|
 The
Society for Critical Exchange sponsored a mini-conference on the
New Economic Criticism at the 1996 Midwest Modern Language Association
convention in Minneapolis. Three sessions were held on Friday, Nov.
8, 1996, beginning at 8:30 in the morning and continuing into the
afternoon. The three sessions were: |
|
|
| Session
I |
| 1. |
"'Rash
Speculation' and 'Rational Calculation': The Crisis of 1825 and
the Emergence of the 'Science' of Political Economy." Tatania Holway,
Macalester College |
| 2. |
"Portrait
of Homo Economicus as a Young Man." Susan Feiner, University of
Southern Maine |
| 3. |
"Henry
James and the Business of Women in The Portrait of a Lady." Charis
Bower, Tiffin University |
| Discussion
and Comments: Max Thomas, University of Iowa |
|
|
| SessionII |
| 1. |
"Economic
Symbols: The Place of Gender in the New Economic Criticism," by
Elsie Michie, Louisiana State University |
| 2. |
"The
Business of Utopia: Bradford Peck's The World a Department Store."
Vivian Wagner, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign |
| 3. |
"In
the Red: Plenitude and Exchange in the Economy of (Cultural) Information."
M. David Westbrook, U of Michigan . |
| Discussion
and comments: John Barbaret, Case Western Reserve University |
|
|
 Discussion
and debate in both sessions was lively and wide-ranging. In keeping
with M/MLA practice, papers were distributed to interested attendees
ahead of time, and panelists gave brief remarks about their own
papers as well as comments about others' papers. Discussions during
Part I centered on the blind spots or gaps in classical and neoclassical
economic models, and on the problems that arise when one attempts
to move outside of any closed system to comment upon it. |
| For
Part II, discussion focused on the relevance and problems inherent
in literary critics' use of economic terms (e.g., "economy," "exchange,"
"capital") in ways not sanctioned by the discipline of economics.
What are the limits of these homologies? Is it legitimate to use
"economy," for example, to refer to any system of exchange that
is not actually economics? What is, actually, economics? The comments
of Susan Feiner were particularly helpful in outlining what economists
mean when they use specific terms. |
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