About the Johnson Society of the Central Region

Practically speaking, the Johnson Society of the Central Region was founded in 1959 in Chicago. We normally meet at various times in the Spring at various North American mid-western universities.

The Johnson Society remains one of the senior and most distinguished of small scholarly societies. We are as well known for collegial clubability as for uncommonly distinguished intellectual exchange. Our presidents have included Paul Alkon, Sheridan Baker, Jean Hagstrum, Phillip Harth, Gwin Kolb, Ricardo Quintana, Bruce Redford, Albert Rivero, and James Winn, among other distinguished eighteenth-century colleagues. Our Guest Speakers have included Louis Bredvold, James Clifford, Ralph Cohen, Patricia Craddock, Margaret Doody, Donald Greene, Isobel Grundy, Robert Hume, Paul Hunter, Louis Landa, Maximillian Novak, Ronald Paulson, Claude Rawson, Pat Rogers, Patricia Spacks, Susan Staves, and Richard Wendorf, again among other distinguished eighteenth-century colleagues. Four of our presidents also have been presidents of the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies.

Though our name denotes a region and an author, we include members from both American coasts, Canada, and the United Kingdom. We have met in Canada on several occasions, and include papers on a wide range of eighteenth-century topics.

After repeated requests, in about 1975 we agreed to become an affiliate of the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies. Papers read at our conference thus are eligible for publication in the ASECS Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture.

The Society's semi-annual News Letter is sent to about 300 friends and members. Each meeting itself includes about ten or twelve papers delivered to an audience of about fifty. Most of those who attend are university-affiliated scholars. The Society nonetheless welcomes and encourages membership by anyone with broad intellectual interests in the eighteenth century, or with an enthusiasm for Samuel Johnson.

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The Johnson Society has a loyal and consistent membership in part because papers are of extremely high quality, are well-presented, and always are in plenary format. Speakers normally are allowed thirty minutes, enough to develop an argument but without self-indulgence.

We do not have marathon and competing sessions. Instead, we convene for a compact Friday and Saturday early in the Spring--generally between late March and late April. Many participants are able to drive to the meeting, keep expenses modest, and return to their normal lives without meeting-burnout. The President of the Society always leaves enough time for discussion of the papers both during the session and during the scheduled coffee-breaks. Even in the best of scholarly societies, caffeine is a welcome friend.

Our meetings traditionally conclude with a noon lunch on Saturday, followed by a the Guest Speaker's substantial paper. Since the Society is run on the basis of benevolent despotism, the Business Meeting rarely exceeds about 90 seconds. Given the Society' longevity and prudent management, we have been able to keep dues at the same $3 with which the Society began in 1959.

We also generally include a Friday evening entertainment, a keepsake when possible, and the President's party, at which certain strong liquors have been known to pass the lips of willing Johnsonians.

The entertainments have been known to make the Royal Shakespeare Theatre green with envy. At Purdue in 1997, for example, we saw an almost unique production of Johnson's Irene, with attending Johnsonians as star members of the cast Alan McKenzie assembled. At the University of Toronto in 2000, we saw the truly unique production of Rasselas! The Musical! conceived and directed by Patricia Brückmann, again with attending Johnsonians as stars. There is a video of that production that, according to Tony Soprano, is available only under the most dangerous of circumstances. We also have seen one-act eighteenth-century plays, heard eighteenth-century songs, quartets, and opera, and full-length plays that were being performed at the host university during our visit. These have included Aphra Behn's The Rover and in 2003, the modern Carl Djerassi play half of which is set in the eighteenth century, Oxygen.

The Society essentially is run by a willing slave called the Secretary-Treasurer. He normally announces the venue of next year's meeting at the end of the present meeting's brief Business session. He also calls for papers at that time and in the semi-annual News Letter. The Autumn News Letter includes abstracts of papers read in the previous meeting. The Society has developed some successful modes of proceeding: the incoming President often presents a paper at the meeting prior to his own; members of the President's own department do not present papers in the year of his or her presidency; given the few papers and minimal margin of error, presenters are post-doctoral or regular faculty. The President of the Society is responsible for selecting papers and organizing the meeting.

The Johnson Society of the Central Region welcomes new members and cherishes the old. If you wish to find out more, please click on any of the other menu items above.

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