The International Network for the Study of Lyric (INSL) is a free nonprofit association of scholars interested in the study of the theory of poetry.
Under the initiative of Prof. Ralph Mueller, the network was officially founded in October 2015 at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland. The impetus for the foundation of INSL was the perception that as a research field, the theory of poetry (or theory of the lyric) is unduly fragmented along linguistic, national and disciplinary lines. Consequently INSL aims to foster international discussion and exchange across different literary traditions and languages, sharing and distributing information and scholarly work on the theory of poetry.
The Executive Board has the principal responsibility for many policies and procedures and the organization of events. The Advisory Committee, comprised of the founders and initial leaders of INSL, shares responsibility for making major policy decisions, especially proposed changes to the Constitution, with the Executive Board. The members of the Consultants Council have been appointed to contribute their expertise about particular geographical, continental, cultural, and methodological issues about lyric.
Executive Board
Ardis Butterfield, Yale University, President
Kirsten Stirling, University of Lausanne, Vice-President
David Caplan, Southern Methodist University, Vice-President
Denise Brassard, Université du Québec à Montréal
Michel Delville, Université de Liège
Francesco Giusti, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main / Oxford University
Victor Bermudez, Universidad de Salamanca
Josef Hrdlička, Charles University, Prague
Adela Sophia Sabban, University of Freiburg (Graduate Representative)
Friederike Renate Foedtke, University of Salamanca (Graduate Representative)
Advisory Committee
Ralph Mueller, University of Fribourg
Antonio Rodriguez, University of Lausanne
William Waters, Boston University
Heather Dubrow, Fordham University
Jan Baetens, KU Leuven
Webmaster
Alec Wood, Yale University
Previous presidents
2015–2019 : Ralph Mueller, Prof. of German literature, University of Freiburg, Switzerland
2019–2021: Antonio Rodriguez, Prof. of French literature, University of Lausanne, Switzerland
2021–2023: Heather Dubrow, Prof. of English Literature, Fordham University, USA
2023-2025: Jan Baetens, Professor Emeritus of Cultural Studies, KU Leuven, Belgium
The INSL website is generously funded by the SMU Department of English and its Project Poëtica Initiative.
