EPIC 32 - Paris, 2027

CALL FOR PAPER PROPOSALS

32^nd Ezra Pound International Conference

Université Paris-Nanterre

28 June-2 July 2027

Ezra Pound and the Spirit of France 

But to set here the roads of France,

                      of Cahors, of Chalus,

                 the inn low by the river's edge,

the poplars; to set here the roads of France

Aubeterre, the quarried stone beyond Poitiers—

                                        (C. 76/475)

The 32^nd Ezra Pound International Conference will be held from Monday, 28 June to Friday, 2 July 2027 at Université Paris-Nanterre, Paris, France. A sprawling, green campus located near the La Défense business district, the Grande Arche in La Défense and the city of Nanterre, the university is one of France’s top universities in the humanities and social sciences, a 20-minute RER/metro ride from the center of Paris.

In addition to four days of papers, plenaries, and panels on the conference theme of Ezra Pound and the Spirit of France, as well as on a range of other Poundian topics, special events tentatively under consideration include a pre-conference walking tour and luncheon at l’Île des Impressionnistes, a  walking tour of Pound’s Paris on the Left Bank, a guided tour of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (Richelieu site), musical soirées, a multilingual poetry reading, the ever-popular conference banquet, and a post-conference excursion across the roads of France to Poitiers.

From his first journey from Spain through France to visit Paris as a graduate student in Summer 1906 throughout his lifetime, France played a central role in Pound’s sensibility, his philosophy, and his art. Not only do the Provencal poets whom he studied and wrote about in The Spirit of Romance hold an essential place in Pound’s poetics and poetry, but French writers and artists shaped his thinking across his development, from Francois Villon to the Dadaists, as well as Symbolist poets such as Jules Laforgue or Théophile Gautier. Of course, after many visits to Paris during his residence in London before the Great War (where he had his vision for “In a Station of the Metro”), Pound took up residence there in 1920 and met there the violinist Olga Rudge. The evidence of his walking tours of southern France, his extensive reading of the stays in France of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, and his engagement in Paris with poets from Baudelaire to André Spire, as well as with artists such as Brancusi, all permeate The Cantos. Paris is where Pound did most of his revolutionary editing work on Eliot’s The Waste Land, and later in his life, in Paris Pound met artists from throughout the world, including Tami Kume, Hiroko Uno, and Samuel Beckett.

The EPIC Committee invites proposals for papers that address the theme of Ezra Pound and the Spirit of France both specifically and in the broadest interpretations of these terms. The conference organizers encourage papers exploring the theme in every aspect of Pound’s work, life, and connection to others. Proposals on all other topics pertinent to Pound are also welcome, including papers on his poetry, prose, drama, criticism, translations, music, letters, memoirs, journalism, conversations, or other texts, as well as his associations with other modernists, historical figures, or artists. Papers may involve textual interpretation, poetic language, criticism and critical reception, visual arts, economics, music, history, poetic influence, biography, politics, literary theory, transnationalism as well as globalism, teaching Pound, publishing, scholarship, digital and archival research, or other relevant areas of research. Poets are also welcome to submit a proposal to read from their own works related to Ezra Pound and/or France. 

DEADLINE FOR PROPOSALS: November 5, 2026

If you wish to present a paper at EPIC 32 in Paris, please send a WORD document as an email attachment to Walter Baumann at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and Charlotte Estrade at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . This one-page document should include your email address, full name(s), your institution, mailing address, and the title of your paper, together with a synopsis of 250-400 words. Bear in mind that the presentation time will be 20 minutes for all papers (2000-2500 words maximum). The receipt of your proposal will be acknowledged immediately by Walter, who will make sure a copy is forwarded to all concerned. If the proposal is accepted, you will receive an acceptance letter by email by Jan. 31^st 2027 at the latest. Send proposals by email with the Subject Line: “EPIC-32 Proposal.” To submit by regular post, please send your proposal to: John Gery, EPIC-32, Department of Language & Literature, University of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA 70148-2315 USA

If you wish not to propose a paper but wish to receive Registration Information and Conference Details, please contact Walter Baumann, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., John Gery, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and Charlotte Estrade, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Committee:                                                          

Massimo Bacigalupo, University of Genoa 

Walter Baumann, University of Ulster

Diana Collecott. University of Durham

John Gery, University of New Orleans (Secretary)

Alan Golding, University of Louisville

David Moody, University of York

Akitoshi Nagahata, Nagoya University

Viorica Patea, University of Salamanca

     Roxana Preda, Sichuan International Studies University 

Organizing committee: Hélène Aji, ENS Ulm

                                      Charlotte Estrade, Université Paris Nanterre

                                      Emilie Georges, Université Paris Nanterre