Mount Holly native to present paper at conference
MONTICELLO — A group of seven undergraduate students at the University of Arkansas at Monticello (UAM) have been chosen to present papers on the influence of authority in canonical British literature at the 2018 Graduate Students in English Interdisciplinary Conference Mar. 3 at the University of Arkansas.
The students presented a proposal for a panel presentation entitled “Authority: Questioning Power Structures in the Humanities and Beyond.”
One of the seven students chosen to participate is Grace Nash, a junior English and modern languages major from Mount Holly. Nash will be accompanied by Dr. Kay Walter, associate professor of English, who will also present as part of the panel discussion.
The papers will explore the influence of authority on the works of British authors, including John Ruskin, Thomas Gray, Charles Lamb, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Robert Browning, Matthew Arnold, William Morris and Rudyard Kipling.
“This is a remarkable achievement for a group of undergraduate students to be asked to present at a conference for graduate students,” said Walter. “My students and I are presenting papers devoted to the influence of various authorities on the lives and work of leading British authors. We see this theme as one that could easily invite dark perspectives, but we hope to take a different approach to answering it. Authority takes many varied forms in human existence; we believe that an individual’s response to authority can form his view of his own humanity. In particular, recognition of and reaction to authority can shape a writer’s craft. It can be a catalyst in producing works of literature that are meaningful and timeless.”
For more information, contact Dr. Kay Walter at 870-460-1578.