Registration is now open for this year's English Institute, which will meet at UCI October 17-18. All faculty, staff, and students at UCI may register for free at this link:
For more than seven decades, The English Institute has been a major resource for developments in criticism, theory, and scholarship, while honoring traditional fields of interest and modes of literary analysis.
Three institutions now host The English Institute conference: Yale University (2015, 2018, and 2023), the University of Chicago (2016, 2019, and 2024), and the University of California at Irvine (2017, 2022, and 2025).
The 82nd Annual English Institute meeting, "Speculative," will take place October 17-18, 2025, at the University of California at Irvine, Humanities Gateway 1030.
Schedule
Friday, October 17
1:00: Welcome: Tyrus Miller, Dean of Humanities, and Jonathan Alexander, Chair of
English, UCI
1:10: Welcome
(Ursula K. Heise and Donna V. Jones)
1:20: Nan Z. Da, "Rappaccini’s Daughter’s Friend"
(introduced by Meredith Martin)
2:50: Break
3:00: Patricia Ingham, "Speculatio and the World in Medieval Romance"
(introduced by Jennifer Fleissner)
4:30: Coffee break
5:00: Adeline Johns-Putra, "Climate Fiction as Futurology: When Speculation
Becomes Prediction"
(introduced by Ursula K. Heise)
6:30: Opening reception
Saturday, October 18
8:30: Continental breakfast
9:00: Annie McClanahan, "Teaching Machines: Language, Automation, Babel"
(introduced by Yoon Sun Lee)
10:45: Anthony Reed, "Computer Love"
(introduced by Virginia Jackson)
12:15: Coffee break
12:45: The Conversation: Fredric Jameson, "Progress vs. Utopia, or, Can We Imagine
the Future?" and "Utopia Now," download readings for the conversation here.
1:45: Lunch
3:00: Christopher Pexa, "Native Subjects"
(introduced by Paul Saint-Amour)
4:45: Avery Slater, "Words Within Words: The Latency of Literary Meaning"
(introduced by Meredith Martin)
6:15: Closing reception
Please register soon to reserve your place, as space is limited.