We are an inclusive community of readers and scholars, bound together by the study of the seventeenth-century author John Milton.
MSA @ RSA 2026: Call for Papers
For the 2026 Renaissance Society of America Annual Meeting, the MSA is hoping to sponsor three sessions. You may read the CfPs below and on the RSA Call for Papers page. The deadline to apply is July 1, 2025. Send a title (15-word maximum), 200-word abstract, and resume (.pdf or .doc) to Marissa Greenberg, MSA Secretary, at MiltonSocietySec@gmail.com.
The MSA Annual Meeting and Dinner will again be held during RSA, which this year meets in San Francisco, CA, on February 19-21, 2026 (please note the earlier than usual date this year).
| John Milton: A General Session (PANEL) |
The Milton Society of America invites proposals for 15-minute papers considering any aspect of John Milton’s writings, their reception, and their significance. In the spirit of the Renaissance Society of America conference, we also welcome papers that bring into dialogue Milton Studies and areas of research across the Renaissance world, including literature, philosophy, art and music.
| Who’s Afraid of Areopagitica?: Milton and the Revolutionary Reader, Once More (PANEL) |
The premise of this session is that Areopagitica is a critical text for our age, so it’s time to reconsider it. John Milton’s 1644 argument against pre-publication censorship is lauded by some as an absolute defense of freedom of speech. But Areopagitica also advocates suppression of Catholic writings and allows for destruction of most everything else after its publication. Scholars have long considered whether this text provides a resource for advocates of freedom of expression and the press, a model of totalitarianism, or something else entirely. How might our own age of media revolution and debates about intellectual freedom recast our understanding of Areopagitica and its legacies? And how does Milton’s text recast the debates of our own moment? Alternatively, how do new critical approaches or archival discoveries deepen our understanding of Milton’s text? The Milton Society of America invites proposals for 15-minute papers considering these and other questions that explore the history, significance, and impact of Areopagitica. We welcome papers that consider various technologies of publication as well as contexts in which we make our ideas public, including academic institutions and the classroom.
| Pleasure Regained: Having Fun with Milton (ROUNDTABLE) |
As readers of Milton know, Milton’s writings are often humorous, titillating, outrageous – extra in today’s colloquial parlance. Of course, they are also challenging, but this too can be pleasurable. Studying Milton involves, simply put, serious fun. How might we rethink our affective approaches to Milton’s poetry and prose to spotlight not only their difficulty but also their recreation? What is at stake for Milton and for us in the pleasures derived from, for example, an over-the-top invective or a sarcastic God? What are sustaining and enlivening potentials in critical and creative practices, such as speculation, auto-criticism, and parody? And how might we mobilize these potentials in our writing and teaching to engage new audiences? The Milton Society of America invites proposals for short papers considering fun, broadly interpreted, in and with the works of John Milton.
MSA Governance
MSA Goals
The Milton Society of America aims to further Milton scholarship, not only in the U.S. but internationally, by bringing Milton scholars together at an annual dinner, by selecting outstanding scholars for honor, by publishing an annual booklet (and maintaining a website) honoring these scholars and summarizing the work of the Society, by gathering books, articles and other materials pertaining to Milton, by encouraging research in progress, and by promoting exchange of ideas in the field of Milton study (adapted from the Society’s Constitution).
Keep us in the loop!
One of the goals of the MSA is to make sure our members know about the accomplishments of other members. If you have Milton-related publications, conferences, news, or updates, please submit them using our news update form.
About the Website
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