Coffee, conversation and questions about the current state of literary theory flowed abundantly at the recent "Theory Now" conference, March 5-6, hosted by the Department of English.

Publicity materials called the conference "'theory now' without the hand-wringing." The intention, explained conference organizer Grant Farred, professor of Africana studies and English, was to address theory in action and what theory makes possible, not to try to define it.

Lectures were based on articles to be published in an upcoming issue of the South Atlantic Quarterly, which co-sponsored the conference. Topics ranged from English department chair Ellis Hanson's "The Future's Eve: Sedgwick After Sedgwick" to Jonathan Culler's "Traces of Theory Now" to Farred's "'Science Does Not Think': The No-Thought of the Discipline."

"This is one of the best conferences we've had in the English Department," Hanson said, noting that Farred "brought together a striking range of thinkers from all over the country."

Anthony Reed, an English graduate student, said he found Eric Cheyfitz's response to Duke University professor Michael Hardt's talk on "The Militancy of Theory and the Exodus from Minority" particularly compelling. "He brought up the issue of university labor, discussing real categories and the impact that has on theory and its usefulness," Reed said.

The conference "raised the question of what one can do from within the academy," German studies graduate student Carl Gelderloos said, adding that he found the conference "very relevant for people engaged on the left."

The conference was cosponsored by the Society for the Humanities; the Institute for Comparative Modernities; Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; the Departments of History of Art, Africana Studies, Government, Romance Studies, and Comparative Literature; Cheyfitz and Culler.

Linda Glaser is a staff writer in the College of Arts and Sciences.