Camelot rides into the millennium with Lupack's conference on Arthurian legends

by Mary Claire Kelly '00

Lupack: "This is going to be one of the greatest international Arthurian conferences ever."

In 1997, Alan Lupack, curator of the Robbins Library, was one of the organizers of the successful Robin Hood conference at the College. Currently, he and his associates already are at work on the international "Camelot 2000: A Millennial Conference on the Arthurian Legends," which promises to be another landmark event. Lupack is recognized for his expertise on Arthurian literature and for his development of the Camelot Project on the World Wide Web. The Web site was featured in a recent article in The New York Times, "Camelot: The Realm Online," in which the reporter states, "If ye be worthy, it would be well to make the Camelot Project of the University of Rochester your first stop." Here, Lupack speaks about organizing the conference and his passion for the Arthurian legends.

What inspired the Arthur conference?

The experience of doing the Robin Hood conference gave me the idea to do one on Arthurian literature--my great passion. The year 2000 is also inspiring, as it will be a great year for looking into both the future and the past.

We already have commitments from several prominent scholars in the field to participate as plenary speakers, including Derek Brewer, an emeritus professor from Cambridge University in England; Norris Lacy, editor of The New Arthurian Encyclopedia; P. J. C. Field, who revised the standard edition of Malory, one of the great collections of Arthurian tales by Sir Thomas Malory; Bonnie Wheeler, editor of the journal Arthuriana; and Kevin Harty, the leading expert on Arthurian films and films with medieval themes.

What will the conference consist of?

This is going to be one of the greatest international Arthurian conferences ever; it will be both fun and scholarly. The program will run from Thursday, October 26, to Saturday, October 28, 2000, and will be in a standard conference format, with a speaker or three to four panelists presenting and discussing papers. These presentations will take place one at a time so that all participants can attend everything. Sessions will be open to students; people outside the University will need to register and pay a fee.

There will be a large exhibit, designed largely by Barbara Tepa Lupack and me, which will be arranged in three areas of Rush Rhees Library: the Rare Books Room, the main entranceway, and the Robbins Library. The display will include books, original artwork, comic books, movie posters, and children's books. The planners--Russell Peck, Tom Hahn, Dick Kaeuper, and I--are also considering the possibilities of an Eastman concert of Arthurian music and a short play.

Will there be publications resulting from the Arthur conference?

There will definitely be a volume of proceedings including the best of the papers presented. There are already two interested publishers: Arthuriana and Boydel and Brewer. This publication will allow absentees to benefit from the conference. There will also be a list of topics and speakers available on the Camelot Project Web site (www.lib.rochester.edu/Camelot/cphome.stm).

What kind of work goes into hosting an event of this magnitude?

There is a lot of correspondence involved to get speakers and scholars interested and to draw a program together. Coherent sessions need to be designed, papers need to be selected to go with the sessions, and rooms need to be arranged and reserved. Meals, transportation, and hotel rooms must to be prepared and organized. We were very fortunate during the Robin Hood conference to have a graduate student, Jennifer Church, who had previous experience planning conferences; she took care of a great many details. For the Arthur conference, we hope that we will find another graduate student to assist the staff.

How did you personally become so involved in the Arthurian legends?

First, the subject matter itself is fascinating to me; there is such a large tapestry of characters. Secondly, Arthurian literature covers so many periods, from medieval times up to the present. The scope of it is simply amazing, it never gets boring, and it is endlessly fascinating. I really got interested in it after the completion of my Ph.D. The breadth of the Arthurian legend really makes a strong impression. My wife and I now have an extensive collection of Arthurian books and memorabilia that I believe is one of the best in the world.