Professor Lars Iyer (Newcastle University)
Before joining the Creative Writing Department, I taught philosophy for many years at Newcastle University. I have published widely on aesthetics, with special emphasis on the philosophy of literature, and have a particular interest in the philosophy of music. I have published five novels, which, by their formal experimentalism and subject-matter, are rooted in European traditions of literature, and have been linked by reviewers to Beckett and Bernhard. My novels reflect my interests in the Continental European thought and are fundamentally comic in style and vision. They have been translated into several languages and long- and shortlisted for various awards. My areas of research expertise are literary fiction and philosophy. I am particularly interested in the overlap between the two. Both my fiction and philosophical expertise are rooted in the work of continental philosophy from the nineteenth century onwards, in particular in the thought of Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Bataille, Levinas, Blanchot, Agamben and Virno. I have a particular interest in aesthetics (broadly construed) and on the philosophy of music.
Keynote abstract and title
The Gnostic Imaginary
Apocalypse is everywhere. Financial and climatic collapse, public health disaster, supply chain collapse, nuclear war: cataclysms of various kinds seem to be happening all at once. Political theorist Alison McQueen has argued there is an ‘apocalyptic imaginary’ – a shared, subconscious way of making sense of our world through a set of religiously-derived meanings, symbols, values, narratives and representations. But what happens when the apocalyptic horizon becomes overcrowded? What, when apocalyptic narratives are deliberately deployed on multiple fonts to foment fear and acquiescence?
Etymologically, and as it is used in the Judeo-Christian tradition, apocalypse suggests an unveiling or revelation: we will see things as they are. The apocalyptic imaginary depends on linearity, upon resolution. But when apocalyptic narratives overlap and fragment, when the promised hope, be it the ‘great reset’ of a new system of global governance, the introduction of central bank digital currencies or a carbon-use-monitoring social credit system seem as disorienting, even as terrifying, as the problems they’re meant to solve, the sense-making of the apocalyptic imaginary no longer works.
How, then, are we to process what’s happening? And how might this manifest itself creatively or critically ? Philosopher of religion Jacob Taubes has argued that unfulfilled apocalypse desires lead to Gnosticism, to an inward disinvestment from the current sociopolitical, aesthetic or religious reality. I will argue that there are signs of a transition from an apocalyptic to a Gnostic imaginary in recent creative and critical work. I will make the case that the theology of Gnosticism , especially in its ‘return’ in twentieth century German thought, is highly relevant if we are to understand new work in the arts and criticism.
Dr Caroline Cauchi Smailes
Dr Caroline Cauchi Smailes’ acclaimed debut novel, In Search of Adam, was published in 2007 (The Friday Project/HarperCollins). The Big Issue North declared the book 'an engrossing and touching read from a new talent'. Since then, Caroline has written eight additional novels. These include Black Boxes, international bestseller Like Bees To Honey, an experimental digital novel with eleven endings 99 Reasons Why and modern-day fairy tale The Drowning of Arthur Braxton (all HarperCollins). The feature film of The Drowning of Arthur Braxton premiered at Raindance Film Festival in November 2021, where it was awarded Best UK Feature. It is currently available on Amazon Prime. Her latest novel, Mrs Van Gogh, was published in February 2023, with a global release to follow later this year.
As well as novel writing, Caroline has co-authored a short story collection Freaks!), written scripts for short films and the script for a musical (The Colour of Light debuted in March 2020, selling out its two performances).
Being of Maltese descent, Caroline lives in the UK and publishes as Caroline Smailes, Caroline Wallace and Caroline Cauchi. She is a Senior Lecturer in Prose at Liverpool John Moores University, where she teaches on both the undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. She is also head of book editing at BubbleCow and is currently the Royal Literary Fund Fellow at The University of Liverpool.
Keynote abstract and title:
THE ROLE OF THE CREATIVE IN ADDRESSING THE POLITICAL
Dr Caroline Cauchi Smailes
This lecture considers the question of creativity as a form of political and ethical discourse. In it, I focus on my latest novel – Mrs van Gogh (Cauchi, 2023) – which voices the role Vincent van Gogh’s sister-in-law played in his rise to fame. Thus, in this lecture, I draw on my creative practice alongside the importance of Nochlin’s battle cry, ‘We will need our wit and courage to make sure that women’s voices are heard, their work seen and written about’ (Nochlin, 2015, p. 321). I also dissect the ways in which women involved in creative pursuits have so often disappeared from historical narratives and how they need to be reimagined in contemporary creative practice. In addition, in this lecture, the political is framed within the ethical. In creating a fictionalised account of Johanna van Gogh-Bonger’s life (Cauchi, 2023), I argue, I am responsible for questioning the contextual factors that affect a novelist’s ethical and moral responsibilities when recreating an actual existence. Through much self-reflection and consideration of my own imaginative role, this lecture argues a novelist’s ‘right’ to fictionalise a real life: should living relatives be a consideration when creating fiction based on real people? What are the ethical parameters historical authors must consider? Is there authorial conflict between creation of narrative tension/plot and ethical considerations? Furthermore, I critique the key craft concerns that I faced while recreating Johanna van Gogh-Bonger on page – developing character, plot, voice, secondary characters – and how that shaped the process of my ‘creative writing’, as well as offering practical advice to other writers. I conclude this lecture by explaining how it further extends feminist scholarship, and asserting a need for continued conversation about the contribution made by creative women to the arts.
