A collaboration between the Trust and Risk in Literature Network and project and the Unearned Wealth: Literary History of Inheritance project at Aarhus University, this colloquium will explore the relationship between trust, risk and inheritance in familial, economic, legal and political structures in literature across the centuries. We will consider whether the inheritance of property and wealth promotes or weakens trust between individuals and the emotional and financial risks involved in the distribution of wealth, including the risk of disinheritance in cases were trust is lost. Topics may include but are not limited to: the role of guardians and legal trustees, worthiness and trustworthiness of heirs, political and familial conflict in narratives of succession or inheritance, and representations of trust as a legal, moral or social obligation.
Scholars are invited to contribute 20 minute papers on the subject of trust, risk and inheritance in European Literature from 1600 to the present.