Mod/Con
The Mod/Con Working Group is coordinated and funded by the Department of English.
Mod/Con, Penn English's Modernist and Contemporary Literatures Reading Group, is a working group devoted to the discussion of cultural and literary problematics in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Our critical and historical interests range from the late nineteenth century through to the present day, across early and high moderism, postmodernism, and beyond. Each semester, we work to develop ways of thinking about these period markers—how they differ, what they share—through invited lectures and works-in-progress by graduate students and faculty in and outside of the Penn English community. In tandem with these works-in-progress, Mod/Con frequently hosts reading events of scholarly monographs as well as works of short fiction and poetry. We hope you can join us for an event!
For more information or to be placed on the Mods listserv, please contact Christos Kalli (kallic@sas.upenn.edu) and Rylee Smith (rylees@sas.upenn.edu).
Upcoming Events
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Francisco Robles (Notre Dame) "This Bridge Called My Back and the Shape of Dialectics to Come"
October 20, 2025 - 5:30pm to 6:30pm -
Poetry After Barbarism
November 3, 2025 - 5:30pm to 7:00pm -
Kristin Grogan (Rutgers)
January 30, 2026 - 5:00pm to 6:30pm
Past Events
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Joint Book Launch: Jed Esty, Nancy Yousef (Rutgers) & Jonah Siegel (Rutgers)
February 23, 2023 - 5:00pm to 7:00pm -
Sonya Posmentier (NYU): "Lyric Education as a Practice of Freedom”
February 10, 2023 - 5:00pm to 6:30pm -
Mod/Con & CIMS: Pardis Dabashi (Bryn Mawr), "Nella Larsen and Greta Garbo: On (In)Consequence"
November 18, 2022 - 5:00pm to 6:30pm -
Mod/Con & Theorizing: Timothy Bewes (Brown), on Free Indirect: The Novel in a Postfictional Age
October 21, 2022 - 5:00pm to 6:30pm -
Discussion of Tim Bewes' Free Indirect: The Novel in a Postfictional Age
September 23, 2022 - 5:00pm to 6:30pm -
Alec Pollak (Cornell): "Outing Lorraine"
April 14, 2022 - 5:00pm to 6:30pm -
Rachel Greenwald-Smith (Saint Louis University): 'On Compromise'
March 25, 2022 - 5:00pm to 6:30pm -
Talk by Jill Richards (Yale) “The Queer Atlantic Triangle”
March 15, 2022 - 5:15pm to 6:30pm -
JS Wu (UPenn): "Sleight of Hands: Early Studio Animation and the Disappearing Artist"
February 24, 2022 - 5:00pm to 6:30pm -
Lee Konstantinou (U Maryland): 'Helen DeWitt's Aesthetic Education
February 4, 2022 - 5:00pm to 6:30pm