Maugham's NIB (News In Brief)

REGISTRATION for our conference is open on this same website until January 31, including for attendants from outside Le Mans University.

The French singer ALAIN SOUCHON performed in concert in Le Mans last night. His third song was: "SOMERSET MAUGHAM," well-known to the French public. A video of this song can be found online (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfXnm2njcGw), as well as its lyrics (https://www.paroles.net/alain-souchon/paroles-somerset-maugham).

The POSTER and FLYER for our conference can now be downloaded from the top of the homepage of this site. Please share them with anyone interested in this event... or keep them for your personal records!

The Portuguese filmmaker MIGUEL GOMES has just released a feature film, GRAND TOUR, inspired by the travel narrative The Gentleman in the Parlour by W. Somerset Maugham. Now playing in theaters! See more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Tour_(film) or here: https://mubi.com/en/notebook/posts/all-is-full-of-grace-miguel-gomes-on-grand-tour

The PROVISIONAL PROGRAMME of our Conference is now available! Please see the "Provisional Programme" page of this website.

We have added a "YOUR PAPER/ARTICLE" PAGE on the Conference website. First of all, that page covers a few practical details about your future paper (length, Powerpoint presentations, USB sticks, etc.). It also includes the instructions that your articles will need to follow (our stylesheet), together with a "model" of what a complete article will need to look like.

28 September 2024: INVITATIONS SENT! The researchers whose paper proposals have been accepted have been contacted to invite them to participate in the conference. The preparation for it therefore starts today!

25 August 2024: 3 WEEKS TO GO, dear colleagues, before the last paper proposals reach us! We are looking forward to reading them and to researching the Maugham-related topic that we each chose. Talk to you very soon!

14 May 2024: KEYNOTE SPEAKER: We are honoured and delighted to announce that Prof. Tim Youngs, the renowned specialist in travel literature, has accepted our invitation to give a plenary lecture on Maugham. His personal website is accessible here: https://timyoungs.weebly.com/.

21 April 2024 : PR. KAMAL K. ROY (OF NORTH BENGAL UNIVERSITY, INDIA) wishes to bring his work on Maugham – the culmination of a researcher's lifetime – to the attention of future participants at our conference and of researchers in general. Prof. KAMAL has digitized his own work, which is now available here (you will need to copy & paste the link that interests you): >> "W. Somerset Maugham: The Man and the Writer, A New Perspective” (https://perso.univ-lemans.fr/~xlachaz/Kamal K Roy 1.pdf) >> “‘The One and the Many': A Mystical Reading of Of Human Bondage'” (https://perso.univ-lemans.fr/~xlachaz/Kamal K Roy 2.pdf) >> “W. Somerset Maugham and Mysticism” (https://perso.univ-lemans.fr/~xlachaz/Kamal K Roy 3.pdf) >> “Man and the Absolute: The Moon and Sixpence” (https://perso.univ-lemans.fr/~xlachaz/Kamal K Roy 4.pdf).

2 April 2024 : DISCOVER THE HARRY RANSOM CENTER (University of Texas at Austin) and its wonderful catalogue of Maugham-related items. Direct access: https://www.hrc.utexas.edu/search/?cx=014783873757132787519%3A6fhrznrfork&ie=UTF-8&q=somerset+maugham#gsc.tab=0&gsc.q=somerset%20maugham&gsc.page=1

29 March 2024 : THE JAPAN MAUGHAM SOCIETY is interested in our conference and plans to attend it! Reminder: the Japan Maugham Society publishes a magazine, CAP FERRAT, entirely devoted to Maugham. The cover and TOC of the current issue (No. 19) are visible here: https://maugham.exblog.jp/33051997/ (Google will translate that page for you if needed).

24 March 2024: HEARTY WELCOME! The owner of the wonderfully helpful "MY MAUGHAM COLLECTION" website (a veritable treasure trove, BTW) warmly greets the announcement of our upcoming colloquium: See here: https://www.mymaughamcollection.com/search

23 March 2024: OFFICIAL LAUNCH: our CALL FOR PAPERS is now out and can now be found on the following platforms or websites : Our official SciencesConf website; Calenda; The Journal of the Short Story in English (JSSE); The European Network for Short Fiction Research (ENSFR); The University of Pennsylvania's website (list of CFPs); My Maugham Collection blog page; ORCID; Academia; and ResearchGate.