Postsecular studies calls for richer scholarly accounts of the religious and the secular: accounts that don’t assume the decline of religion in modernity, but that identify its manifold metamorphoses under secularizing cross-pressures. Studying Robinson Crusoe, Silas Marner, Dracula, On the Road, and Marilynne Robinson’s Home alongside a range of interdisciplinary work, this seminar asks whether the novel is a secularizing genre and explores nonbinary ways of understanding secular and religious elements in these texts. This three-week seminar considers a range of new scholarship on postsecular studies and the novel and provides a stimulating environment for developing participants' individual projects. 

Participants will read the five novels in advance, enabling them to focus on the secondary readings and their individual research projects during the three weeks of the seminar.  Individual research projects might include a book chapter or journal article, a conference paper, part of a book project (e.g., a proposal or introduction), a course syllabus, or the development of a scholarly website. Participants will benefit from the chance to present their scholarly work to the group and to meet individually with the directors as well as guest speakers regarding their research projects. 

Participants will spend three weeks in Iowa City, a UNESCO City of Literature, and enjoy access to free wi-fi on campus and University of Iowa Library borrowing privileges, including full access to library databases.  

Dates: July 15 – August 2, 2019 

Project Directors: Lori Branch and Mark Knight 

Guest Faculty: Rita Felski and Charles LaPorte

Location: The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 

Stipend: $2,700 

Application Deadline: March 1, 2019 

Notification Date: March 29, 2019 

Applicants must meet NEH guidelines for eligibility 

Provisional Schedule PDF