Announcements

ANNOUNCEMENTS The Modern Language Association of America announces its 1991-92 MORTON N. COHEN AWARD, for a distinguished edition ofletters. At least one volume of the collections of letters must have been published in 1991 or 1992. Editors of important collections of letters are eligible to apply for the award, regardless of the fields the editors and the authors of the letters represent. Eligibility does not depend on membership in the MLA. Submission of four copies and a letter of nomination indicating titles, editors, and dates of publication is required. The award is made biennially; the next deadline is May 1, 1993. Like other MLA prizes, the Morton N. Cohen Award will be announced and presented at the association's annual convention in December. The prize consists of a cash award and an engrossed certificate. The address for sending books, applications, and letters of nomination is: MLA Prizes, 10 Astor Place, New York, NY 10003; telephone: (212) 614-6406. The 1992 Renaissance Conference, to be held October 16-17, 1992, at the Newberry Library, is entitled "Reason, Reasoning and Literature in the Renaissance." This conference seeks to examine the prominent place ofreason, or rational argumentation, in the literature ofearIy-modern France and Italy. Topics to be discussed will include the aesthetics ofpolemical writing; reasoning and the formation of subjectivities; the resistance to the rhetoric ofpersuasion; and the rationality of literary pleasure. Co-sponsored by the Newberry Library Center for Renaissance Studies, the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, and the University of Wisconsin at Madison, this conference is organized by Philippe Desan, Ullrich Langer, and Tilde Sankovitch. For further information, contact the Newberry Library Center for Renaissance Studies, 60 W. Walton Street, Chicago, ?. 60610-3380; (312) 943-9090. To mark the 100th anniversary of the first production of Widowers' Houses, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) is planning a conference "1992: Shaw and the Last Hundred Years." The conference, to be held November 4-7, 1992, will explore such topics as Shaw's influence on drama and theatre, the extent to which Shaw speaks to us today, changes in performance of Shavian drama in different countries, the aftermath of the dramatic revolution begun in English by Shaw, and the future of Shavian drama. Speakers will include scholars and critics (Charles A. Berst, Bernard F. Dukore, Martin Esslin, Nicholas Grene, Rhoda Nathan, Irving Wardle, Stanley Weintraub, J. L. Wisenthal) and artistic directors of Shaw festivals (Montgomery Davis, Christopher Newton). The conference is supported in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, an independent federal agency. For information, write to Bernard F. Dukore, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061-0227. The World Phenomenology Institute, with the International Society for Phenomenology and Literature, will hold its XXIXth International Phenomenology Conference in Luxembourg, June 15-20, 1992. The theme will be "Allegory Old and New: Creativity and Continuity in Culture." For further information contact Professor A. T. Tymieniecka, The World Phenomenology Institute, 348 Payson Rd., Belmont, MA 02178, or Professor Marlies Kronegger, Wells Hall 502, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824. The University ofWyoming American Heritage Center will host a conference, "100 Years of Western Literature," September 24-26, 1992, in Laramie, Wyoming. Through panel discussions, presentations, and films, the conference will trace the beginnings, development, and current status ofwestern writing. Featured will be Emmy award-winning producer Ric Burns (presenting the world premiere of his newest documentary on the ill-fated Donner Party), western historian Richard Etulain, and contemporary authors and critics including Jane Tompkins, Melody Graulich, Leslie Marmon Silko, Richard Wheeler, and Jackie Johnson. For further information, contact the American Heritage Center, P.O. Box 3924, Laramie, WY 82071; telephone (307) 766-4114. The University of Nebraska Press invites submissions for the third annual North American Indian Prose Award competition. The annual award, cosponsored by the University of Nebraska Press and the Native American Studies Program ofthe University ofCalifornia, Berkeley, is given on the basis ofliterary merit, originality, and familiarity with North American Indian life. The competition invites biography, autobiography, history, literary criticism, and essays; it excludes poetry, drama, and work previously published in book form. The winner receives a cash advance of$1000 and publication ofthe...