Publication: Twenty-First Century Neo-Victorian Gothic: Deviance and Transgression on Page and Screen.
Deadline for proposal submissions: 1 April 2025.
Edited by: Prof. Rossie Artemis
For a volume in the Genre Fiction and Film Companion series published by Peter Lang Oxford, we solicit papers on the topic of Neo-Victorian Gothic literature and film adaptation in the twenty-first century.
Neo-Victorian Gothic represents a contemporary revival of Gothic themes, often exploring deviance and transgression in the context of Victorian society as a challenge to the rigid structures imposed by Victorian society and a re-examination of marginalized voices and experiences. This genre not only revisits the aesthetic and narrative structures of the Gothic, but also critiques and reinterprets the cultural anxieties of both the Victorian and modern societies. Neo-Victorian texts frequently engage with themes of sexual and social deviance thus reflecting on contemporary concerns about identity, gender roles, and morality too.
The neo-Victorian Gothic critiques historical injustices, especially regarding gender inequality, violence, sexual transgression, and neurodiversity through intricately weaving together themes of deviance and transgression, with a critical lens on both Victorian history and contemporary culture. By revisiting Gothic conventions such as encounters with the uncanny in all its manifestations, with ghosts and the doppelgënger, neo-Victorian works illuminate the persistent shadows of social constraints and anxiety while advocating for a deeper understanding of identity and morality in both past and present contexts. Moreover, the genre heavily relies on intertextual references to Victorian literature, thus drawing parallels between the past and the present and reflecting on the continuity of certain social issues across time.
While aware of the many renowned masterpieces of neo-Victorian Gothic literature from the previous century, the proposed volume will explore how our twenty-first century engages with the topics of deviance and transgression. Will Self’s Dorian, An Imitation (2002), Julian Barnes’ Arthur and George (2005), Diane Setterfield’s The Thirteenth Tale (2006), John Harding’s Florence and Giles (2010), Rosie Garland’s The Palace of Curiosities (2013), Gregory Blake Smith’s The Maze at Windermere (2018), Nell Stevens’ Briefly, A Delicious Life (2022) are some of the many novels published in the past twenty-odd years. What is more, neo-Victorian novels are frequently adapted for the screen: for example, the novels of Sarah Waters’ Tipping the Velvet (2002), Fingersmith (2005), Affinity (2008) and Michel Faber’s The Crimson Petal and the White (2011) or more recent productions such as Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes films, and TV series like Sherlock, Ripper Street, Whitechapel, and Penny Dreadful. The Companion will therefore revisit the issues of deviance and transgression as embodied in literary texts and adaptations in the context of the challenges set by the contemporary reading audiences and viewers.
Please send abstracts of about 300 words and short bios for consideration by 1 April 2025 to Prof. Rossie Artemis at: artemis.r@unic.ac.cy
Authors will be notified about the status of their proposals by 1 May 2025, and the first drafts of essays (about 4500 words) will be expected by 1 November 2025.
For more information about Peter Lang’s Genre Fiction and Film Companion series, please visit: https://www.peterlang.com/series/gffc
(Posted 7 January 2025)
Publication and issue: VPFJ (Victorian Popular Fictions Journal). 8.2 (Autumn 2026).
Deadline for proposal submissions: 30 April 2025.
Issue edited by: Manon Burz-Labrande (manon.burz-labrande@univie.ac.at) and Sarah Frühwirth (sarah.fruehwirth@univie.ac.at)
Issue theme description
This special issue of VPFJ seeks to examine the multifaceted presence of poison in nineteenth-century popular fiction and culture. We welcome contributions that engage with this rich and varied topic from various critical angles, for example, literary studies (e.g. poison and poisoners in nineteenth-century popular literature), gender studies (e.g. the gendered discourse surrounding poison in fiction and real-life), postcolonial studies (e.g. orientalisation/othering of poisons and poisoners in fiction and real-life), food studies (e.g. culinary poisons, food adulteration), the medical humanities (e.g. medical uses of poisons, the rise of toxicology), periodical studies (sensational reporting on food adulteration, poisonous sewer gas, advertisements of poisons, etc.), life writing (e.g. fictionalised accounts of the lives of nineteenth-century poisoners), drug and addiction studies (e.g. the poisonous qualities of opium/alcohol/tobacco and their fictional portrayals) and animal studies (e.g. venomous animals in popular fiction).
Timeline
- Deadline for proposal submission: 30 April 2025
- Deadline for full articles: 31 October 2025
CFP
For further details, please check the editors’ original CFP.
Link to download full CFP: https://victorianpopularfiction.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Poisons-and-poisoning-VPFJ-CFP-Burz-Labrande-Fruhwirth.pdf
(Posted 15 January 2025)
Publication: Psychoanalyzing the Post-Apocalypse: Psychoanalytic Approaches to 21st Century Fiction and Film.
Deadline for proposal submissions: 1 May 2025.
Issue edited by Cenk Tan and Ercan Gürova
Presentation
The term post-apocalypse evokes a haunting vision of life after catastrophe, where humanity must grapple with the consequences of global ruin. This genre, spanning literature, film, and other media, has captured our collective imagination by depicting worlds radically altered by disasters—be they natural, technological, or societal. Post-apocalyptic narratives often focus on survival, resilience, and the transformation of social order in the face of unimaginable loss (Collins 12-13). From barren landscapes and mutated ecosystems to crumbling urban ruins, these works reveal both the devastation left in the apocalypse’s wake and the fundamental human drive to rebuild, adapt, and find meaning in desolation (Hicks 15).
We invite chapter proposals for an edited volume, Psychoanalyzing the Post-Apocalypse: Psychoanalytic Approaches to 21st Century Fiction and Film, which aims to explore post-apocalyptic literature and cinema through psychoanalytic frameworks. This volume seeks to probe the psychic, existential, and societal anxieties reflected in post-apocalyptic narratives, offering insight into how these works confront, distort, and reimagine the human psyche in the wake of global crises. By investigating 21st-century post-apocalyptic novels and films, we aim to capture the haunting portrayals of trauma, survival, memory, loss, and hope that resonate with contemporary psychological and social challenges.
This collection will apply psychoanalytic theory to a range of post-apocalyptic narratives, examining themes of survival, trauma, identity, desire, repression, and the unconscious as they manifest in worlds marked by environmental, societal, or technological collapse. Scholars are encouraged to explore these topics through the lenses of Freudian, Jungian, Lacanian, and contemporary psychoanalytic frameworks. Interdisciplinary approaches are welcome, especially those incorporating critical theory, film studies, literary studies, and cultural studies.
Timeline
- Deadline for abstract submission: May, 1, 2025
- Deadline for chapter submission: September, 1, 2025
- Anticipated publication date: Early 2026
Website address
Contact details
psychoanalyzingpostapocalypse@gmail.com
(Posted 5 December 2025)