English Professor Invited to Open International Conference in Austria

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Charles Adams (sixth from left) with Waldemar Zacharasiewicz (front left) and fellow participants

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Charles Adams, professor of English in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, was one of 24 scholars invited to speak at an international conference on “Narratives of Encounters in the North Atlantic Triangle” in Vienna, Austria, last fall.

Adams delivered “An Opaline Mind: The Cosmopolitan Vision of John La Farge,” at the conference’s opening session. His paper addressed the work of the American artist John La Farge and his relationship with French Impressionism.

“I was honored to be invited to share my work with this relatively small group of distinguished scholars from a number of countries on both sides of the Atlantic,” said Adams, who also serves as director of international education.

Waldemar Zacharasiewicz, professor of North American studies at the University of Vienna, organized the conference, which was sponsored by the North Atlantic Triangle commission. It was held Friday, Oct. 4, through Sunday, Oct. 6, at the Austrian Academy of Sciences with all expenses covered by the Academy, the Austrian Government, the University of Vienna, the Canadian Embassy and the United States Embassy.

“The Austrian Academy of Sciences is one of the most prestigious academic institutions in Europe, and Professor Zacharasiewicz is one of the leading figures in transatlantic studies” said Adams. “The publication of the proceedings of the conference will be an important event in the development of this exciting field.”

The North Atlantic Triangle commission was formed in 2012 to serve as an advisory committee to promote social and cultural exchange among experts in Europe, the United States and Canada. The findings are then shared through conferences and publications.

Invited participants included scholars from Austria, Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, the Netherlands, Hungary, the Czech Republic and the U.S. The papers were delivered in French, German and English. The proceedings of the conference will be published in 2014 or early 2015 by the Austrian Academy of Sciences. 

Adams is now working on a biography of La Farge and also plans to publish a translation of Friedrich Gerstäcker’s Die Regulatoren in Arkansas next year with Christoph Irmscher, professor of English at Indiana University.