“Thomas Wolfe and History”
Gettysburg, PA
May 24-25, 2019
Announcing Eugene Gant’s arrival on earth in 1900, first year of the millennium’s final century, Thomas Wolfe heralded his protagonist as “borne in …upon the very spear-head of history.” Throughout his writings, Wolfe interwove threads from ancestral and national stories and traced influences exerted on individual destinies by the tides of great events.
Over the 2019 Memorial Day weekend, we will gather near the home of Wolfe’s paternal ancestors and at the site of a fearful and decisive battle in this nation’s history. We will visit ancestral and national landmarks and consider together “Thomas Wolfe and History.”
Events of the conference weekend will include tours of Wolfe family landmarks and of the Gettysburg battlefield, diverse presentations on Wolfe topics, and a banquet talk by acclaimed North Carolina novelist, Terry Roberts.
Conference registration and sessions will be located in the Wyndham Gettysburg, 95 Presidential Circle, Gettysburg, PA 17325. Rooms are available at the conference rate of $149 per night if reservations are made by April 23, 2019.
Questions? Contact Rebecca Godwin at rlgodwin@barton.edu or Anne Zahlan at arzahlan@eiu.edu.
Register for the meeting.
PROGRAM for the 41st TWS annual meeting.
“Thomas Wolfe and History”
Friday, May 24, 2019
8:30-10:30 Board of Directors Meeting
11:00-11:50 Registration
12:00-12:15 Welcome and Prologue
Welcome: Rebecca Godwin, President, Thomas Wolfe Society; Barton College
Prologue: Mary Aswell Doll, Savannah College of Art and Design
12:15-1:00 Session I (Moderator: Rebecca Godwin, Barton College)
“Beyond Gettysburg, and the Beyond at Gettysburg”
Kent Gramm, Gettysburg College
Break (Refreshments) (1:00-1:15)
1:20-2:40 Session II (Moderator: David Radavich, Eastern Illinois University)
“History Aggrieved: The Lost Prologue of Look Homeward, Angel” Jim Stokely, President, Wilma Dykeman Legacy; Weaverville, N, C.
“ Asheville People: The Real-Life Connection Between Thomas Wolfe’s Fictional Arthur Family and the Supreme Court of North Carolina” Hon. J. Matthew Martin, J.D., Ph.D.; Asheville, North Carolina
Clarke S. Martin, J.D. Candidate, UNC School of Law
| “Thomas Wolfe’s Great-Uncle Bacchus: The ‘Death-Triumphant’ Westall Prophet” Deb Borland, Webmaster, The Thomas Wolfe Society |
| 2:40-3:35 Session III (Moderator: Mark Canada, Indiana University Kokomo) |
“Thomas Wolfe and Mark Twain in the Critical Writings of Bernard DeVoto”
Edwin Yoder, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
“ ‘No Place Among the Boy Scouts’: An Invitation to Consider Wolfe from the Perspective of Queer Theory”
J. Todd Bailey, Burnsville, North Carolina
4:00-6:00 Session IV—Bus Tour of Wolf/Wolfe Sites in York County, Pennsylvania Guide: Steven B. Rogers, Historian/Research Consultant, Washington, D.C.
Saturday, May 25, 2019
8:00-9:00 Breakfast Buffet
9:00-10:00 Session V (Moderator: Amélie Moisy, Université Paris Est Créteil)
“Was Thomas Wolfe Really an Atheist?”
Margie Kashdin, Brevard, North Carolina
“Violence as the Undercurrent of Small-Town Life in Thomas Wolfe’s The Web and the Rock”
Joseph Bentz, Azusa Pacific University
10:00-10:30 Business Meeting
President Rebecca Godwin presiding
Break (10:30-10:45)
10:45-11:50 Session VI (Moderator: George Hovis, State University of New York Oneonta)
2:30-5:30 Special Session: Gettysburg Battlefield Tour (Guided)
“Berlin 1936: The Ambivalence of the ‘German Spirit’ in You Can’t Go Home Again”
Ralf Bickeböller, Frankfurt-am-Main
Vasilije Ivanovic, Pennsylvania State University
“Dark in the Forest: Thomas Wolfe’s 1930 Political Awakening in Freiburg, Germany”
Steven B. Rogers, Historian/Research Consultant, Washington, D.C.
12:00-12:20 Final Words, Rebecca Godwin, President
Epilogue, Ray Walker, Atlanta, Georgia
12:30-2:00 Lunch on Your Own
2:30-5:30 Special Session: Gettysburg Battlefield Tour (Guided)
(Bus will leave at 2:30.)
6:30-7:30 Cash Bar
7:30-9:30 Banquet
Awards Ceremony: President Rebecca Godwin
Introduction of Speaker: James W. Clark Jr., North Carolina State University
“The Deep Psychology of the Past”
Terry Roberts
Author, Scholar, Educator
The registration fee for the 2019 Thomas Wolfe Conference is $135 per person and includes all on-site sessions as well as Friday afternoon refreshments, Saturday breakfast, and the Saturday-evening banquet. Students may register for $65 per person.
The Friday-afternoon tour to York County costs an additional $15 per person, and the Saturday tour to the Gettysburg battle field $25 per person. Registrants may register their guests for either or both of the tours. Additionally, guests of conference attendees who wish to attend the Saturday-evening banquet may register for “banquet-only” for $70.
Registration
Name as you wish it to appear on your name tag (please print):
____________________________________________________________________________
Affiliation or City/Town: _______________________________________________________
Name as second registrant or banquet guest wishes it to appear on name tag:
_____________________________________________________________________
Mailing Address: _____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
Email: (Please include your email address so that we can acknowledge receipt of your registration and provide any conference updates.)
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Saturday Evening Banquet–
Entrée Options (please indicate your choices):
Menu Preference for _____________________________
(please list attendee’s or guest’s name and circle meal choice)
Pan Seared Filet of Salmon Mushroom Bolognese (Vegan) Braised Beef Short Ribs
Menu Preference for _____________________________
(please list attendee’s or guest’s name and circle meal choice)
Pan Seared Filet of Salmon Mushroom Bolognese (Vegan) Braised Beef Short Ribs
Menu Preference for ________
Pan Seared Filet of Salmon Mushroom Bolognese (Vegan) Braised Beef Short Ribs
Conference Trips (Space is limited so please sign up early.)
I will join the Friday-afternoon tour to York County. (Space is limited.) YES NO__
My guest will join the Friday-afternoon tour to York County. (Space is limited.) YES or NO
I will join the Saturday-afternoon tour to the battlefield. (Space is limited.) YES or NO
My guest will join the Saturday-afternoon tour to the battlefield. (Space limited.) YES or NO
Registration(s) ____@ $135___ ___________
Student Registration ____@ $65___ ___________
Banquet Guest(s) of Registrant ____@ $70 (each)___ ___________
Bus Tour(s)s to York County __@ ($15 each) ____________
Bus Tour(s) of Gettysburg Battlefield ____@ $25 each_ ____________
Donation to support the conference ____________
Total Enclosed ____________
PLEASE MAKE CHECKS PAYABLE TO ”THE THOMAS WOLFE SOCIETY.”
Thomas Wolfe and History” conference registration and sessions will be located in the Wyndham Gettysburg, 95 Presidential Circle, Gettysburg, PA 17325. Rooms will be available at the conference rate ($149 per night) if reservations are made by 23 April 2019.
To join the Thomas Wolfe Society or renew your membership, fill out the form included in your January letter from Rebecca Godwin or the one available online on the Thomas Wolfe Society website.
Dues can be paid by check made out to The Thomas Wolfe Society and mailed to TWS Membership, P.O. Box 1146, Bloomington, IN 47402-1146. To join or renew online, follow the instructions at www.thomaswolfereview/wolfe-society.org.
Please send your registration form, banquet form, and check made payable to The Thomas Wolfe Society as soon as possible and by May 1, 2019 to Anne Zahlan, 3800 Shamrock Dr.; Charlotte, NC 28215. (No refunds other than for unavailable tour seats can be issued after 25 April.)