The next German Studies Association annual meeting takes place in Pittsburgh from Sept. 28 to Oct. 1. Last year in the “Medieval, Early Modern, and Eighteenth Century” section, we held 9 very successful panels on “Modernity and the Baroque,” in which we examined how a series of twentieth-century German intellectuals drew upon seventeenth-century texts to construct social and cultural criticism. For this coming meeting, we would like to have a series of panels examining what might be called the “Redical Enlightenment” in Germany, looking at issues that run through the period from the late seventeenth to the early nineteenth century. There is not a great deal of time left to propose papers or panels--the deadline for submission is Feb. 15--but we urge those who are interested to get in contact with us as soon as possible. For those who are unfamiliar with the German Studies Association, information can be found on the website: www.thegsa.org. It has been meeting annually for the past 30 years and offers a vital forum for North American and European scholars to exchange ideas. Papers can be given in English or German. At the website the “drop-down menu” offers a look at last year’s program. Following is a list of subjects that have occurred to us, but the list, of course, is not meant to be exhaustive. To register a paper or panel for the conference, you will need to go to the website mentioned above and create a “profile” for yourself if you have not already done so and register your suggestion using the drop-done menu “conferences” and the tab for “2006 conference.” The organizer of the section this year is Professor Mary Lindemann (mlindemann@mail.as.miami.edu), and David Sabean will be coordinating the sessions on the Radical Enlightenment (dsabean@history.ucla.edu). Interested scholars may contact either one of us. Remember that the deadline for submissions is Feb. 15.

Suggested panels and themes:

Hermeticism
Western Esoterism
Spinoza reception
secret societies
Epicureanism
vitalism
radical Pietism
Lavater and circle
Natural law--Thomasius/Pufendorf
Reisebeschreibungen/ Germany Orientalism
Enlightenment and Romanticism
Alternatives to Kant in 18th C thought
Maupertuis, Euler
Neologism
Kabbalistik
Bibelkritik
Gundling
Herder, Lessing
Reception of the Antique