Call for Papers

[EUOL]

Thought a few of you might be interested in this:


--beginning of email---
Please feel free to forward this call to other listservs and individuals
who might be interested.

Please note that the person posting this call is NOT the person to whom
your proposals should be sent (contact information in body of message).

Apologies if you have received multiple copies of this call.

CFP: Fantastic Literature in English Division (10/15/03; ICFA 3/243/28/04)

The Fantastic Literature in English Division of the International
Association for the Fantastic in the Arts is soliciting proposals for
papers and paper sessions for the 25th Annual International Conference on
the Fantastic in the Arts, which will be held from March 24 - 28, 2003 at
the Fort Lauderdale Airport Hilton.

Proposals on any aspect of the fantastic in British, American and
Commonwealth literature are welcome.

Fantastic Literature in English Division Head:
Charles W. Nelson
Humanities Dept.
Michigan Technological University
Houghton, MI 49931
[email protected]

Proposals for individual papers or proposals for paper sessions (consisting
of a brief description of session focus plus proposals for 3-4 individual
papers on a common author, theme, period, or critical approach) are both
welcome.

Deadline for submissions:  15 October 2003.

Electronic correspondence is welcome.

Proposals must include a 500-word abstract and appropriate bibliography
indicating the project’s scholarly or theoretical context.

ANY AUDIO-VISUAL EQUIPMENT REQUIREMENTS MUST BE SPECIFIED IN THIS INITIAL
PROPOSAL.

NOTE:  The first conference session is scheduled for 4:30, Wednesday March
24.  Please indicate on your proposal or accompanying letter if  you CANNOT
possibly make a 4:30 session on Wednesday.

To be listed in the conference program, participants must join IAFA by
December 15, 2003 and preregister for the conference by February 15,
2004.  Hotel and registration information can be found on the IAFA
website:  http://www.iafa.org

GENERAL CONFERENCE INFORMATION:
25th International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts

Here There Be Dragons: The Global Fantastic

The focus of ICFA-25 is on the global fantastic and on the ways in which
language, tradition, and geography shape the narratives we tell. Our
cultures are threaded with shifting strands of the fantastic from around
the globe: Japanese anime, Russian folktales, fragments of the Ramayana,
Latin American magic realism, African trickster stories.

Possible topics relating to the theme of the conference include:
Postcolonial Theory and Science Fiction; the Racialized Other in Narrative;
the Representation of Race and Gender in the International Fantastic;
Fantastic Film Around the Globe; Legends and Fairy Tales of Many Nations;
Comparative Literature; Science Fiction in Translation; and the Impact of
and on Multiculturalism.  In addition, papers on authors of science fiction
from all nations of the world are welcome, as are papers focusing on the
work of Guest Authors and Scholar.

Guest of Honor:  Daína Chaviano
Guest Scholar:  Marcial Souto
Special Guest Author:  Elizabeth Hand
Permanent Special Guest:  Brian Aldiss

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

That's interesting. I'll have to dig up what I've got.

On another note. It's interesting that they use the term "the fantastic." Roland Barthes uses a very specific criteria to be "the fantastic." Essentially, the fantastic is a genre where you are left with uncertainly. You may be able to explain away amazing or probably impossible events (it was a dream, or he was hallucinating) with some sort of reasoned explanation (or come up with a scientific explanation, there's a Spanish author of the late 20th century famous for this, but I can't remember his name). But it's just as likely textually that the cause of the unusual events was supernatural in origin. Essentially, Barthes set up a dichotomy between science and the supernatural, and then explains that the "Fantastic" is the shady realm where the text refuses to let you commit to one of the two completely. Poe's "Tell-Tale Heart" is not the best example, but a good starting point to explain. Was the disembodied heart really beating (supernatural)? or was the guilt felt by the perpetrator causing him to hallucinate the noise (scientific)? Poe doesn't really let you know what really happened.

Anyway, that's all just my nerdy aside. This CFP is obviously not refrerring exclusively to this specific genre, though I'd imagine that you could use it. Unfortunately, my favorite Fantastic novel is not in English, and I don't even know if there's an English translation.

[stacer]

I've seen this CFP on children's lists, too--apparently they're asking for papers on children's fantasy, as well. I don't have anything interesting enough to use for it, though.

[EUOL]

I'm going to ask the English Dept. if they'll give me money to go to the conference.  Might as well, eh?  

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

never hurts to ask.