CFP ESSWE3: The Visual and the Symbolic in Western Esotericism

Papers are invited in English, focusing on verbal and visual representations of Western Esotericism from late Antiquity to the present age.

INVITED KEYNOTE SPEAKERS INCLUDE

Michael J. B. Allen (UCLA)
Lina Bolzoni (Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa)
Pia Brinzeu (University of the West, Timisoara)
Moshe Idel (Hebrew University, Jerusalem)

Please send the title of your proposed 20 minutes' paper with your affiliation and a short abstract via e-mail to György E. Szönyi: by November 15, 2010.

Program Overview

“Lux in tenebris: The Visual and the Symbolic in Western Esotericism”

Venue: University of Szeged, Faculty of Arts and University Library Buildings

July 6, Wednesday
Arrival. Registration from 15:00–18:00 and every morning of later days
16:00–18:00 Sightseeing in Szeged (optional)
18:30–19:30 Welcome reception
20:00–20:50 Plenary talk 1

July 7, Thursday
09:00–10:30 Session 1;
11:00–11:50 Plenary 2;
12:00–13:30 Session 2
14:30–16:00 Session 3;
16:30–18:30 Session 4
19:00 ESSWE Members' Meeting
20:00 Reception

July 8, Friday
09:00–10:30 Session 5;
11:00–12:00 Plenary 3;
12:00–13:30 Session 6
15:00 Visit to the Somogyi County Library, which holds an exquisite collection of early modern esoterica Conference dinner: Szeged Fish-souping (optional)

July 9, Saturday
09:00–10:30 Session 7;
11:00–12:00 Plenary 4;
12:00–13:30 Session 8;
13:45 Conference closes

July 10, Sunday
10:30–14:00 Excursion in Budapest: "A Magical Mystery Tour in the Catacombs of the Buda Castle" (optional)

ANTICIPATED COSTS

–Pre-registration for the conference (through the ESSWE website, until 1 June, 2011):
Full members of ESSWE: € 70;
Student members of ESSWE: € 50
All other participants: € 90
Reduced fee for ex-East-bloc citizens: € 40 (for students € 30)
Extra charge for

• On-site late registration: +€ 10 in all categories
  
• Conference Dinner: € 25 (optional)
  
• Budapest tour: TBA (optional)
  
• Lodging in Szeged: HUF 6000–20000 per night (about € 20-70)
  

SZEGED, declared a free royal town in 1246, is the fourth largest city in Hungary, a college-centre, with many institutions of higher and secondary education, museums, and theatres. The University, established in 1921, is the second largest in Hungary, with about thirty thousand students. After a devastating flood in 1879, the inner city was rebuilt in neo-classical, eclectic, and spectacular Art Nouveau styles. Situated on the River Tisza, Szeged is also famous for its spas, and is the home of paprika. The city is connected by direct motorway to most parts of Europe, and can be reached in two hours by train from Budapest's Ferihegy International Airport.

See: http://www.szegedportal.hu

ESSWE PhD Thesis Prize

Nominations are invited for the second biennial ESSWE PhD Thesis prize, awarded by the board of the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism. The prize will be given for an outstanding European PhD thesis completed between 1 January 2009 and 1 March 2011 on any aspect of Western Esotericism (broadly conceived). The thesis may be European in the sense of having been submitted at a university in Europe, or in the sense of having been submitted by a European citizen at a university anywhere in the world. The thesis must have been approved formally by the nominee's thesis committee, but the degree need not have been formally awarded.

The prizewinner will be notified in May 2011 and will receive an award of €500 and a certificate, to be presented at the ESSWE conference in Szeged, 6-10 July 2011. The thesis will also be recommended for publication in the ARIES Book Series, though the final decision on publication will be taken by the ARIES Book Series editorial board, not the Prize Committee. If it deems that no thesis reaches an appropriate standard, the Prize Committee will not award a prize.

Nominations must be made by electronic mail to the Chair of the Prize Committee, Andreas Kilcher (Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich, akilcher@ethz.ch) by 1 March 2011. The nominator must be a faculty member at the institution that awards the nominee’s PhD degree, or a member of the nominee’s thesis committee. Each nominator may make only one nomination. The applications should consist of pdf files of the following material:

• A letter of nomination
  
• The nominee's thesis
  
• A separate summary of the thesis, written by the nominee, of no more than ten pages (double spaced)
  
• A brief biographical sketch of the nominee
  
• Documentation to show that the thesis has been approved
  

Items 1, 3 and 4 must be in English. Item 2 may be in any one of the following languages: English, French, German, Italian, or Spanish. Item 5 may be in any language, so long as a translation into English is provided if it is not in English, French, German, Italian, or Spanish.

The Prize Committee consists of:

• Andreas Kilcher, Zurich (Chair)
  
• Boaz Huss, Ben Gurion University of the Negev
  
• Helmut Zander, Ruhr-Universität, Bochum