I am seeking contributions for a collection of essays on James Boswell that focuses on those writings in his literary career that have attracted little critical attention, work he published in newspapers, magazines, and pamphlets. Potential contributors could focus on, but are certainly not limited to: his magazine columns, the miscellaneous poetry that appeared in the periodical press; and writing he intended to publish in the periodical press but didn’t. Proposals on his books that address topical subjects (which would include his books on Corsica and the Douglas Cause) would be of interest, as would his relations with the press and/or its editors.
Are there really no Sundays west of St. Louis and is there no god west of Fort Smith? Representing a set of assumptions about the American Character, progress, law, order, and the conquest of nature, conflicts concerning the ideal and themes of redemption figure prominently in Westerns. On the Western’s frontier, figures of power and subversion abound—lawmen and outlaws, gamblers and gunmen, cavalry wives and soiled doves, the Indian chiefs and buffalo scouts.
12016 Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association (PAMLA) Annual Conference
Asian Literature Session
Nov. 11-13, 2016
We invite papers (15-20 minutes) for the Asian Literature session of the 114th Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association (PAMLA) annual conference that will take place over the November 11-13, 2016 weekend at Westin Pasadena in Pasadena, CA.
PAMLA Conference 2016
“The History of the Book”
"The History of the Book" is an approved session focusing on the way in which books and other written texts (material, virtual) developed through the ages and also, on the cultural, economic and political role of books, libraries, archives and book collections in society.
Paper proposals are welcome on topics including but not limited to:
In a recent film, 45 Years (dir. Andrew Haigh, 2015), a couple about to celebrate forty-five years of marriage hear of the recovery of the body of the husband’s erstwhile girlfriend – whose name resembles that of the wife – found perfectly preserved in Alpine ice. This discovery implicitly affects the two differently: it appears that the husband is shocked at reminders of lost youth, while the wife is affected by the vivid idea (supplemented by slides she views) of a rival who pre-existed her and thus has a permanent kind of precedence. The same effect is experienced by the unnamed narrator-protagonist of Rebecca (Daphne du Maurier, 1938), who enters a haunted marriage dominated by her predecessor and the violent enigma surrounding her.
New Universalisms: Aesthetics, Media, Politics
Graduate Student Conference, Department of Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature, University of Minnesota, October 7-8 2016
Keynote speakers: Lauren Berlant (University of Chicago) and Tung-Hui Hu (University of Michigan).
Robinson Crusoe After 300 Years
2019 will mark the tercentenary of the publication of both The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe and The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe. Papers are sought for an edited collection examining the phenomenon of Crusoe after 300 Years.
Preliminary Call for Participation
2017 Appalachian Studies Association Conference
March 9-12, 2017, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia
CALL FOR PAPERS—DEADLINE EXTENDED
November 4-6, 2016
“Latin American and Spanish Female Voices On Stage: Between Utopia and Dystopia”
PAMLA 2016: Ekphrasis: Classical, Modern and Post-Modern
This special session will explore the evolution of ekphrasis from its roots in the Homeric period to the present day. Papers on any aspect of ekphrasis, theoretical or applied, are welcome.
Submission Deadline: June 2, 2016
Please submit your proposal via the PAMLA website
For questions about the session please contact Diana Shaffer at
EXTENDED DEADLINE CONFERENCE CALL
Neurocultures: Brain Imaging and Imagining the Mind – Second international and interdisciplinary conference organised by the Department of English Studies at the University of Bielsko-Biala.
26-28 September 2016
Patricia Pisters, Professor of Film Studies at the University of Amsterdam.
Fernando Vidal, Research Professor at ICREA (Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies).
Over the past 30 years, scholars have written extensively on the influence of skepticism in the early modern period, frequently characterizing the philosophical school as a threat to the era’s epistemology, ethics, and religion. But could skepticism also work to generate meaning, create stability, or provide a sense of tranquility? This panel series seeks to build on and compliment earlier readings by examining how ancient philosophical models-- such as Stoicism, Epicureanism, and Pyrrhonism-- as well as the skeptical texts available to early modern readers might complicate our current understanding of skepticism as a fundamentally destabilizing or disruptive force.
CFP: The Power of Love An area of multiple panels for the 2016 Film & History Conference:
Gods and Heretics: Figures of Power and Subversion in Film and Television
October 26-October 30, 2016
The Milwaukee Hilton
Milwaukee, WI (USA)
When romance is brought to life on film and television, it becomes a public discourse capable of either normalizing or challenging behaviors and activating social criticism. Debates over the shape and form of love on the silver screen have been at the center of film and television history, pointing to its significant cultural power. This area, then, will explore both “the power of love” in screen history and the implications of love in film and television.
The Piety and Politics of Women’s Food Practices in a Changing South Asia
This book will explore issues related to gender, religion, work and identity in South Asia through the lens of food practices. Food has powerful discursive and ritual value across South Asian cultures and of course occupies an important place in the everyday lives of women across the class spectrum. It therefore offers a unique window into issues of gender difference, religious power, cultural identity, and social change in all South Asian communities and religious traditions—Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Sikhism, and others.