2013 Medieval Congress

[James L. Zychowicz]

Dear Colleagues,

Since I've mentioned this to some of you, I want to make certain everyone is clear: We have no sessions sponsored by the Tristan Society at the 2013 Medieval Congress. Despite the time I've spent from May to September working with a number of people on potential proposals, ultimately no one submitted any proposal for papers. I do not begrudge the time, but it is disappointing for me to invest the effort that yielded nothing for our own sessions. We discussed these sessions at the our Business Meeting of the Tristan Society in Kalamazoo in May. The session titles reflect the discussion choices at the Business Meeting, yet those who championed the sessions did not follow through.  I understand the prior commitments some have expressed, but I am also concerned about the amount of pre-arranged papers that seem to be part of the problem we are experiencing this year. As you know, this tendency clearly affects a number of sponsored sessions like ours. Again,it is disappointing to have worked hard on the content and rationales for the sessions.  I am grateful to Salvatore Calomino for taking the time to document the discussion in the minutes, which include the details we covered. If you have questions about the sessions put forward, please consult his excellent minutes. 

Respectfully,

Jim

Dr. James L. Zychowicz
JZych...@aol.com

[Classen, Albrecht - (aclassen)]

Ditto on my part. The journal is virtually dead, no interest any longer, no submissions any longer.

 

Sorry to say.

 

Albrecht

 

Regards,

Dr. Albrecht Classen

University Distinguished Professor
Undergraduate Advisor

Department of German Studies

301 Learning Services Building (LSB)

Office: 318 LSB

1512 E. First Street

University of Arizona

Tucson, AZ 85721

tel.: 520 621-1395

acla...@u.arizona.edu

fax: 520 626-8268

Please note the new web address: http://aclassen.faculty.arizona.edu/home

 

Editor of the Journal Mediaevistik:

http://aclassen.faculty.arizona.edu/mediaevistik

Skype ID: aclassen4

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[James L. Zychowicz]

Albrecht and all,

Let's be specific regarding interest. Tristan as a topic is quite popular, as found with the Tristan Project in the UK (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/theatre-and-performance/the-tristan-project-offers-wagner-unbound/article7917352/), in LA (http://www.laphil.com/tickets/tristan-project-i/2004-12-03), and elsewhere.  As far as subject matter, the story fueled renewed interest in opera and with it, various responses that moved music to modernism. With the topic, too, the various national traditions found new live in the recent years to reflect the various literary traditions. 

As an organization, we have a Facebook page, which reaches a wide, international community. 

Interest is not lacking, in that I spent a lot of time with a number of people working toward proposal that never materialized for our sessions. If anything I spent more time this year than in previous ones. So, I would not say that the subject is dead.  Au contraire, since I know how much time I lost to my other work in responding to the various individuals. Yet I still question the follow-through, especially in the commitments to pre-arranged sessions. Is this becoming a strong force for the Congress?

Best,

Jim

Dr. James L. Zychowicz
JZych...@aol.com

Oxford Bibliographies: Music

Member, Editorial Board

http://oxfordbibliographies.com/obo/page/music

[Classen, Albrecht - (aclassen)]

Committment is a big matter. I am editing a number of different projects, and I constantly suffer from the fact that people commit but often do not come through in time or not at all.

 

Sure, the Tristan Stoff continues to be extremely important, but a journal needs contributions, and a session needs submissions.

 

Alas,

[James L. Zychowicz]

Albrecht and all,

Perhaps we need to go about this differently.  If we have a discussion about topics and shift from the plan we started the previous year, I will ask for a commitment in the room before we vote on the topic. 

With the Journal, that's another discussion. Perhaps the shape of the journal needs to shift to accommodate submissions from those who can deliver. Given the amount of research published, like the Duke conference, we may want to have reports from conferences and reviews of proceedings, so that those who were not included can know the details of the events. We also should consider an ongoing annotated bibliography, since the current online sources fall short on specifics for this topic and fail to include the interdisciplinary items in drama, the graphic arts and music.  

With the papers for this year, I remain extremely disappointed, since it took a lot of my own  time.  Or, to put a positive spin on it, our members should plan, too, to attend the Tristan and Tristan-related papers at the other sessions to remind the participants of our identity and the venues we offer. 

I'm not ready to wave a white flag or hoist a black sail.