Transit of Venus--Malta conference info

[John M. Krafft]

Vaska just tried to send everyone the following information, but her message
was probably too big for the list server. So here is some of it in plain text
form. I hope the formatting  isn't too messy. If it is, blame me, not Vaska.

jmk

---

Dear fellow Pynchonites far and wide --

Just in case you don't have a date for June 8-11 and are wondering what to
do... ;

I'm attaching a nearly-final draft of the full conference program for "Transit
of Venus: 6th International Pynchon Conference" which will take place in
Valletta,Malta, June 8-11. Everyone is welcome. See you there?

Best,
Vaska

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Transit of Venus: 6th International Pynchon Conference
June 8-11, 2004
| Valletta, Malta

P l a c e:

The conference will be held at St James Cavalier Centre for Creativity in
Valletta, Malta.

R e g i s t r a t i o n:

There is no registration fee.  Come as you are.

P r o g r a m:

Please see below.

A c c o m m o d a t i o n:

Please see the hotels listed after the program.

P r o g r a m

Tuesday, June 8

9:30 am

Informal Transit of Venus observation: place TBA

10:30 -- 11:00 am

Keynote address: Arnold Cassola
, Pynchon's Malta

11:00 -- 12:45 pm

Bruno Arich-Gerz,
 The Comet and the Rocket: Intertextual Constellations about Technological
Progress in Bruno

Schultz's "Kometa" and Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow
Douglas Lannark, A Chronological Examination of Love in the Novels of Thomas
Pynchon
Arek Misztal, Fixed Stars and Zenith-Star Locations in Mason & Dixon

Lunch Break

2:00 -- 3:45 pm

Thanassis Douvris,
 Thomas Pynchon, "Ocular" Writer
Evert Rutgers, Pynchon vs. Dutch History: Fictionalizing History and
Historicizing Fiction
Daniel Fusch, Pynchon's Historiography of Extinction

Coffee Break

4:00 -- 5:45 pm

Celia Wallhead,
 Mason & Dixon and Hamlet
Charles Hollander, Thomas Pynchon: American Dante?
Katherine Streip, Pynchon and Proust: Art, Identity and Time

6:00 pm

Walking Tour of Valletta

Wednesday, June 9

9:00 -- 10:45 am

Zak Smith,
 Illustrating Gravity's Rainbow
Neil Brooks, Watching the Vineland Channel: Prescient Clarion or Disposable
Novel for a

Disposable Culture
John Lewis, Told Sorrows: Pynchon's Dead Soldiers and the Motives for Fiction

Coffee Break

11:00 -- 12:45 pm

Damian Ward Hey
, Pynchon's Signifying Duck: History and Fanciful Extension in Mason & Dixon
Bernd Klähn, Blinded by the Light: Astronomy and Quantum Optics in Pynchon's
Novels
Katrin Amian, Cultural Work of 'Guesswork': Reconsidering Pynchon's V.

Lunch Break

2:30 -- 3:45 pm

Robert McLaughlin,
 History and Narrative Tension in Pynchon's Novels
Frank Palmeri, General Wolfe and the Weavers: Re-envisioning History in
Pynchon's Mason &

Dixon

4:15 pm

Cruise of the Grand Harbour
 (Embarking at 4:00 pm)

Thursday, June 10

9:00 -- 9:30 am

Keynote address: Peter Serracino-Inglott

9:35 --11:00 am

Luc Herman and John Krafft,
 Fast Learner: A Typescript of V.
David Cowart, V. in the Classroom

Coffee Break

11:15 -- 1:00 pm

Michael Sinding,
 A Return to the Excluded Middle Ages
Samuel Thomas, Blank Cheques: Invisibility and Economy in Mason & Dixon
Gilles Chamerois, The Silent Discourse of the "Unreadable Map-scape": The
Cartography of

Mason & Dixon

Lunch Break

2:30 -- 4:15 pm

Luca Briasco,
 "Hic Sunt Leones": The Visto, the Equator and Other Remarkable Lines
Eleonora Lacorte, Croissants and Ketchup: Cuisine in Mason & Dixon
Umberto Rossi, The Rifles: The Fire as a Symbol and Firearms in Mason & Dixon

Friday, June 11

9:00 -- 10:45 am

Terry Reilly,
 Tempus Incognitus: Temporality and the Shapes of Time in Mason & Dixon
Creon Upton, Mason and Dixon's Sentimental Journey: Approaches to Death
Clément Lévy, On

Lines and Figures: Mason & Dixon and The Castle

Coffee Break

11:00 -- 12:45 pm

Galena Eduardova,
 Four Parables of Affectivity: Or, How to Make Yourselves a Community
According to The

Crying of Lot 49
Zdenik Fucik, Man Is Only Real at the Points of Decision: Artaud, Gravity's
Rainbow, and the

Architecture of the Book
Graham Benton, Pynchon's Topographica Americana: City Planning, Urban Blight
and the Wild

West

Lunch Break

2:00 -- 3:45 pm

Noeme Klingl,
 Deconstructing the US as a Nation in Gravity's Rainbow
Birger Vanwesenbeeck, Alternative Beginnings in Gravity's Rainbow
Zofia Kolbuszewska, The Gospel of Thomas (Pynchon): An Apocryphal America in
Mason & Dixon

Coffee Break

4:00 -- 4:30 pm

Keynote address: Deborah Madsen, Allegories of Empire

5:00 pm

Bus Tour of Pynchon's Malta

A c c o m m o d a t i o n:
Below is a list of hotels offering special conference rates. Except for
Victoria Hotel (four

stars), all of the Sliema hotels listed are in the three-star
category. We recommend The Metropole. The public transport connection between
Sliema and

Valletta is excellent. Buses run every 10 minutes, and the ride
itself takes about 15-20 minutes. A bus ticket (one way) costs 12 cents.

Valletta

Sliema

The Castille Hotel

Website at
http://www.hotelcastillemalta.com

Room availability:
4 double and 1 single

Rates:
LM16.00 per person per night

Public transport
 from airport to Valletta is available until 9:00 p.m. Contact the hotel for
private

transport arrangements.

For reservations, contact:
 Ronald De Giorgio at
info at hotelcastillemalta.com

The Metropole

Website at
http://www.metropolemalta.com

Room Availability:
 50 double or single rooms on a bed and breakfast basis (all with full
bathroom facilities

en suite)

Rates:
LM 6.75 per person per night per person in twin rooms with balcony.
LM 9.00 per night in single room with balcony

Airport transportation:
 Price for this transfer is of LM 3.80 per person (for both arrival &
departure transfer).

For reservations, please contact:
Rachel Cucciardi at
info at metropolemalta.com

The Grand Harbour Hotel

Website at
http://www.grandharbourhotel.com

Room availability
: 10 A rooms with complete bathroom facilities and 5 B rooms with shower and
wash basin (

common WC)

Bed and Breakfast Rates
:
A rooms, twin, per person: LM 9.90
B rooms, twin, per person: LM 8.80
Single use supplement: + LM 2.00 per day

For reservations, contact:
 Mario Demanuele
Manager, at
info at grandharbourhotel.com

Phone no.+356 - 21246003
Fax No.+356 - 21242219

Hotel Plevna

Website at
www.roosendaal.com.mt

Room availability
: 40 double or single rooms, all with en suite bathrooms

Rates per person, bed and breakfast basis:
Twin room: LM 12 per person per night
Single room: LM 16 per night
For reservations, contact: Suzanne Nygren at
snygren at roosendaal.com.mt
OR Maryse Attard Montalto at
maryse at roosendaal.com.mt
OR Raphael Borg at
admin at roosendaal.com.mt

Tel: (00356) 21333565 - 21333570
Fax:(00356) 21333558 - 21333560

The British Hotel

Room availability:
not specified

Rates per person
:
Double room, per night: LM 10
Single room, per night: LM 13

 For reservations, contact
: John Busuttil at
john at maltahotel.net

The New Tower Palace Hotel

Website
http://www.newtowerpalacehotel.com

Rates per person, bed and breakfast basis
:
Twin Standard: LM 14.00
Single Use: LM 20.00
Sea view +LM 3.00

For reservations, contact
: John Mifsud at
info at newtowerpalacehotel.com

Phone: +356-21337271/2/3/4
Fax: +356 21 311235

Victoria Hotel (Four Stars)

Website at
http://www.victoriahotel.com

Rates on a bed-and-breakfast basis:
Twin, per person, per day: LM 17.50
Single, per day: LM 25.00

For reservations, contact: Patrick Paris,
Sales & Marketing Manager, at
pparis at victoriahotel.com

Conference Organizers:

Vaska Tumir, School of Liberal and Media Studies, Conestoga College,
Kitchener, Ontario,

Canada
John M. Krafft, English Department, Miami University-Hamilton, Hamilton, Ohio,
USA

Conference Sponsors:

The University of Malta
St James Cavalier Centre for Creativity, Valletta, Malta
Pynchon Notes
Anonymous donor organization, USA

Special Thanks:
Mario Azzopardi
Anne Bradley
Vince Briffa
Lionel Cassola
Ranier Fsadni
Richard Romeo
Tony Terribile

Information: For further information, please contact either Vaska Tumir at
Vtumir at conestogac.on.ca
or John Krafft at
krafftjm at muohio.edu




-- 
John M. Krafft
Miami University--Hamilton / 1601 University Blvd. / Hamilton, OH 45011-3399
Tel: 513.785.3258 or 513.868.2330
Fax: 513.785.3145
krafftjm at muohio.edu
http://www.ham.muohio.edu/~krafftjm