Although the metadata will only show the steady rhythm of my weekly research leave posts, I’m writing this entry one week later than I should have done. This is because I am now sitting in a library (more on that in the post for next week – or this week’s, if I’m being honest) , with space and time to type up some thoughts in my usual, uninhibited and scarcely-proofed fashion. I could not have been further from this situation at the end of the ASECS conference, as I was halfway into the Rocky Mountains, exploring the trails around the Red Rocks Arena, which look like this:

I was very glad to do this, as the entirety of the conference had been spent inside a hotel with very little natural light and a lot of recycled air. This was the only negative about the event, which I left with both a great deal of new ideas and some wonderful new acquaintances.

Before I arrived in Denver for the conference, I spent some time wondering whether the reality of the ASECS gathering would be the same as its virtual presence on Twitter, where a glance at #ASECSat50 would connect you with many left-leaning scholars thinking about inclusion, prejudice and the cutting edge of eighteenth-century studies. Much to my delight, the reality of the event was equal to its virtual simulacrum. An early morning session (8:45am-10:30am) on teaching race epitomised this aspect of the conference for me.

As for other things I will remember, I’ll compress them into a list. The panel on performing restoration Shakespeare gave me lots of ideas for my own funding bid, a discussion on cognitive theory taught me some new concepts, a session on celebrity and libel made me laugh, two presentations on The Cry made me decide to add the work to my reading lists, and – last but by no means least – the end-of-conference karaoke convinced me that every academic gathering should end with an attempt to sing along to The Killers in a soundproofed room.