Transcendental Creativity
International Conference to Mark the Centenary of the Death of Stephan G. Stephansson (1853‒1927)
10–12 August 2027
Location: Vigdís International Centre, University of Iceland
Conference Convenor: Birna Bjarnadóttir, Research Assistant Professor, School of Humanities
This conference marks the centenary of the death of Icelandic-Canadian farmer, poet, essayist, social prophet, and pacifist Stephan G. Stephansson (October 3rd,1853 ‒ August 10th, 1927). He emigrated from Iceland in 1873 and became a settler in Wisconsin and the Dakota Territories until 1889 when he left to homestead with his family in Markerville, Alberta. Stephan G. wrote exclusively in Icelandic and his creative engagement with Icelandic literature and its longstanding poetic tradition can be said to transcend that of many poets of modernity. Following his departure during the great wave of emigration from Europe to the Americas in the late 19th century, he also taught himself to travel through world literature and the philosophies of man and nature. Stephan G’s revelations of transcendental possibilities, including his unfaltering commitment to pacifism through and beyond the First World War, resonate in yet another age of destructive powers.
Theme: The conference engages broadly with Stephan G. Stephansson’s revelations of transcendental possibilities as well as their resonance in literature, philosophy, poetics of migration, and ecocriticism. Subjects for discussion might include the following:
- The legacy of Stephan G. Stephansson’s prophetic vision in Icelandic literature
- The legacy of Stephan G. Stephansson’s pacifism in Canadian literature
- Halldór Laxness on the significance of Stephan G. Stephansson’s prophetic vision of modernity
- The legacy of Transcendentalism in modern poetry
- The legacy of Romanticism and Transcendentalism in ecocriticism
- Echoes of Spinoza’s philosophy in Stephan G. Stephansson’s poetry
- Heritage in Stephan G. Stephansson’s poetics of migration
- Exile in modern poetics of migration
- Capitalism and institutionalized religion in Stephan G. Stephansson’s anti-war poetry
- Challenges of translation in the reception of Stephan G. Stephansson’s poetry
