modern Narrative: Intersections, Interactions, and Interstices
Speakers: Georgia Ladogianni, Stephen Orgel
40th Annual (2005)
Theme: The Global Eighteenth Century
Speaker: Margaret Higonnet
39th Annual (2004)
Theme: Film, Ideology, and Culture
Speaker: Andrew Horton
38th Annual (2003)
Theme: Imagining Rome
Speaker: Dean Abernathy
37th Annual (2002)
Theme: Citizen of the World: Cosmopolitanism and Its Ancient Antecedents
Speaker: Edward Said (scheduled)
36th Annual (2001)
Theme: Dislocation of Culture: Postcolonial Literature and Cultural Theory
Speaker: Trinh Minh Ha
35th Annual (2000)
Theme: The Community in Literature
Speaker: Graciela Limon
1990-1999 conferences
34th Annual (1999)
Theme: The Self in Literature
Speaker: Marilyn Yalom
33rd Annual (1998)
Theme: Madness and Literature
Speaker: Richard Caldwell
32nd Annual (1997)
Theme: The City on South American Literature
Speaker: Djelal Kadir
31st Annual (1996)
Theme: Love and Politics in Literary Perspective
Speaker: Sandra Gilbert
30th Annual (1995)
Theme: Interpretation of Culture: Images and Ideologies
Speaker: O. R. Dathorne
29th Annual (1994)
Theme: Transmission of Culture: Literature and the Liberal Arts
Speaker: Ishmael Reed
28th Annual (1993)
Theme: Food in the Arts and Literature
Speakers: LA Times Food Critics
27th Annual (1992)
Theme: Language, Literature, and the Politics of Education
Speakers: Pareskevi Contos & Pasquale Verdicchio
26th Annual (1991)
Theme: Penelope’s Web: The Self and Self Control
Speakers: Mario Torelli & John Williams
25th Annual (1990)
Theme: Music and Literature in Society
Speakers: August Coppola & Archie Shepp
1980-1989 conferences
24th Annual (1989)
Theme: Eroticism and Censorship in Literature and Film
Speakers: Maryse Condé and Françoise Pfaff
23rd Annual (1988)
Theme: The Grotesque in Literature, Art, Music and Film
Speaker: Frederick Burwick
22nd Annual (1987)
Theme: Women in Film
Speaker: Valerie Smith
21st Annual (1986)
Theme: The Marginal, the Creative and the American Dream
Speakers: Michael Ventura & Gerald Haslem
20th Annual (1985)
Theme: Mythology and Creativity
Speaker: Joseph Campbell
19th Annual (1984)
Theme: The Fantastic: Celebrating the Imagination
Speakers: Eric Rabkin & Leslie Fiedler
18th Annual (1983)
Theme: The Comic Spirit
Speakers: Max Apple & Hal Roach
17th Annual (1982)
Theme: Visions of Peace: Peace and the Creative Arts
Speakers: Denise Levertov, Allen Ginsburg, Peter Orlovsky & Gary Snyder
16th Annual (1981)
Theme: Latin America Through Novel, Film, Music and Poetry
15th Annual (1980)
Theme: Shamanism: Death, Healing and Psychoanalysis
1970-1979 conferences
14th Annual (1979)
Theme: Psyche and Symbol
Speaker: Joseph Campbell
13th Annual (1978)
Theme: Current Trends in World Literature
12th Annual (1977)
Theme: Literature and Politics: Voices of the Third World
Speaker: Gwendolyn Brooks
11th Annual (1976)
Theme: American Folklore Bicentennial
Speakers: Alan Dundee & Sam Hinton
10th Annual (1975)
Theme: Michelangelo’s Birthday
Speaker: Irving Stone
9th Annual (1974)
Theme: The Day for Mythology
Speaker: Joseph Campbell
8th Annual (1973)
Theme: Language: Symbols and Reaction
Speakers: Liv Ullman & John Ciardi
7th Annual (1972)
Theme: Values and Meanings in Literature
6th Annual (1971)
Theme: The Making of Books
5th Annual (1970)
Theme: “Now;” Current Books Abroad; Comparative Approaches to American Literature
Speakers: Boniface Obichere & Earl Miner
1966-1969 conferences
4th Annual (1969)
Theme: The Black Image in Comparative Literature
Speaker: Sterling Brown
3rd Annual (1968)
Theme: East and West in Literature, Culture and the Arts
Speaker: Ch’en Shou-Yi
2nd Annual (1967)
Theme: Folklore and Films
Speakers: Francis Ford Coppola & Arthur Knight
1st Annual (1966)
Theme: Comparative Literature