{"id":15718,"date":"2016-08-09T11:28:26","date_gmt":"2016-08-09T15:28:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/?p=15718"},"modified":"2016-08-19T10:43:37","modified_gmt":"2016-08-19T14:43:37","slug":"professor-alumna-impact-international-literary-scene","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/2016\/08\/professor-alumna-impact-international-literary-scene\/","title":{"rendered":"Professors and Alumna impact international literary scene"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"John<\/a>

John Dos Passos-Courtesy of the Dos Passos Estate<\/p><\/div>\n

In only five short years an author society started here at UTC has made its mark on the international scholarly scene! UTC was well represented this past June in Madrid, Spain, at the Second Biennial John Dos Passos Conference.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The conference was sponsored by the John Dos Passos Society, which was founded in 2011 by Dr. Aaron Shaheen, UC Foundation Associate Professor of English and Dr. Victoria Bryan, who received her BA and MA in English at UTC. \u00a0Shaheen and Bryan were joined by Dr. Verbie Prevost, Connor Professor of American Literature, at the international three-day conference honoring the life and works of one of America\u2019s preeminent modernist authors.<\/p>\n

Bryan\u2019s initial interest in Dos Passos was sparked as a graduate student when she took a Modern American Novelist course taught by Shaheen.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe read Dos Passos\u2019s 42nd Parallel<\/i>, and I couldn\u2019t believe that I\u2019d never heard this man\u2019s name before, much less read any of his work.” Bryan continued, “Here was a writer tuned into the class and race struggles of the early 20th century, and though there are a few problems with how he represents women and minorities scattered throughout his work, he was leaps and bounds ahead of his contemporaries when it came to more complex and interesting understandings of characters who weren\u2019t white males.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Bryan went on to complete her PhD, her interest in Dos Passos persisted. In 2011 she organized a Dos Passos Panel at the American Literature Association Convention in Boston, MA. Shaheen presented as one of the speakers. It was at this conference that the two were inspired to create the John Dos Passos Society.<\/p>\n

In October 2014, UTC hosted the first biennial conference, which featured the author\u2019s grandson, John Dos Passos Coggin, as its keynote speaker. This year the conference was fortunate to have the additional sponsorship of the George C. Connor Professorship.<\/p>\n

Ever since Dos Passos\u2019s novel Manhattan Transfer <\/i>(1925) was translated into Spanish in 1927, the author has been widely read in Spain and other European countries. The international appreciation for his works has lasted to this day.<\/p>\n

Ten different nations were represented at the conference, including Brazil, the United States, Portugal, Croatia, Denmark, Sweden, and Spain. The conference received widespread coverage in the Spanish print and digital media, including one memorable write-up in Spain\u2019s leading daily newspaper, El Mundo<\/i>.<\/p>\n