The 19th Annual
Graduate Conference in Comparative Literature
Thursday, October 24th – Saturday, October 26th, 2024
Hosted by the UT–Austin
Graduate Association of Comparative Literature Students
“Temporality, Epistemology, and Eschatology”
Thanks to Nemo Ramjet for the use of images from All Tomorrows: A Billion Year Chronicle of the Myriad Species and Varying Fortunes of Man.
Only a white-haired old man, who would be a prophet
“A Song on the End of the World” by Czesław Miłosz
Yet is not a prophet, for he’s much too busy,
Repeats while he binds his tomatoes:
There will be no other end of the world,
There will be no other end of the world.
Although most would say that we live in uncertain times, this begs the question of whether or not the human species has ever experienced times of certainty. As we speculate about the past and the future, we are forced to reckon with the realities of the present and what we can do regarding this. Specifically, humans have looked to the arts, religious practices, and the sciences as a form of reckoning. With the topic of “Temporality, Epistemology, and Eschatology,” we invite you to consider the ways in which people have wrestled with time and their understanding of it in an attempt to find certainty—and perhaps even comfort.
Thursday, October 24th
4:pm – 8pm Keynote Address and Reception
Friday, October 25th
10:00am – 3:30pm Panels and Sessions
Saturday, October 25th
10:00am – 3:45pm Panels and Sessions
