Welcome

On behalf of the Comparative Literature Department and the Italian Specialization at the Graduate Center, CUNY, we would like to invite you to attend the interdisciplinary symposium Si Canimus Silvas. This symposium is the product of the extensive conversations on the history, theoretical framework, and future directions of the pastoral genre that have been held among students and faculty originating from a diverse array of disciplines, including Classics, Renaissance Studies, and 19th and 20th century European, North American and Latin-American literatures. It is perhaps because of the genre’s presence in literature spanning so many centuries that the pastoral is a shifting concept, defined by its actualizations in diverse historical contexts rather than a set of stable rules. The purpose of this symposium is to bring together readers long concerned with pastoral in theory and practice in order historically to situate the genre and examine its evolution from antiquity to the present.

The Symposium is co-sponsored by : The Doctoral Students’ Council, the Italian Specialization, the Renaissance Certificate and the Department of Comparative Literature at The Graduate Center (CUNY)

Organizers: Carlo Bottone, Luisanna Sardu, Claire Sommers.