The following ESSE-13 (2016) Conference seminars have extended their paper proposal deadlines.
This seminar invites more papers:
ESSE-13, August 22-26 2016, Galway. Paper proposal deadline extended to March 11 on this seminar. Send a 200 word abstract to the seminar co-convenors.
S78 “Travel and Disease across Literatures and Cultures”
Co-convenors
- Ryszard W. Wolny, Opole University, Poland, rwolny@uni.opole.pl
- Sanja Runtić, University of Osijek, Croatia, podgajci@gmail.com
In this seminar we propose to investigate the ways in which literature, film and art have dealt with the various aspects of disease and dying. We will be particularly interested in the representations and images that combine traveling with disease. Henry James’s The Wings of the Dove, Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice or Jim Jarmusch’s Dead Man are just a handful of examples of outstanding works combining traveling with death. We will be interested in a more in-depth investigation of these phenomena in culture. We would like to analyse and juxtapose various works of art that highlight diseased bodies traveling for cure or dignified death. We want to establish how literature and film deal with the problem of old age as well as mental health and balance. We would like investigate how health (including mental health and balance) are imagined and represented symbolically.
This seminar invites more papers:
ESSE-13, August 22-26 2016, Galway. Paper proposal deadline extended to March 11 on this seminar. Send a 200 word abstract to the seminar co-convenors.
S41 “Tracing the Victorians: Material Uses of the Past in Neo-Victorianism”
Co-convenors
- Rosario Arias, University of Málaga, Spain, rarias@uma.es
- Patricia Pulham, University of Portsmouth, UK, Patricia.Pulham@port.ac.uk
- Elodie Rousselot, University of Portsmouth, UK, Elodie.Rousselot@port.ac.uk
This seminar addresses the notion of the “trace”, delineated by Jacques Derrida and Paul Ricoeur, to engage with the tangibility of the Victorian past in contemporary culture. The “trace” has attracted renewed critical interest in the last few years, particularly in connection with the interplay of past and present in today’s cultural production. However, the potential of the material object (the trace) to reanimate the past has received scant attention in neo-Victorianism. Papers dealing with the presence and (in)visibility of the Victorian past in contemporary literature and culture, materiality and “the sensory turn”, as well as museum studies and thing theory in relation to the Victorian “trace”, are particularly encouraged.
This seminar invites more papers:
ESSE-13, August 22-26 2016, Galway. Paper proposal deadline extended to March 11 on this seminar. Send a 200 word abstract to the seminar co-convenors.
S69 “Young Adult Fiction and Theory of Mind”
Co-convenors
- Lydia Kokkola, Luleå University of Technology, Sweden, lydia.kokkola@ltu.se
- Alison Waller, University of Roehampton, UK, a.waller@roehampton.ac.uk
Many recent young adult novels probe the workings of the mind, yet inviting a sceptical and questioning reading stance. These texts draw attention to complex functions of memory, emotion and consciousness that are central to being and growing, often seeking to engage their adolescent readers through narrative games or formal experiment. We invite papers exploring connections between contemporary YA and theory of mind, through thematic, narratological, or response-based enquiries. Topics might include: modes of empathy; nonhuman protagonists; remembering and forgetting; cognitive development; narrative and neurolinguistics; reading and feeling. Papers examining works from different English-speaking cultures, or offering comparative analysis with children’s or adult fiction are welcomed.
This seminar invites more papers:
ESSE-13, August 22-26 2016, Galway. Paper proposal deadline extended to March 11 on this seminar. Send a 200 word abstract to the seminar co-convenors.
S73 “Literary Prizes and Cultural Context”
Co-convenors
- Wolfgang Görtschacher, University of Salzburg, Austria, wolfgang.goertschacher@sbg.ac.at
- David Malcolm, University of Gdańsk, Poland, angmd@ug.edu.pl
Literary prizes form a fascinating interface between literature and society. Particularly noteworthy works are awarded prizes, increasing sales and benefitting the authors, their publishers, and their sponsors; further, the members of juries tend, in one way or another – often as writers themselves – to be intimately connected with the world of books and their dissemination. Prizes range from those such as the Man Booker, which bring with them substantial money, prestige and sales, to others which offer little more than encouragement. Whilst it is anticipated that the Man Booker Prize will be a major focus of our seminar, we will also address prize culture in all its manifestations, both in the UK and elsewhere.
This seminar invites more papers:
ESSE-13, August 22-26 2016, Galway. Paper proposal deadline extended to March 11 on this seminar. Send a 200 word abstract to the seminar co-convenors.
S74 “21st-Century Female Crime Fiction”
Co-convenors
- Wolfgang Görtschacher, University of Salzburg, Austria, wolfgang.goertschacher@sbg.ac.at
- Agnieszka Sienkiewicz-Charlish, University of Gdańsk, Poland, agnieszka.sienkiewicz@ug.edu.pl
Crime fiction has been one of the most prolific literary genres for over a century. One subgenre that has really taken off since the early 1980s is female crime fiction. The proliferation of female writing in this area, complete with female sleuths, ranges across styles such as “cosy”, “hard-boiled”, “forensic”, and “humanist”. As early as 1987 Sisters in Crime, an organization that has 3,600 members in 48 chapters worldwide, was founded with the mission “to combat discrimination against women in the mystery field.” Today the situation seems to have only slightly changed. This seminar aims to survey the crime scene and question protagonists, victims, and suspects, but also to suggest future developments and lines of investigation.