Fredric Bogel came to Cornell’s English Department in 1982 as director of the expository writing program, which later became the Knight Institute for Writing in the Disciplines. On Nov. 4 and 5, his 34 years at Cornell will be honored in a conference exploring the texts, forms, genres and critical approaches that Bogel has brought to literary theory and to 18th-century studies and beyond.

“Forms, Figures and Difference: A Conference in Honor of Fredric Bogel” will include presentations of new work and panels that reflect and develop Bogel’s contribution to the field. The conference is scheduled to begin Friday, Nov. 4, at 4:30 p.m. in the English Lounge, 258 Goldwin Smith Hall.

Friday’s program is scheduled to run until 6 p.m., with a reception to follow. The conference resumes Saturday, Nov. 5, at 9:30 a.m., concluding with a roundtable discussion from 5-6 p.m. Light breakfast and lunch will be provided.

“We are extremely pleased to celebrate the distinguished career of our colleague Rick Bogel who for many years has helped to shape the field of 18th-century literary studies through his influential research as well as his mentoring of students, who are now themselves prominent in the field,” said Neil Saccamano, associate professor of English. He is co-organizing the conference with Laura Brown, the John Wendell Anderson Professor of English.

Many of Bogel’s former students will speak at the conference, including Meghan Freeman, Ph.D. ’00, Suvir Kaul, M.A. ’85, Ph.D. ’86, Jess Keiser, M.A. ’09, Ph.D. ’13, and Shilo McGiff, M.A. ’10; they will also close the conference with a roundtable discussion.

Saccamano, Brown and Harry Shaw, professor of English, will moderate panels that cover topics such as “Enlightenment Theologies of Satire” and “The Politics of Form.”

Bogel’s research has focused on Alexander Pope, Samuel Johnson, later 18th-century English literature, theory of satire, modern critical theory and formalist criticism. He is the author or editor of seven books, including his most recent “New Formalist Criticism: Theory and Practice” (2013). He is at work on “The Matter of Emotions: Affect and Mechanism in Eighteenth-Century Literature,” a study of literature, philosophy, aesthetic theory, theories of acting and sentimentality.

Bogel graduated from Dartmouth College in 1965 and received a doctorate in English from Yale University in 1971. He also holds a certificate from the Institut d'Etudes Françaises d'Avignon.

Linda B. Glaser is a staff writer for the College of Arts and Sciences.