The Armitage Symposium 2022 presenter listing, released. The venue is the Omni Hotel, Providence, the decor of which seems to invite the wearing of a suit. I like the sound of the papers to be read, and they are almost entirely related to Lovecraft. Selected papers I’d like to hear…
* “Relatively Obscure Men”: Continental Drift Theory, American Science and the Acceptance of Radical Ideas in “At the Mountains of Madness”.
* Gnosticism, Epicureanism and Deism in H.P. Lovecraft.
* Lovecraft’s Occult Literary Landscape: Mentioned Historical Works and the Grimoire Revival.
* Kenneth Sterling and Beyond the Walls of Eryx.
* Metaphysical Pessimism and the Architecture of Weird Worlds.
* Cosmic Sounds in Literature and Visual Media: A Catalog of Typologies and Related Affects.
* Firearms in the Life & Works of H.P. Lovecraft.
* Naked Sailors in a Swamp: Sea Men and Homoerotic Initiations in Three Lovecraft Tales.
* Asexual Possibility in the Life and Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft.
The same venue will also host panels on “Central and Eastern European Weird Fiction”, “Panels, Gutters, and Flow: The Art of Weird and Horror Comic”, “What the Music Tells Us: Weird Music as Narrative”, “Robert Howard: Horror Writer”, “Inherited Guilt in the Work of HPL”, and “the Legacy and Importance of Fanzines” in fandom, among others. Plus some early-morning hard science talks by scientists — which is a nice touch.
It looks to me like an attendee could just remain at the Omni hotel for the weekend while ignoring the other venue(s) which appear to offer a different line of programming. With just a trip outside the air-con zone to see the Ars Necronomica 2022 exhibition… and even with such limitations it would have the makings of a pretty good scholarly convention.
Meanwhile, over in Texas, DMR has a long report from Howard Days 2022.