Countdown to Bob Dylan's Birthday: The Seven Ages of Dylan

Check this out: it's an academic conference at the University of Bristol (England), The Seven Ages of Dylan. Here are the particulars from the British Association for American Studies:

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH | UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL

The Event:
Bob Dylan will be 70 years old on 24 May 2011. This conference will celebrate, and reflect on, the career of one of the most significant figures in the cultural life of the past fifty years by bringing together the UK's foremost Dylan scholars.

 As singer, composer, poet, performer, Dylan continues to inspire and infuriate. His radicalism was always founded on a respect for authenticity, whether in the domain of folk music, politics or religion. His 're-inventions' of himself have arguably sprung not from an unstable identity, but from a constant quest. The conference will track the changes in Dylan's sense of himself, and of his art, and our response to these changes. The conference will present a series of fresh, informed academic papers on Bob Dylan's work, from a number of different disciplinary perspectives.

Organised by:
Professor Daniel Karlin, Winterstoke Professor of English, University of Bristol
Craig Savage, Research Student in English, University of Bristol

Keynote Speaker:
Michael Gray, Critic, writer and leading authority on the works of Bob Dylan.

Confirmed Speakers to date:
David Boucher, Professorial Chair of Political Philosophy and International Relations (University of Cardiff)
Richard Brown, Reader in Modern Literature (University of Leeds)
Neil Corcoran, Emeritus Professor of English (University of Liverpool)
Aidan Day, Professor of English (University of Dundee)
Mark Ford, Poet, essayist and author
Lavinia Greenlaw, Writer
Philip Horne, Professor of English (University College London)
                                        Daniel Karlin, Winterstoke Professor of English (University of Bristol)

A selection of books on Dylan by the speakers:
       • Song and Dance Man III, Michael Gray (1999);
       • Jokerman: Reading the Lyrics of Bob Dylan, Aidan Day (1988);
       • 'Do You Mr Jones?', ed. Neil Corcoran (2002);
       • Dylan and Cohen, David Boucher (2004);
       • The Bob Dylan Encyclopaedia, Michael Gray (2006);

       • The Political Art of Bob Dylan, ed. David Boucher (with Gary 
          Browning, 2009);                  

       • The Figure of the Singer, Daniel Karlin (forthcoming, 2011).

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