Friday, June 22, 2018
CFP Hobgoblins of Fantasy: American Fantasy Fiction in Theory (for The New Historicist) (7/31/2018)
CFP: “Hobgoblins of Fantasy: American Fantasy Fiction in Theory,” Special Feature in The New Americanist
https://www.fantastic-arts.org/2018/cfp-hobgoblins-of-fantasy-american-fantasy-fiction-in-theory-special-feature-in-the-new-americanist/
June 8, 2018
The New Americanist would like to announce a general call for papers for its third issue (Fall 2019). The New Americanist is an interdisciplinary journal publishing scholarly work on the United States and the Americas broadly considered. We are especially interested in work which includes a global perspective, introduces new critical approaches, and proposes theoretical frameworks to the study of the US. We welcome contributions from scholars from around the world and across the humanities and social sciences.
“Hobgoblins of Fantasy: American Fantasy Fiction in Theory”
Special feature in The New Americanist
In association with the American Studies Center, University of Warsaw
“A frightful hobgoblin stalks through Europe. We are haunted by a ghost, the ghost of Communism.” The Communist Manifesto (1850)
A frightful hobgoblin stalks through genre fiction, too. Fantasy is haunted by that same ghost, the ghost of critical theory. The fantastic, the hobgoblin, and fantasy literature as we know it were “always already” present in the early articulations of critical theory. Fantasy, though, does not merely echo within, or from, Marx and Engels. It presents unique challenges to critical theory, both to readers and to literary critics, not least because of its seeming opposition to realism, materialism, and history itself. That is to say, critical theory’s ostensible rationalism confronts fantasy’s vision of itself as myth. Even the word “myth” carries such different meanings in the theories of Horkheimer and Adorno, Barthes, or Lacan, rather than in fantasy, that the two can barely understand each other. That instability roots fantasy in a “negative capability,” possibly even an antifoundationalist tendency, when it comes to theorizing it. Suvin or Jameson, for example, set it in opposition to science fiction, its twin genre. So while fantasy finds more traction than SF in political allegory or feminist critique, that very capability clashes with the class theory of history, the critique of neoliberalism, that SF ostensibly contains. The result is that fantasy vacillates between Marxist critique, with its determinism and false consciousness, and social commentary, with its direct representation and even accusation.
What are readers to do? Must the hobgoblin be exorcised, or do we find a medium through which to communicate? Is the hobgoblin itself a product of the struggle between fantasy and rationality? As a special feature in the newly-relaunched The New Americanist, and in association with the American Studies Center at the University of Warsaw, “Hobgoblins of Fantasy: American Fantasy Fiction in Theory” seeks articles on critical approaches to American fantasy fiction. The special feature section is open to articles from any critical paradigm and of any period in American fantasy but is particularly interested in readings of fantasy that draw on the conflicts among competing critical methods. This collection reflects debates around definitions, sub-genres (urban fantasy vs. heroic fantasy, or high & low fantasy, etc.), periodization, historicization, gender & sexuality in reading communities, reception theory, and so forth. Portals into the critical fantastic include (but are not limited to) some suggestive tensions:
China Miéville observes in Red Planets that the SF project had begun subtitled “Marxism, Science Fiction, Fantasy.” Whence fantasy and why this trend?
Jameson and Suvin welcome fantasy into history with the departure of magic, or precisely when it ceases to be fantastical. Are other historicizations of fantasy possible?
Urban fantasy has flourished through identity politics (gender, LGBTQ+, “minority” communities), but what of concepts of consolation, inoculation, or cultural appropriation that question foundational works in the sub-genre?
The rise of Afrofuturism in SF suggests a parallel Afrofantastic. What of other communities find voice through (or represented in) fantasy? What voices do Indigenous, Latinx, Asian American, and other fantasy communities find in the genre?
Reader response and reception theory in pulp fiction has largely related to romance reading communities—in what ways is fantasy divergent from (or contiguous with) this established critical project?
Other questions might include (but are not limited to):
Is there a “Hard Fantasy,” and is it complicit in the potential toxic masculinity of demands for a Hard SF?
Fanfic studies have concentrated on SF, often in relation to identity and communities of resistance in underground publications, yet S/K echoes very differently in the commercial success of Fifty Shadesresponding to Twilight. What are the sexual politics of fantasy fanfic? What are its genders and communities?
What are fantasy’s nationalisms? Is there a manifest destiny stalking American fantasy?
Is “Cli-Fi” necessarily a subset of SF’s cognitive estrangements, or is a fantastic confrontation with nature “always already” allegorizing anthropogenic climate change?
Do Animal Studies or human/non-human networks find unique representations or opportunities in fantasy and/or in fantasy audiences?
Do we confront, through Klein, Lacan, Žižek, et al., the “phantasy” in fantasy, linking it to desire, the Other, and radical transformation, or must we also remain discontent with metonymic substitutes as a function of fantasy?
Please submit 1-page abstracts and a short biographical note for proposed articles to James Gifford (gifford@fdu.edu) and Orion Kidder (okidder@sfu.ca) by 31 July 2018. Selected articles (6,000–8,000 words) will then be due by 31 December 2018 for peer-review. The third issue of The New Americanist will be published in Fall 2019 with “Hobgoblins of Fantasy: American Fantasy Fiction in Theory” as its special feature.
CFP Conference on Legacy of Watership Down (6/30/2018; University of Warwick 11/10/2018)
(Details on the film at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watership_Down_(film).)
CFP: The Legacy of Watership Down: Animals, Adaptation, Animation, An Interdisciplinary Symposium, University of Warwick
https://www.fantastic-arts.org/2018/cfp-the-legacy-of-watership-down-animals-adaptation-animation-an-interdisciplinary-symposium-university-of-warwick/
May 24, 2018
The Legacy of Watership Down: Animals, Adaptation, Animation
deadline for submissions:
June 30, 2018
full name / name of organization:
University of Warwick
contact email:
c.lester.2@warwick.ac.uk
The Legacy of Watership Down: Animals, Adaptation, Animation
An interdisciplinary symposium
University of Warwick
Saturday 10th November 2018
Organised by: Dr Catherine Lester
Keynote speaker: Dr Chris Pallant (Canterbury Christ Church University)
2018 marks 40 years since the release of Watership Down, Martin Rosen’s acclaimed 1978 animated film. Adapted from Richard Adams’ 1972 children’s novel, it tells the tale of a group of anthropomorphised rabbits who flee the imminent destruction of their warren in search of a safe haven. In recognition of the film’s 40th anniversary, this one-day symposium seeks to foster academic discourse on this landmark of British animation from a range of disciplinary perspectives.
A beautifully-realised piece of animation, the film has inspired filmmakers including Guillermo del Toro, Wes Anderson and Zack Snyder. Yet the film is best remembered for its legendary status as an emotionally traumatic viewing experience, especially for children. This is in part due to Art Garfunkel’s tearjerker ‘Bright Eyes’, a hit single written for the film. Watership Down is also known for its graphic violence which seems directly at odds with its BBFC ‘U’ certificate (indicating that is suitable for all ages) and its subject matter of anthropomorphised rabbits. Thanks to this ambiguous status as a ‘children’s film’, Watership Down consistently remains the subject of public debate, as epitomised by public outrage in the UK over Channel 5’s decision to broadcast the film on the afternoon of Easter Sunday two years running. Conversely, the film has recently been raised in favourable comparison to the live-action/CG hybrid Peter Rabbit (2018), spurring questions surrounding the role of violence and matters of taste in children’s media. In addition, Watership Down bears timely socio-political relevance: it demonstrates the dangers of human impact upon the environment and the need to overcome totalitarian authority, as represented in the film by the fascistic villain General Woundwort. In an uncertain political climate that includes the rise of neo-Nazism, it seems more appropriate than ever to ask what audiences of adults and children alike can still learn from this landmark of British animation.
In light of the film’s continued relevance, this symposium seeks to explore Watership Down’s ongoing cultural legacy and impact, 40 years since its first release. This may be in relation to the above themes, but this event also intends to broaden the dialogue beyond these headline-grabbing topics and draw attention to more overlooked aspects of the film’s form, aesthetics, and place in British cinema and animation history. Further possible topics include but are not limited to:
* Adaptation (including the film’s relationship with other adaptations of the novel)
* Music and sound
* Stardom and voice performance
* Genre and generic hybridity (e.g. horror, fantasy, the epic, animal stories, children’s cinema)
* Animal studies (especially representations of rabbits in popular/visual culture)
* The relationship between animals, animation and children’s media
* Representations of nature/the countryside
* Eco-critical perspectives
* Allegory
* Gender and sexuality
* Audience and memory studies
* Fan studies
* Meme studies
* Folklore
* Mortality and morality
* Broadcast, classification and censorship
* The work of Martin Rosen (i.e. Plague Dogs)
* Influences upon Watership Down and its influence upon subsequent media
It is the intention that selected papers from the event will be published in the form of an edited book collection.
Please send 300-word abstracts (for 20-minute papers) with a short author biography to Dr Catherine Lester c.lester.2@warwick.ac.uk by 30th June 2018.
For further information please contact the above address or refer to the website http://watershipdown40.wordpress.com or Twitter @watershipdown40. Funded by the Humanities Research Centre, University of Warwick
CFP Star Trek Discovery Collection (expired)
Sorry to have missed this earlier. It looks like the call was open for less than a month:
CFP: Context is for Kings – An Edited Collection on Star Trek: Discovery
https://www.fantastic-arts.org/2018/cfp-context-is-for-kings-an-edited-collection-on-star-trek-discovery/
March 22, 2018
Context is for Kings – An Edited Collection on Star Trek: Discovery
51 years after Star Trek: The Original Series first aired on U.S. American TV, Star Trek: Discovery is updating the franchise for the 21st century. Like TOS was in the 60s, Discovery is firmly rooted in the zeitgeist and current political climate—a fact that has led to surprising amount of backlash from some corners of the fandom. Thanks to the advantage of streaming platforms over network television, the series is also updating the largely episodic structure of the earlier installments to a more serial and coherent storytelling that allows for longer narrative arcs as well as a focus on in-depth character development.
Set 10 years before The Original Series, Discovery is notably darker than any of the previous iterations of the franchise. Depicting the Federation at war with the Klingon Empire, the first season raises questions about identity and othering, war and trauma, and the conflict between idealism and pragmatism. It explores how Starfleet, an organization ostensibly dedicated to exploration and diplomacy, deals with the ethical questions surrounding war, and the lengths people are willing to go to win. These questions are deepened and complicated by the fact that the series, unlike any of the previous entries in the Star Trek canon, focuses not exclusively on the crew of the U.S.S. Discovery and the United Federation of planets, but also presents the events from the point of view of the Klingon Empire. A foray into the Mirror Universe dominated by the fascist Terran Empire throws Starfleet’s ideals and the characters’ struggles to live up to them into even sharper relief.
In addition to the questions raised by the narrative, Discovery has continued the franchise’s commitment to representing diversity on screen. Featuring a woman of color in the lead role, a racially and ethnically diverse main and supporting cast, and introducing the franchise’s first gay couple (played by out gay actors), the show is even more inclusive than any of the previous Star Trek series. Discovery thus has once more proven Star Trek’s continued cultural relevance and has, after only one season, already warranted an in-depth academic study that engages with the series from the perspectives of a variety of academic disciplines, such as cultural studies, gender and queer theory, political science, philosophy, and more.
We thus invite contributions to an edited collection to be published with a notable international publishing house or University Press.
We already have contributions on:
List of other possible topics can include, but are not limited to:
The deadline for submissions is April 15, 2018. Please include an abstract (300 words) on the topic you would like to write on, plus a short bio-blurb, and send it as a pdf to Mareike Spychala, M.A. (mareike.spychala@uni-bamberg.de) and Dr. des. Sabrina Mittermeier (Sabrina.Mittermeier@pecess.de).
We will inform all participants by May 15, and full papers (6500-8000 words in length) will have to be submitted by October 31, 2018.
CFP: Context is for Kings – An Edited Collection on Star Trek: Discovery
https://www.fantastic-arts.org/2018/cfp-context-is-for-kings-an-edited-collection-on-star-trek-discovery/
March 22, 2018
Context is for Kings – An Edited Collection on Star Trek: Discovery
51 years after Star Trek: The Original Series first aired on U.S. American TV, Star Trek: Discovery is updating the franchise for the 21st century. Like TOS was in the 60s, Discovery is firmly rooted in the zeitgeist and current political climate—a fact that has led to surprising amount of backlash from some corners of the fandom. Thanks to the advantage of streaming platforms over network television, the series is also updating the largely episodic structure of the earlier installments to a more serial and coherent storytelling that allows for longer narrative arcs as well as a focus on in-depth character development.
Set 10 years before The Original Series, Discovery is notably darker than any of the previous iterations of the franchise. Depicting the Federation at war with the Klingon Empire, the first season raises questions about identity and othering, war and trauma, and the conflict between idealism and pragmatism. It explores how Starfleet, an organization ostensibly dedicated to exploration and diplomacy, deals with the ethical questions surrounding war, and the lengths people are willing to go to win. These questions are deepened and complicated by the fact that the series, unlike any of the previous entries in the Star Trek canon, focuses not exclusively on the crew of the U.S.S. Discovery and the United Federation of planets, but also presents the events from the point of view of the Klingon Empire. A foray into the Mirror Universe dominated by the fascist Terran Empire throws Starfleet’s ideals and the characters’ struggles to live up to them into even sharper relief.
In addition to the questions raised by the narrative, Discovery has continued the franchise’s commitment to representing diversity on screen. Featuring a woman of color in the lead role, a racially and ethnically diverse main and supporting cast, and introducing the franchise’s first gay couple (played by out gay actors), the show is even more inclusive than any of the previous Star Trek series. Discovery thus has once more proven Star Trek’s continued cultural relevance and has, after only one season, already warranted an in-depth academic study that engages with the series from the perspectives of a variety of academic disciplines, such as cultural studies, gender and queer theory, political science, philosophy, and more.
We thus invite contributions to an edited collection to be published with a notable international publishing house or University Press.
We already have contributions on:
- Military Femininities (Admiral Cornwell, Captain/Emperor Georgiou, Michael Burnham, L’Rell, Silvia Tilly/Captain Killy)
- Gabriel Lorca, Ash Tyler and the Question of Masculinity
- “‘Lorca, I’m Gonna Miss Killing You:’” Possible Worlds and Counterfactuals in Star Trek: Discovery
- Fan Reception and Discussions of Political and Social Values in Discovery
- Cultural Relevance/Zeitgeist of TOS and Discovery in comparison
List of other possible topics can include, but are not limited to:
- Questions of racial diversity in casting and narrative
- Representation of femininities and masculinities
- LGBTQ representation on and off screen
- Depictions of war and trauma (portrayal of PTSD, torture, rape)
- Fandom (Fanart, fanfiction, conventions, cosplaying, etc.)
- The role of social media and resulting changes to fandom/fan engagement
- Discovery’s relationship to the Star Trek canon and expanded universe (TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY, ENT; Star Trek novels)
- Serial storytelling and world building
- The portrayal of non-human/alien races, particularly the Klingon Empire and the Kelpien Saru
- The role of Science Fiction in the current political moment
- Discovery’s vision(s) of the future
- Depiction of scientific exploration (in general, and its conflict with the war effort in particular)
- Questions of moral philosophy and ethics
The deadline for submissions is April 15, 2018. Please include an abstract (300 words) on the topic you would like to write on, plus a short bio-blurb, and send it as a pdf to Mareike Spychala, M.A. (mareike.spychala@uni-bamberg.de) and Dr. des. Sabrina Mittermeier (Sabrina.Mittermeier@pecess.de).
We will inform all participants by May 15, and full papers (6500-8000 words in length) will have to be submitted by October 31, 2018.
CFP Student Conference on Alterity in Fantasy and Science Fiction (7/15/2018; University of Freiburg 10/19-20/2018)
CFP: Fantastic Beasts, Monstrous Cyborgs, Aliens and Other Spectres: Exploring Alterity in Fantasy and Science Fiction, Student Conference, English Department, University of Freiburg, 19-20 October 2018
https://www.fantastic-arts.org/2018/cfp-fantastic-beasts-monstrous-cyborgs-aliens-and-other-spectres-exploring-alterity-in-fantasy-and-science-fiction-student-conference-english-department-university-of-freiburg-19-20-october-20/
April 13, 2018
Fantastic Beasts, Monstrous Cyborgs, Aliens and Other Spectres: Exploring Alterity in Fantasy and Science Fiction
Student Conference, English Department, University of Freiburg, 19-20 October 2018
Identity formation operates through processes of exclusion by defining the self against an other. As Sencindiver et al argue: “[O]therness has been inseparable from human identity and affairs from time immemorial – the birth of subjectivity ineluctably implicates the birth of its concomitant and allegedly dark twin”. Alterity is a concept of ongoing relevance and describes “the quality of strangeness inherent in the other”. The relationship between self and other is based on hierarchical power structures that stem from an essentialist mind-set and serve as justifications of exclusionary practices such as imperialism, sexism and anthropocentrism. With the emergence of postmodern theory in the 1960s, the validity of these hierarchies has been continually called into question. Especially the deconstruction of the divide between high and popular culture led to a pluralisation of perspectives, giving a voice to those who had formerly been excluded and silenced.
Critical theorists such as John Storey have described popular culture itself as an other that is always defined against any other definitions of “culture” and “popular”. It follows that popular culture constitutes a hegemonic site of struggle and thus provides productive ground on which to contrast different discourses surrounding alterity, which can in turn confirm or subvert them. Popular culture is not a mere reflection of current cultural discourses but takes an active role, influencing the various ways in which we perceive and respond to otherness.
We are currently witnessing a proliferation of the genres of science fiction and fantasy, particularly in media such as film or television (consider for example the popularity of films and series such as Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Game of Thrones, the Star Wars sequels, recent Star Trek reboots & prequels and many more). The study of fantasy and science fiction is especially rewarding in the context of analysing representations of alterity. Both genres construct elaborate alternative worlds in which encounters between human characters and sentient nonhuman others call into question the nature of the human and, with it, the boundaries between self and other. The thought experiments that characterise fantasy and science fiction estrange our known reality which promotes an active examination of our world. They throw into relief what we consider as other and provide new models to encounter alterity outside of fiction in the ‘real’ world.
This conference aims to address the representation of alterity in fantasy and science fiction, its impact on cultural practices and its subversive potential. We are interested in the role of form, medium and (sub)genre in negotiations of alterity. We welcome papers analysing popular cultural texts from diverse cultural contexts. Please note that the language of the conference is English.
Potential discussion topics may include, but are not limited to:
- different (re)configurations of the Other (racialised and gendered others, cyborgs, fantastic creatures, animal others, etc.)
- socio-historical perspectives on alterity (reconfigurations of the notion of the subaltern, the uncanny, etc.)
- fictional representations of liminal or hybrid identities
- the influence of philosophy, ethics, science or anthropology (amongst others) on science fiction and fantasy
- negotiations of otherness in different media (i.e. TV, film, podcasts, computer games, web-series, music, transformative works, art, literature, etc.)
- the political impact of ethical representations of alterity
This student conference is organised by two Masters students of British and North American Cultural Studies at the University of Freiburg, Germany, Julia Ditter and Anne Korfmacher. If you are a student (B.A., M.A. or PhD level) and interested in presenting a 20-minute paper at our conference, please submit a short proposal (around 200-250 words) and a short biography (including your current study program) to exploringalterity@anglistik.uni-freiburg.de by 15 July 2018. There is no conference fee to be paid and technical equipment for the presentation will be provided. Conference participants will be responsible for organising and paying for their own accommodation and food.
Please see https://exploringalterity.wordpress.com/cfp/ for more information.
References:
Sencindiver, Susan Yi, Marie Lauritzen and Maria Beville. “Introduction.” Otherness: A Multilateral Perspective, Peter Lang, 2011, p. 17 (pp. 17-42).
Buchanan, Ian. “Alterity.” A Dictionary of Critical Theory, Oxford UP, 2010. Online.
cf. Storey, John. Cultural Theory and Popular Culture. Routledge, 2015. 7th Edition, pp. 13ff.
CFP Frankel's Fourth Wave Feminism in Science Fiction & Fantasy (6/30/2018)
Been meaning to post this:
CFP: Fourth Wave Feminism in Science Fiction & Fantasy
https://www.fantastic-arts.org/2018/cfp-fourth-wave-feminism-in-science-fiction-fantasy/
April 24, 2018
CFP: Fourth Wave Feminism in Science Fiction & Fantasy
deadline for submissions:
June 30, 2018
full name / name of organization:
Valerie Estelle Frankel, editor
contact email:
valerie@calithwain.com
This anthology is seeking to define the new kinds of heroines that science fiction/fantasy films and television are producing right now (it may be split into two collections between these types). Multiple proposals are fine (certainly, non-genre programs are doing the same, but for the time being the scope will be limited to scifi and fantasy films). Hunger Games has been chosen as the cutting-off point – films and television should be later than 2012 and have significant heroines. Though the term is imperfect, these heroines will be described as fourth wave feminist – the authors in the collection can be the trendsetters who help define the term.
Authors are free to give it their own spin without perfect agreement, but fourth wave is being defined as more powerful and diverse heroines who needn’t be softened or sexualized or reduced to sidekicks like those of previous eras. There’s more acknowledgement of a world beyond the US, but the biggest issue setting the fourth wave apart is internet culture: on feminist blogs and online journals, everyone learns the terminology to the point where filmmakers as well as critics apply the Bechdel test and similar lenses. There are flame wars and trends like Gamergate but also diversity campaigns which the producers acknowledge. Filmmakers are discovering that diversity sells and they’re finally producing more of it, though not always perfectly. Basically, Wonder Woman, Black Panther, Frozen, Hunger Games, Force Awakens, and a few other blockbusters are breaking out a new kind of storytelling we’re documenting.
Your essay may analyze a single film on these issues or address a trend in one or more films – that are doing new feminism right or wrong in your opinion. Other media types like gaming or nongenre might be briefly touched on for comparison. You might also address a big issue like the Bechdel Test or whitewashing. Certainly, you’re welcome to use films and shows not mentioned here.
Deadline for proposals June 30 (roughly 300 words, optional bio or CV) to valerie at calithwain.com subject: FOURTH WAVE SUBMISSION
This is planned as a McFarland collection.
Possible topics and trends listed on https://www.academia.edu/36299656/CFP_Fourth_Wave_Feminism_in_Science_Fiction_and_Fantasy.
CFP: Fourth Wave Feminism in Science Fiction & Fantasy
https://www.fantastic-arts.org/2018/cfp-fourth-wave-feminism-in-science-fiction-fantasy/
April 24, 2018
CFP: Fourth Wave Feminism in Science Fiction & Fantasy
deadline for submissions:
June 30, 2018
full name / name of organization:
Valerie Estelle Frankel, editor
contact email:
valerie@calithwain.com
This anthology is seeking to define the new kinds of heroines that science fiction/fantasy films and television are producing right now (it may be split into two collections between these types). Multiple proposals are fine (certainly, non-genre programs are doing the same, but for the time being the scope will be limited to scifi and fantasy films). Hunger Games has been chosen as the cutting-off point – films and television should be later than 2012 and have significant heroines. Though the term is imperfect, these heroines will be described as fourth wave feminist – the authors in the collection can be the trendsetters who help define the term.
Authors are free to give it their own spin without perfect agreement, but fourth wave is being defined as more powerful and diverse heroines who needn’t be softened or sexualized or reduced to sidekicks like those of previous eras. There’s more acknowledgement of a world beyond the US, but the biggest issue setting the fourth wave apart is internet culture: on feminist blogs and online journals, everyone learns the terminology to the point where filmmakers as well as critics apply the Bechdel test and similar lenses. There are flame wars and trends like Gamergate but also diversity campaigns which the producers acknowledge. Filmmakers are discovering that diversity sells and they’re finally producing more of it, though not always perfectly. Basically, Wonder Woman, Black Panther, Frozen, Hunger Games, Force Awakens, and a few other blockbusters are breaking out a new kind of storytelling we’re documenting.
Your essay may analyze a single film on these issues or address a trend in one or more films – that are doing new feminism right or wrong in your opinion. Other media types like gaming or nongenre might be briefly touched on for comparison. You might also address a big issue like the Bechdel Test or whitewashing. Certainly, you’re welcome to use films and shows not mentioned here.
Deadline for proposals June 30 (roughly 300 words, optional bio or CV) to valerie at calithwain.com subject: FOURTH WAVE SUBMISSION
This is planned as a McFarland collection.
Possible topics and trends listed on https://www.academia.edu/36299656/CFP_Fourth_Wave_Feminism_in_Science_Fiction_and_Fantasy.
CFP Spec. Issue on Robert Holdstock (9/21/2018)
CFP: Articles and Reviews on Robert Holdstock’s Writing
https://www.fantastic-arts.org/2018/cfp-articles-and-reviews-on-robert-holdstocks-writing/
Call for Submissions: Articles and reviews on Robert Holdstock’s writing
Robert Holdstock – a celebration of ‘Mythago Wood’
‘No other author has so successfully captured the magic of the wildwood’, Michael Moorcock
Call for Submissions: Articles and reviews on Robert Holdstock’s writing
With the tenth anniversary of Robert Holdstock’s death approaching, the Sussex Centre for Folklore, Fairy Tales and Fantasy seeks articles and reviews with a focus on the author’s Mythago Wood series for publication in Gramarye, its peer-reviewed journal published by the University of Chichester.
Neil Gaiman considers Mythago Wood to be a ‘classic of the literature of fantasy.’ In this spirit we are looking for scholarly and imaginative submissions that will once more take readers in to the heart of the British mythic landscape.
The deadline for this issue is 21 September 2018, and the Guest Editor will be Dr Steven O’Brien.
General Gramarye submissions information
Gramarye is an international, multidisciplinary, peer-reviewed academic journal examining folk narratives, fairy tales and fantasy works, both as independent genres and also in terms of the resonances and dissonances between them and other cultural forms.
There is no charge or fee for submitting an article or abstract.
Articles should be 5,000 – 7,000 words, book reviews c.1,000 words, and submitted as a Word .doc or .rtf attachment to the editor (Email: info@sussexfolktalecentre.org).
All submissions should be accompanied by a 100-word abstract and 100-word biographical note.
Relevant colour image files, along with copyright permission, must also be supplied by the deadline.
For contributions that include any copyrighted materials, the author must secure written permission (specifying “non-exclusive world rights and electronic rights”) to reproduce them. The author must submit these written permissions with their final manuscript. Permission fees are the responsibility of the author.
The deadlines are always 21 March for the summer issue and 21 September for the winter issue. If you would like to receive a complimentary e-book of the most recent issue to check content and style, please request one from assistant Heather Robbins (h.robbins@chi.ac.uk).
Only original articles that are not simultaneously under consideration by another journal will be considered. Unrevised student essays or theses cannot be considered.
Submissions must include all quotations, endnotes, and the list of works cited. References should follow the Chicago Manual of Style.
The copyright for a submission remains with the author at all times.
The peer-review process for Gramarye is as follows:
The paper, edited to fit Gramarye’s house style, will first be sent to the editorial board to approve it for peer review if they find it to be original, interesting, and of value to Gramarye’s readers.
One or two experts in the field of the paper will then be chosen as peer reviewers, in a double-blind process in which neither reviewer nor author identity will be made available to the other.
The reviewers will ascertain the relative strengths and weaknesses of the paper, including but not limited to:
a. whether it is properly referenced,
b.whether any opinion or evidence is presented clearly and is relevant to the overall argument,
c. and whether the language and purpose of the paper and its conclusion are clear and comprehensible.
This takes one to two weeks.
The reviewers’ comments will be returned to the editor, who will ensure the reviewers’ anonymity and return them to the author if any revisions are necessary.
If the author resubmits their revised article to the editor after peer-review and some queries haven’t been addressed, the editorial board will make the final decision on whether the article should be returned to the author to address the remaining issues, or whether it should be published or discarded. The author will be informed about this decision as soon as possible.
Friday, June 15, 2018
Tim Burton's Dumbo!
This is an intriguing development. Tim Burton is directing the live-action version of Dumbo.
Thursday, June 14, 2018
NEPCA 2018 Update
I am pleased to report that the Fantastic (Fantasy, Horror, and Science Fiction) Area will be going out with a bang.
For our final set of sessions set for this year's meeting of NEPCA, the area is sponsoring two sessions on the 200th anniversary of Frankenstein plus five sessions on the fantastic.
Full details to follow.
Michael A. Torregrossa
Fantastic (Fantasy, Horror, and Science Fiction) Area Chair
For our final set of sessions set for this year's meeting of NEPCA, the area is sponsoring two sessions on the 200th anniversary of Frankenstein plus five sessions on the fantastic.
Full details to follow.
Michael A. Torregrossa
Fantastic (Fantasy, Horror, and Science Fiction) Area Chair
Thursday, June 7, 2018
CFP Messengers from the Stars 2018 Conference (expired)
Sorry to have missed posting this sooner.
Science Fiction and Fantasy objects are a permanent part of today’s cultural industry. From the margins to mainstream culture, their ubiquity demands critical debate beyond the preconception of pop culture made for mass entertainment. The University of Lisbon Centre for English Studies (ULICES) invites you to take part in the 5th International Conference Messengers From the Stars: On Science Fiction and Fantasy to be held at the School of Arts and Humanities, University of Lisbon, on November 29-30, 2018. This year Episode V will focus on the theme “Fragments of Humanity.”
Since its very beginning, Fantasy and SF have questioned essential notions such as: “What does it mean to be human?”; “What are the boundaries of humanity?”; “Are we more or less human than our ancestors?”, among others. These recurrent themes emerged in 18th- and 19th-century writing, namely in the Gothic novel and in works such as Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886) or in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818), a book which celebrates its 200th birthday in 2018. Inspired by these pioneering texts and fed by advances in technology, such issues have become more and more complex in Fantasy and SF literature, cinema, TV series, comics and graphic novels, music, and other art forms. What is happening to the human body? Are we still human or are we becoming something else? Are we still whole or fragmented? Are we human, post-human, metahuman and/or transhuman? How can hybrids and monsters allow us to reflect on notions of self and identity? Must we redefine those notions? In that case, what is the role of A.I. in this redefinition? What is the impact of our fragmented humanity on our social environment? What may be the consequences in current and future cultures and their religious belief systems and creeds?
We welcome papers of 20 minutes as well as joint proposals for thematic panels consisting of 3 to 4 participants. Postgraduate and undergraduate students are also welcomed to participate.
Topics may include but are not limited to the following:
▪ Artificial Intelligence;
▪ Ecocriticism;
▪ Fantasy and SF;
▪ Fantasy, SF and ethics;
▪ Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (and later adaptations/reinterpretations of the novel);
▪ Monsters and Monstrosity;
▪ Post-Humanism and Transhumanism;
▪ The Self, Humanity and Identity;
▪ The Other;
▪ Utopias/Dystopias;
▪ Vampires, zombies, werewolves and other undead bodies.
Confirmed keynote speakers:
Filipe Furtado – Full Professor (Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas – Universidade Nova de Lisboa) and author of A Construção do Fantástico na Narrativa (The Construction of the Fantastic in Narrative)
Mike Carey – British writer of comic books, novels, and films. He is the author of the acclaimed novel the Girl with All the Gifts (2014) which was adapted on screen in 2016. His most recent novel, published in April 2017, is The Boy On the Bridge, a stand-alone novel set in the same world as The Girl With All the Gifts.
Deadlines:
Individual papers, as well as thematic panel proposals, should have 250 words maximum and be sent to mensageirosdasestrelas@gmail.com along with a short biographical note (100 words maximum) by Apr 30, 2018.
Notification of acceptance will be sent by June 4, 2018.
Working Languages: Portuguese and English
Registration[1]:
Early bird registration: June 4 –14 September
80 € / Students: 40 €
Late bird registration: 14 September – 19 October
100 € / Students: 70 €
Note:
1 Only after proof of payment is registration effectively considered.
2 Participants are responsible for their own travelling arrangements and accommodation.
3 Undergraduate and post-graduate students must send proof of student status with their registration.
4 All sessions are free. However, participants who are not presenting (or co-authoring) and wish to have access to the conference materials and coffee breaks can benefit from a special registration rate: 20€. Registration: June 4 – 26 November.
[1] The fee includes attendance at all sessions, conference material, coffee breaks and a certificate of participation.
Last updated March 6, 2018
This CFP has been viewed 935 times.
Science Fiction and Fantasy International Conference Messengers from the Stars: Episode V – “Fragments of Humanity”
deadline for submissions:
April 30, 2018
full name / name of organization:
School of Arts and Humanities, University of Lisbon
contact email:
Science Fiction and Fantasy International Conference
Messengers from the Stars: Episode V – “Fragments of Humanity”
School of Arts and Humanities, University of Lisbon
University Lisbon Centre for English Studies
November 29-30, 2018
CALL FOR PAPERS
Science Fiction and Fantasy objects are a permanent part of today’s cultural industry. From the margins to mainstream culture, their ubiquity demands critical debate beyond the preconception of pop culture made for mass entertainment. The University of Lisbon Centre for English Studies (ULICES) invites you to take part in the 5th International Conference Messengers From the Stars: On Science Fiction and Fantasy to be held at the School of Arts and Humanities, University of Lisbon, on November 29-30, 2018. This year Episode V will focus on the theme “Fragments of Humanity.”
Since its very beginning, Fantasy and SF have questioned essential notions such as: “What does it mean to be human?”; “What are the boundaries of humanity?”; “Are we more or less human than our ancestors?”, among others. These recurrent themes emerged in 18th- and 19th-century writing, namely in the Gothic novel and in works such as Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886) or in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818), a book which celebrates its 200th birthday in 2018. Inspired by these pioneering texts and fed by advances in technology, such issues have become more and more complex in Fantasy and SF literature, cinema, TV series, comics and graphic novels, music, and other art forms. What is happening to the human body? Are we still human or are we becoming something else? Are we still whole or fragmented? Are we human, post-human, metahuman and/or transhuman? How can hybrids and monsters allow us to reflect on notions of self and identity? Must we redefine those notions? In that case, what is the role of A.I. in this redefinition? What is the impact of our fragmented humanity on our social environment? What may be the consequences in current and future cultures and their religious belief systems and creeds?
We welcome papers of 20 minutes as well as joint proposals for thematic panels consisting of 3 to 4 participants. Postgraduate and undergraduate students are also welcomed to participate.
Topics may include but are not limited to the following:
▪ Artificial Intelligence;
▪ Ecocriticism;
▪ Fantasy and SF;
▪ Fantasy, SF and ethics;
▪ Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (and later adaptations/reinterpretations of the novel);
▪ Monsters and Monstrosity;
▪ Post-Humanism and Transhumanism;
▪ The Self, Humanity and Identity;
▪ The Other;
▪ Utopias/Dystopias;
▪ Vampires, zombies, werewolves and other undead bodies.
Filipe Furtado – Full Professor (Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas – Universidade Nova de Lisboa) and author of A Construção do Fantástico na Narrativa (The Construction of the Fantastic in Narrative)
Mike Carey – British writer of comic books, novels, and films. He is the author of the acclaimed novel the Girl with All the Gifts (2014) which was adapted on screen in 2016. His most recent novel, published in April 2017, is The Boy On the Bridge, a stand-alone novel set in the same world as The Girl With All the Gifts.
Deadlines:
Individual papers, as well as thematic panel proposals, should have 250 words maximum and be sent to mensageirosdasestrelas@gmail.com along with a short biographical note (100 words maximum) by Apr 30, 2018.
Notification of acceptance will be sent by June 4, 2018.
Working Languages: Portuguese and English
Registration[1]:
Early bird registration: June 4 –14 September
80 € / Students: 40 €
Late bird registration: 14 September – 19 October
100 € / Students: 70 €
Note:
1 Only after proof of payment is registration effectively considered.
2 Participants are responsible for their own travelling arrangements and accommodation.
3 Undergraduate and post-graduate students must send proof of student status with their registration.
4 All sessions are free. However, participants who are not presenting (or co-authoring) and wish to have access to the conference materials and coffee breaks can benefit from a special registration rate: 20€. Registration: June 4 – 26 November.
[1] The fee includes attendance at all sessions, conference material, coffee breaks and a certificate of participation.
This CFP has been viewed 935 times.
CFP Literary Fantasy and its Discontents Conference (8/31/18; Taipei 11/23/24/2018)
Literary Fantasy and its Discontents
deadline for submissions:
August 31, 2018
full name / name of organization:
Taipei Tech (National Taipei University of Technology)
contact email:
In her still influential Fantasy and Mimesis: Responses to Reality in Western Literature (1984),
Kathryn Hume defines the literary fantastic as any departure from
consensus reality, believing that it holds an equally significant
position in literary history as mimesis. Rather than being a recent and
sometimes academically marginalized genre, fantasy, for Hume, is
integral to almost all literature.
The dialectics between literary fantasies and consensus reality have recently become more relevant than ever: current events remind us of how elusive consensus reality can be. This conference takes this concern over (un)reality as a jumping-off point for our theme: Literary Fantasy and Its Discontents. We hope to have a broad cross-section of papers that consider fantasy in its many forms: both as a (frequently politicized) literary genre or mode and in the word fantasy’s broader meanings of delusion, unconscious wish, or falsehood. How do fantasies assist in the formation of national identities? How do they impact the narratives––be they harmful or beneficial––that nations and people groups tell themselves about their origins, their capabilities, and their future? How do reader responses to the fantastic in literature differ from responses to texts that are predominantly mimetic, and how do these differences condition reception history? How has the fantastic been used in reform movements and the rhetoric of reaction? What are the ethics of literary fantasies (or the fantastic mode), and how have they been applied?
We welcome papers on any topic related to our theme. We hope to have several panels on texts from the medieval, early modern, eighteenth-century, Romantic, Victorian, and twentieth- and twenty-first century periods. While most papers given at this conference will address Anglophone literatures, we also welcome papers (in English) that address non-English or non-literary texts from other regions. As our conference is in Taipei, Taiwan, we particularly hope to organize several panels that address how literary fantasies have been celebrated, used, criticized, or abused in Asia. We are also interested in explorations of the reception history of Western fantasies in the East and Eastern fantasies in the West.
Our keynote speakers are Marysa Demoor (Ghent University) and Ackbar Abbas (University of California, Irvine). Marysa Demoor is author or editor of nearly twenty books, predominately on British and European literature, including the Dictionary of Nineteenth-century Journalism. Her early publications were on folklorist, fairy-tale collector, and journalist, Andrew Lang, and her current research interests include identity, nationhood and histoire croisée. Ackbar Abbas (Hong Kong: Culture and the Politics of Disappearance) is currently working on several projects: a book on ‘Posthumous Socialism’ about China and Hong Kong; a collaborative volume on ‘Volatility’ in contemporary culture and finance; and another volume which he will be co-editing on ‘Poor Theory’. Abbas's keynote speech is entitled “Documentary As Fantasy; or, Documentary in the Era of Its Impossibility.”
Paper topics include but are not limited to:
Please submit a 250–300 word abstract and the requested presenter information in one Word or PDF file to the conference e-mail address, LFAIDTaipei@gmail.com, by Friday, August 31, 2018.
We also have an early-consideration deadline, Monday, June 4, 2018, because we will have a significant number of papers from international scholars, who work on a different academic calendar and who may need more time to make long-distance travel plans. Anyone may choose to apply by the June 4 early deadline, and we will respond within two weeks of that date. Abstracts received after June 4 and before August 31 will be considered in early September with results sent by September 15. Papers will be limited to 20 minutes.
The conference will be held on November 23–24, 2018, in Taipei, with companion cultural events on November 22. Detailed information about the conference can be found on our conference website, https://literaryfantasytaipei2018.wordpress.com/.
The dialectics between literary fantasies and consensus reality have recently become more relevant than ever: current events remind us of how elusive consensus reality can be. This conference takes this concern over (un)reality as a jumping-off point for our theme: Literary Fantasy and Its Discontents. We hope to have a broad cross-section of papers that consider fantasy in its many forms: both as a (frequently politicized) literary genre or mode and in the word fantasy’s broader meanings of delusion, unconscious wish, or falsehood. How do fantasies assist in the formation of national identities? How do they impact the narratives––be they harmful or beneficial––that nations and people groups tell themselves about their origins, their capabilities, and their future? How do reader responses to the fantastic in literature differ from responses to texts that are predominantly mimetic, and how do these differences condition reception history? How has the fantastic been used in reform movements and the rhetoric of reaction? What are the ethics of literary fantasies (or the fantastic mode), and how have they been applied?
We welcome papers on any topic related to our theme. We hope to have several panels on texts from the medieval, early modern, eighteenth-century, Romantic, Victorian, and twentieth- and twenty-first century periods. While most papers given at this conference will address Anglophone literatures, we also welcome papers (in English) that address non-English or non-literary texts from other regions. As our conference is in Taipei, Taiwan, we particularly hope to organize several panels that address how literary fantasies have been celebrated, used, criticized, or abused in Asia. We are also interested in explorations of the reception history of Western fantasies in the East and Eastern fantasies in the West.
Our keynote speakers are Marysa Demoor (Ghent University) and Ackbar Abbas (University of California, Irvine). Marysa Demoor is author or editor of nearly twenty books, predominately on British and European literature, including the Dictionary of Nineteenth-century Journalism. Her early publications were on folklorist, fairy-tale collector, and journalist, Andrew Lang, and her current research interests include identity, nationhood and histoire croisée. Ackbar Abbas (Hong Kong: Culture and the Politics of Disappearance) is currently working on several projects: a book on ‘Posthumous Socialism’ about China and Hong Kong; a collaborative volume on ‘Volatility’ in contemporary culture and finance; and another volume which he will be co-editing on ‘Poor Theory’. Abbas's keynote speech is entitled “Documentary As Fantasy; or, Documentary in the Era of Its Impossibility.”
Paper topics include but are not limited to:
- National Epics (The Epic of Gilgamesh, The Iliad, Beowulf, Ossian, Le Morte D’Arthur, the Kalevala, Icelandic Sagas and the Poetic and Prose Eddas, etc.)
- Classical Chinese Novels and Nationalism or Politics: Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin, Journey to the West, Dream of the Red Chamber
- The politics of or within best-selling literary fantasies such as The Lord of the Rings, the Gormenghast trilogy, The Master and Margarita, The Books of Earthsea, Harry Potter, His Dark Materials, Game of Thrones and others
- Nineteenth-century Fairy Tale Collectors such as the Brothers Grimm, Andrew Lang, and the members of the Folk-Lore Society, and their collections
- Racial Theories and Nationalism, Politics, or (fantastic) Literature, (Matthew Arnold, Ernest Renan, Robert Knox, etc.)
- German philology, folklore, and twentieth-century Nazism
- White nationalism and pseudo-history (Vikings, Anglo-Saxons, etc.)
- Magical Realism and National Identities
- Fantasy and Orientalism
- Fantasy and Taiwanese Identity
- Fantasy and Chinese identity
- Taiwanese or Chinese nationalisms
- Japanese fantasy and Taiwanese identity (from the Japanese colonial period to the present)
- Fantasy and nationalism in Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Catalonia, etc.
- Colonial and Post-colonial nationalisms and literary fantasies
- Political satires written in the fantastic genre such as Gulliver’s Travels
- Utopias and/or Dystopias
- Sexual Politics and Fantasy (“The Wife of Bath’s Tale,” the Arabian Nights, Game of Thrones, etc.)
- Early Modern writers, fantasy, politics, and nationalism (Shakespeare, Marlowe, Spenser, Milton, etc.)
- Medievalism (in art, literature, TV and film, gaming, etc.)
- Victorian fantasists and politics: William Morris, Charles Kingsley, George MacDonald, Lewis Carroll, Christina Rossetti, Dinah Mulock, Margaret Oliphant, Tennyson, etc.
- Travelers’ Tales and Nationalism
- Politics and nationalism in children’s literary fantasies
- Fantasy and environmentalism or fantasy and climate change
- Fantasy and revolutions (The French Revolution, the Godwinian school, the work of particular Romantic poets, fantasy and European revolutions, etc.)
- Fantasy and national or ethnic identities
- Politicized fantasies
- Politicized Reception histories of fantasy
- Mao Zedong’s theory of literature and art, later Communist theories of art
- Marxism and fantasies
- Oral Histories and/or Folktales and Cultural Identity
- Fantasy and the Cultural Industry
- Literary fantasy and its publishers
- The international diffusion and reception history of national fantasies across borders
- Repressive governments such as ISIS and North Korea, and their national fantasies
- Politics, Literature, and “Alternative Facts”
- Escapism
- Literary Fantasy and Radical Technologies
Please submit a 250–300 word abstract and the requested presenter information in one Word or PDF file to the conference e-mail address, LFAIDTaipei@gmail.com, by Friday, August 31, 2018.
We also have an early-consideration deadline, Monday, June 4, 2018, because we will have a significant number of papers from international scholars, who work on a different academic calendar and who may need more time to make long-distance travel plans. Anyone may choose to apply by the June 4 early deadline, and we will respond within two weeks of that date. Abstracts received after June 4 and before August 31 will be considered in early September with results sent by September 15. Papers will be limited to 20 minutes.
The conference will be held on November 23–24, 2018, in Taipei, with companion cultural events on November 22. Detailed information about the conference can be found on our conference website, https://literaryfantasytaipei2018.wordpress.com/.
This CFP has been viewed 1,194 times.
Sunday, June 3, 2018
CFP Tolkien Studies Area (10/1/2018; PCA Washington DC 4/17-20/2019)
Here's the second.
CFP: Tolkien Studies
The Tolkien Studies Area welcomes proposals for papers, paper sessions, or roundtables in any area of Tolkien Studies (the Legendarium, adaptations, reader reception and fan studies, source studies, literary studies, cultural studies, tourism studies, medieval and medievalist studies, media and marketing, religious studies) from any disciplinary or interdisciplinary perspective.
We welcome individual paper proposals or proposals for paper sessions or roundtable discussions. All sessions are scheduled in 1.5 hour slots, typically with four presenters per paper session or five-seven per roundtable. Paper presentations should not exceed 15 minutes.
Academic and independent scholars and graduate students are encouraged to submit. For individual papers, please submit contact information (name, institutional affiliation if any, mail and e-mail addresses, and telephone number), a title and 200-300-word abstract plus a working bibliography.
For roundtables or complete paper sessions, please submit:
Session Title
Name and contact information for the session organizer
Titles and abstracts for each presenter
Contact information for each presenter
All presenters must set up an account to submit their proposal electronically, must be members of the PCA, and must register for the conference:
http://pcaaca.org/national-conference/proposing-a-presentation-at-the-conference/
For information on PCA, please go to http://www.pcaaca.org
For conference information, please go to http://www.pcaaca.org/national-conference/
Travel and research grants are available: http://pcaaca.org/grants/
Possible topics include but are not limited to:
Adaptation: Visual Arts
Adaptation: Tolkien and Game Studies
Gender Studies: Women in Tolkien
Gender Studies: Gender and Tolkien
Gender Studies: Tolkien’s Queering of Genre
Literary Studies: Tolkien and Genre
Literary Studies: Hemingway and Tolkien
Literary Studies: Romanticism and Tolkien
Fandom Studies: Reparative Fan Fiction (Race) and Tolkien
Fandom Studies: Tolkien and Cosplay
Fandom Studies: History of Tolkien Fandom
Methodology: Digital Humanities Tools for Tolkien Scholarship
Methodology: Ethics in Tolkien Studies
Themes: Environmentalism, Ecology, and Tolkien
Themes: Poststructuralism and Tolkien
Religious Studies: Alternate Mythologies/Pagan Readings and Tolkien
Religious Studies: Spirituality and Tolkien
Religious Studies: Catholic Debates in 20th Century and Tolkien
Religious Studies: Oxford Community and Tolkien
1 July Database Opens for Submissions
1 October Registration Opens
1 October Deadline for Paper Proposals
15 November Early Bird Registration Rate Ends
1 December Preliminary Program Available
15 December "Drop Dead": Unregistered Participants Removed from Program
3 January 2019 Final Program to the Publisher
17-20 April 2019 Washington, D.C.!
For information on the Tolkien Studies area, please contact:
Or check the Tolkien Studies at Popular Culture Public Group on Facebook.
Last updated May 25, 2018
CFP: Tolkien Studies
deadline for submissions: October 1, 2018
full name / name of organization: Tolkien Studies, Popular Culture Association
contact email: robin.reid@tamuc.edu
CFP: Tolkien Studies
2019 Popular Cultural Association National Conference
Wardman Park Marriot, Washington, D.C.
Wednesday, April 17, to Saturday, April 20, 2019
DEADLINE: OCTOBER 1, 2018
The Tolkien Studies Area welcomes proposals for papers, paper sessions, or roundtables in any area of Tolkien Studies (the Legendarium, adaptations, reader reception and fan studies, source studies, literary studies, cultural studies, tourism studies, medieval and medievalist studies, media and marketing, religious studies) from any disciplinary or interdisciplinary perspective.
We welcome individual paper proposals or proposals for paper sessions or roundtable discussions. All sessions are scheduled in 1.5 hour slots, typically with four presenters per paper session or five-seven per roundtable. Paper presentations should not exceed 15 minutes.
Academic and independent scholars and graduate students are encouraged to submit. For individual papers, please submit contact information (name, institutional affiliation if any, mail and e-mail addresses, and telephone number), a title and 200-300-word abstract plus a working bibliography.
For roundtables or complete paper sessions, please submit:
Session Title
Name and contact information for the session organizer
Titles and abstracts for each presenter
Contact information for each presenter
All presenters must set up an account to submit their proposal electronically, must be members of the PCA, and must register for the conference:
http://pcaaca.org/national-conference/proposing-a-presentation-at-the-conference/
For information on PCA, please go to http://www.pcaaca.org
For conference information, please go to http://www.pcaaca.org/national-conference/
Travel and research grants are available: http://pcaaca.org/grants/
Possible topics include but are not limited to:
Adaptation: Visual Arts
Adaptation: Tolkien and Game Studies
Gender Studies: Women in Tolkien
Gender Studies: Gender and Tolkien
Gender Studies: Tolkien’s Queering of Genre
Literary Studies: Tolkien and Genre
Literary Studies: Hemingway and Tolkien
Literary Studies: Romanticism and Tolkien
Fandom Studies: Reparative Fan Fiction (Race) and Tolkien
Fandom Studies: Tolkien and Cosplay
Fandom Studies: History of Tolkien Fandom
Methodology: Digital Humanities Tools for Tolkien Scholarship
Methodology: Ethics in Tolkien Studies
Themes: Environmentalism, Ecology, and Tolkien
Themes: Poststructuralism and Tolkien
Religious Studies: Alternate Mythologies/Pagan Readings and Tolkien
Religious Studies: Spirituality and Tolkien
Religious Studies: Catholic Debates in 20th Century and Tolkien
Religious Studies: Oxford Community and Tolkien
1 July Database Opens for Submissions
1 October Registration Opens
1 October Deadline for Paper Proposals
15 November Early Bird Registration Rate Ends
1 December Preliminary Program Available
15 December "Drop Dead": Unregistered Participants Removed from Program
3 January 2019 Final Program to the Publisher
17-20 April 2019 Washington, D.C.!
For information on the Tolkien Studies area, please contact:
Robin Anne Reid
Department of Literature and Languages
A&M University-Commerce
Commerce, TX 75429
Or check the Tolkien Studies at Popular Culture Public Group on Facebook.
Last updated May 25, 2018
CFP Prophecy and Future-telling in Tolkien and Related Authors (10/1/2018; PCA Washington DC 4/17-20/2019)
The first of two Tolkien calls for the night.
Prophecy and Future-telling in Tolkien and Related Authors
And many other things Ilúvatar spoke to the Ainur at that time, and because of their memory of his words, and the knowledge that each has of the music that he himself made, the Ainur know much of what was, and is, and is to come, and few things are unseen by them. Yet some things there are that they cannot see […] (The Silmarillon)
Future-telling abounds in mythopoeic literature, where it takes on many forms: dreams, intuitions, predictions, premonitions, prophecies, visions, and more. Tolkien made extensive use of future-telling in his writings, particularly The Lord of the Rings. At times, his characters seek knowledge of the future deliberately by studying prophecies, or by the use of tools and special techniques; at others, it comes to them spontaneously through memory and the unconscious.
We are seeking papers on all aspects of future-telling in Tolkien's writings for this co-sponsored session, including, but not limited to, studies of future-telling techniques and effects, relevance to character and plot development, and comparisons to relevant works and characters, such as King Arthur, Merlin, and Macbeth.
We hope to round out the session(s) with papers on future-telling in the works of other Inklings and related authors, notably Charles Williams's The Greater Trumps and C.S. Lewis's Narnia books, and perhaps Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time.
Papers may address any of Tolkien's legendarium and related works and their film adaptations.
Prospective participants in these sessions are asked to submit their papers to the Tolkien Studies area (for tech-related administrative simplicity). Papers addressing other aspects of future-telling should be submitted to the Tarot/Divination area.
Queries are welcomed by both area chairs.
Deadline for Paper Proposals: 1 October 2018
Tolkien Studies Area Chair: Robin Reid Robin.Reid@tamuc.edu
Tarot/Divination Area Chair: Emily E. Auger augeremily@gmail.com
Last updated May 25, 2018
Prophecy and Future-telling in Tolkien and Related Authors
deadline for submissions: October 1, 2018
full name / name of organization: Tolkien Studies / Tarot & Other Methods of Divination, Popular Culture Association
contact email: robin.reid@tamuc.edu
Prophecy and Future-telling in Tolkien and Related Authors
Call for Papers
Tolkien Studies / Tarot & Other Methods of Divination
at the
Popular Culture Association / American Culture Association conference
Washington, DC, 17-20 April 2019
And many other things Ilúvatar spoke to the Ainur at that time, and because of their memory of his words, and the knowledge that each has of the music that he himself made, the Ainur know much of what was, and is, and is to come, and few things are unseen by them. Yet some things there are that they cannot see […] (The Silmarillon)
Future-telling abounds in mythopoeic literature, where it takes on many forms: dreams, intuitions, predictions, premonitions, prophecies, visions, and more. Tolkien made extensive use of future-telling in his writings, particularly The Lord of the Rings. At times, his characters seek knowledge of the future deliberately by studying prophecies, or by the use of tools and special techniques; at others, it comes to them spontaneously through memory and the unconscious.
We are seeking papers on all aspects of future-telling in Tolkien's writings for this co-sponsored session, including, but not limited to, studies of future-telling techniques and effects, relevance to character and plot development, and comparisons to relevant works and characters, such as King Arthur, Merlin, and Macbeth.
We hope to round out the session(s) with papers on future-telling in the works of other Inklings and related authors, notably Charles Williams's The Greater Trumps and C.S. Lewis's Narnia books, and perhaps Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time.
Papers may address any of Tolkien's legendarium and related works and their film adaptations.
Prospective participants in these sessions are asked to submit their papers to the Tolkien Studies area (for tech-related administrative simplicity). Papers addressing other aspects of future-telling should be submitted to the Tarot/Divination area.
Queries are welcomed by both area chairs.
Deadline for Paper Proposals: 1 October 2018
Tolkien Studies Area Chair: Robin Reid Robin.Reid@tamuc.edu
Tarot/Divination Area Chair: Emily E. Auger augeremily@gmail.com
Last updated May 25, 2018
Saturday, March 10, 2018
CFP Fantastic (Fantasy, Horror, and Science Fiction) Area 2018 (6/1/18; NEPCA Worcester, MA 10/19-20/18)
Fantastic (Fantasy, Horror, and Science Fiction) Area
Eleventh-Anniversary and Farewell Sessions
2018 Conference of the Northeast Popular Culture/American Culture Association (NEPCA)
Worcester State University, Worcester, Massachusetts
19-20 October 2018
Proposals due 1 June 2018
Formed in 2008, the Fantastic (Fantasy, Horror, and Science Fiction) Area will hold its eleventh-anniversary and farewell sessions in 2018, and we seek proposals from scholars of all levels for papers and/or panels that explore any aspect of the intermedia traditions of the fantastic (including, but not limited to, elements of fairy tale, fantasy, gothic, horror, legend, mythology, and science fiction) and how creative artists have altered our preconceptions of these subtraditions by producing innovative works in diverse countries, media, and time periods and for audiences at all levels.
Presentations will be limited to 15 or 20 minutes in length depending on final panel size.
An archive of previous work in the area exists at our website Northeast Fantastic (https://northeastfantastic.blogspot.com), which is intended as a gateway to furthering research on the fantastic.
Special Topics:
Directions for Submission:
Please contact area chair Michael A. Torregrossa at cfp.nepcafantastic@gmail.com, using “NEPCA Fantastic 2018” as your subject line, with any questions in advance of the 1 June 2018 deadline.
Submissions for papers and/or panels should be made online through the “2018 Proposal Form” at https://nepca.blog/2018-conference/. Please select “The Fantastic (Fantasy, Horror, and Science Fiction)” as your designated area. A complete submission includes contact information, academic affiliation (if any), an academic biographical statement (between 50 and 200 words), a paper title (no more than 60 characters), and a paper abstract (no more than 250 words). Do also send copies of your biography and proposal to the area chair at cfp.nepcafantastic@gmail.com, using “NEPCA Fantastic 2018” as your subject line.
The Northeast Popular/American Culture Association (a.k.a. NEPCA) was founded in 1974 as a professional organization for scholars living in New England and New York. It is a community of scholars interested in advancing research and promoting interest in the disciplines of popular and/or American culture. NEPCA’s membership consists of university and college faculty members, emeriti faculty, secondary school teachers, museum specialists, graduate students, independent scholars, and interested members of the general public. NEPCA is an independently funded affiliate of the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association. Membership is open to all interested parties, regardless of profession, rank, or residency. NEPCA holds an annual conference that invites scholars from around the globe to participate. In an effort to keep costs low, it meets on college campuses throughout the region.
Membership in NEPCA is required for participation and annual dues are included in conference registration fees. Further details are available at https://nepca.blog/membership-information/.
Eleventh-Anniversary and Farewell Sessions
2018 Conference of the Northeast Popular Culture/American Culture Association (NEPCA)
Worcester State University, Worcester, Massachusetts
19-20 October 2018
Proposals due 1 June 2018
Formed in 2008, the Fantastic (Fantasy, Horror, and Science Fiction) Area will hold its eleventh-anniversary and farewell sessions in 2018, and we seek proposals from scholars of all levels for papers and/or panels that explore any aspect of the intermedia traditions of the fantastic (including, but not limited to, elements of fairy tale, fantasy, gothic, horror, legend, mythology, and science fiction) and how creative artists have altered our preconceptions of these subtraditions by producing innovative works in diverse countries, media, and time periods and for audiences at all levels.
Presentations will be limited to 15 or 20 minutes in length depending on final panel size.
An archive of previous work in the area exists at our website Northeast Fantastic (https://northeastfantastic.blogspot.com), which is intended as a gateway to furthering research on the fantastic.
Special Topics:
- Given the proximity of the conference to Halloween, we are always interested in proposals related to monsters and the monstrous.
- This year, we are also looking for papers related to the fantastic in children’s culture, especially the works of the Walt Disney Company.
- Furthermore, in celebration of the two hundredth anniversary of the publication of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein in 2018, we are organizing a special session devoted to “Frankenstein 1818 to 2018: 200 Years of Mad Scientists and Monsters.” Details can at our outreach site Frankenstein and the Fantastic at https://FrankensteinandtheFantastic.blogspot.com/.
Directions for Submission:
Please contact area chair Michael A. Torregrossa at cfp.nepcafantastic@gmail.com, using “NEPCA Fantastic 2018” as your subject line, with any questions in advance of the 1 June 2018 deadline.
Submissions for papers and/or panels should be made online through the “2018 Proposal Form” at https://nepca.blog/2018-conference/. Please select “The Fantastic (Fantasy, Horror, and Science Fiction)” as your designated area. A complete submission includes contact information, academic affiliation (if any), an academic biographical statement (between 50 and 200 words), a paper title (no more than 60 characters), and a paper abstract (no more than 250 words). Do also send copies of your biography and proposal to the area chair at cfp.nepcafantastic@gmail.com, using “NEPCA Fantastic 2018” as your subject line.
The Northeast Popular/American Culture Association (a.k.a. NEPCA) was founded in 1974 as a professional organization for scholars living in New England and New York. It is a community of scholars interested in advancing research and promoting interest in the disciplines of popular and/or American culture. NEPCA’s membership consists of university and college faculty members, emeriti faculty, secondary school teachers, museum specialists, graduate students, independent scholars, and interested members of the general public. NEPCA is an independently funded affiliate of the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association. Membership is open to all interested parties, regardless of profession, rank, or residency. NEPCA holds an annual conference that invites scholars from around the globe to participate. In an effort to keep costs low, it meets on college campuses throughout the region.
Membership in NEPCA is required for participation and annual dues are included in conference registration fees. Further details are available at https://nepca.blog/membership-information/.
Friday, March 9, 2018
Poppins Is Back!
In addition to the return of Winnie the Pooh and friends, Disney is also set to revisit the world of Mary Poppins in the upcoming film Mary Poppins Returns. Once again, the young children of the series are now grown-ups and struggling with issues they cannot handle alone until their childhood friend returns.
Here is the teaser from Disney:
Here is the teaser from Disney:
Return of Pooh
Disney has become very focused recently on remaking its animated classics as live-action films, and it is now set to release a series of big-budget sequels to other productions.
The first to come out is Christopher Robin. Apparently, Robin has grown up into a depressed middle-aged man (played by Ewan McGregor) and needs the help of his childhood pals from the Hundred Acre Woods to set things right. The CG Pooh looks a bit like Ted (from Seth MacFarlane's adult comedy from a few years ago), but, reminiscent of Michael Bay's use of voice actors from the Transformers animated series in the live-action films of that franchise, he is voiced by Jim Cummings, the Pooh of Disney's long-running television series The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh from the late 1980s and 1990s. Like Transformers, all other characters appear to have new voices.
Trailer follows:
The first to come out is Christopher Robin. Apparently, Robin has grown up into a depressed middle-aged man (played by Ewan McGregor) and needs the help of his childhood pals from the Hundred Acre Woods to set things right. The CG Pooh looks a bit like Ted (from Seth MacFarlane's adult comedy from a few years ago), but, reminiscent of Michael Bay's use of voice actors from the Transformers animated series in the live-action films of that franchise, he is voiced by Jim Cummings, the Pooh of Disney's long-running television series The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh from the late 1980s and 1990s. Like Transformers, all other characters appear to have new voices.
Trailer follows:
Friday, January 19, 2018
NEPCA 2018 News
NEPCA’s 2018 Fall Conference
https://nepca.blog/2013/01/17/nepcas-2013-fall-conference/
THE CALL FOR PAPERS for 2018 will be announced soon.
NEPCA’s 2018 conference will take place on the campus of Worcester State University, Worcester, Massachusetts on Friday October 19 and Saturday October 20, 2018.
Proposals are due before June 1, 2018. After this date NEPCA will only accept proposals that round out incomplete panels.
https://nepca.blog/2013/01/17/nepcas-2013-fall-conference/
THE CALL FOR PAPERS for 2018 will be announced soon.
NEPCA’s 2018 conference will take place on the campus of Worcester State University, Worcester, Massachusetts on Friday October 19 and Saturday October 20, 2018.
Proposals are due before June 1, 2018. After this date NEPCA will only accept proposals that round out incomplete panels.
CFP Escaping Escapism in Fantasy and the Fantastic (1/31/2018; Glasgow 4/26-27/2018)
Escaping Escapism in Fantasy and the Fantastic (Deadline Extended)
https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2018/01/16/escaping-escapism-in-fantasy-and-the-fantastic-deadline-extended
deadline for submissions:
January 31, 2018
full name / name of organization:
University of Glasgow
contact email:
gifconference@gmail.com
Glasgow International Fantasy Conversations
Escaping Escapism in Fantasy and the Fantastic
26th – 27th April 2018
The second Glasgow International Fantasy Conversations welcomes proposals for papers on the theme of escapism in fantasy. What is the role of fantasy and the fantastic? Why—and perhaps more crucially, how—does the genre matter? Fantasy theorists frequently define the genre in opposition to what is possible and real: Kathryn Hume, for instance, sums it up in Fantasy and Mimesis as “departures from consensus reality”. Critics often scrutinize this departure as a negative, and disparage representations of the fantastic either due to their failure to depict real world issues or their presumed attempts at “escapism.” This perceived link between fantasy and escapism is so strong that dictionaries like the Oxford English Dictionary define escapism as “engaging in fantasy”.
Despite this association, a growing body of evidence asserts both that escapism can be healthy and that the fantastic can influence how its consumers perceive real world issues even when their representations are deemed problematic. For example, though readers and scholars have criticized the portrayal of minority groups in J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, studies suggest that people who read the series are more accepting of stigmatised groups and more likely to vote for political candidates whose policies support these groups. And while some critics view the creation of fictional Secondary Worlds as a troubling detachment from reality, creativity scholars have drawn links between creating imaginary worlds as a child and high achievement in artistic and scientific fields later in life. Escapism is perhaps not as escapist as it was previously perceived to be, and even when it is, it can have a positive impact. The “escapism accusation” is being flipped on its head, with texts as disparate as Diana Wynne Jones’s Fire and Hemlock and Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s “Normal Again” presenting the rejection of the fantastic in favour of “reality” as the dangerous escapist behaviour. The traditional dynamic between escapism and the fantastic is constantly being changed and renegotiated.
This two-day symposium seeks to examine and honour the relationship between escapism and the fantastic. We welcome proposals for papers on this theme from researchers and practitioners working in the field of fantasy and the fantastic across all media, whether within the academy or beyond it. We are particularly interested in submissions from postgraduate and early career researchers.
We will offer workshops in creative writing for those interested in exploring the creative process.
We ask for 300-word abstracts for 20-minute papers, as well as creative presentations that go beyond the traditional academic paper.
Suggested topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
Please submit a 300-word abstract and a 100-word biography in separate editable documents (not PDF) to submissions.gifconference@gmail.com by Wednesday, the 31st of January 2018.
Last updated January 16, 2018
https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2018/01/16/escaping-escapism-in-fantasy-and-the-fantastic-deadline-extended
deadline for submissions:
January 31, 2018
full name / name of organization:
University of Glasgow
contact email:
gifconference@gmail.com
Glasgow International Fantasy Conversations
Escaping Escapism in Fantasy and the Fantastic
26th – 27th April 2018
The second Glasgow International Fantasy Conversations welcomes proposals for papers on the theme of escapism in fantasy. What is the role of fantasy and the fantastic? Why—and perhaps more crucially, how—does the genre matter? Fantasy theorists frequently define the genre in opposition to what is possible and real: Kathryn Hume, for instance, sums it up in Fantasy and Mimesis as “departures from consensus reality”. Critics often scrutinize this departure as a negative, and disparage representations of the fantastic either due to their failure to depict real world issues or their presumed attempts at “escapism.” This perceived link between fantasy and escapism is so strong that dictionaries like the Oxford English Dictionary define escapism as “engaging in fantasy”.
Despite this association, a growing body of evidence asserts both that escapism can be healthy and that the fantastic can influence how its consumers perceive real world issues even when their representations are deemed problematic. For example, though readers and scholars have criticized the portrayal of minority groups in J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, studies suggest that people who read the series are more accepting of stigmatised groups and more likely to vote for political candidates whose policies support these groups. And while some critics view the creation of fictional Secondary Worlds as a troubling detachment from reality, creativity scholars have drawn links between creating imaginary worlds as a child and high achievement in artistic and scientific fields later in life. Escapism is perhaps not as escapist as it was previously perceived to be, and even when it is, it can have a positive impact. The “escapism accusation” is being flipped on its head, with texts as disparate as Diana Wynne Jones’s Fire and Hemlock and Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s “Normal Again” presenting the rejection of the fantastic in favour of “reality” as the dangerous escapist behaviour. The traditional dynamic between escapism and the fantastic is constantly being changed and renegotiated.
This two-day symposium seeks to examine and honour the relationship between escapism and the fantastic. We welcome proposals for papers on this theme from researchers and practitioners working in the field of fantasy and the fantastic across all media, whether within the academy or beyond it. We are particularly interested in submissions from postgraduate and early career researchers.
We will offer workshops in creative writing for those interested in exploring the creative process.
We ask for 300-word abstracts for 20-minute papers, as well as creative presentations that go beyond the traditional academic paper.
Suggested topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Intersections and interplays between fantasy and reality.
- Metatextual responses to escapism in fantastic texts and media.
- Theoretical and/or critical discussions of escapism in relation to fantasy and the fantastic, broadly defined.
- Relationships between Secondary Worlds and the Primary World; relationships between world and characters.
- Reading, writing, and engaging with fantasy as a political act; the depiction of real world issues, or lack thereof, in fantastical settings and contexts.
- Representations of the fantastic in media associated with escapism, such as live-action role-playing, board games, tabletop role-playing games, television, etc.
Please submit a 300-word abstract and a 100-word biography in separate editable documents (not PDF) to submissions.gifconference@gmail.com by Wednesday, the 31st of January 2018.
Last updated January 16, 2018
CFP Mythcon 49 (5/1/2018; Atlanta 7/20-23/2018)
http://www.mythsoc.org/mythcon/mythcon-49.htm
Atlanta, Georgia
July 20 - 23, 2018
Call for Papers
The Mythopoeic Society has launched into a series of 50th anniversaries: the founding of the Society in 2017; the initial solicitation of articles for Mythlore in 2018; and of our Mythopoeic conferences in 2019. Because of the way that Inklings scholarship has built on a series of good foundations, for Mythcon 49 we've chosen the theme, On the Shoulders of Giants.
Call for Papers Download PDF of Call for Papers here
CONFERENCE THEME
On the Shoulders of Giants
The Mythopoeic Society has launched into a series of 50th anniversaries: the founding of the Society in 2017, the conception and launch of our scholarly journal Mythlore in 2018, and the establishment of our mythopoeic conference in 2019. Our theme is suggested by the ways in which Inklings scholarship has built on such good foundations. We will celebrate these foundation and fifty years of building “On the Shoulders of Giants” at Mythcon 49. Papers exploring this theme might include, but are not limited to any of the following:
• The past, present, and future of mythopoeic scholarship and independent journals
• Academic, audience, and critical reception of mythopoeic literature
• The history of fandom, fan communities, and fan-fiction
• Adaptations of mythopoeic literature — film, music, gaming, and more
• The mythopoeic giants who inspired the Inklings — including Homer, Dante, Milton, George MacDonald, William Morris, G.K. Chesterton, and the most prolific of them all, Anon.
• Giants as literary figures in myth, fairy tale, and mythopoeic literature — Atlas, Goliath, the Norse Giants, Grendel, Gogmagog, Tolkien’s Trolls, the Giants and Ettins of Narnia
GUEST OF HONOR
Robin Anne Reid, Scholar Robin Anne Reid is a Professor in the Department of Literature and Languages at Texas A&M University-Commerce, where she specializes in creative writing, critical theory, and marginalized literatures. She edited the two-volume Women in Science Fiction and Fantasy (Greenwood, 2009), with Judy Ann Ford, Professor of History, Texas A&M-Commerce. She and Dr. Ford team-taught a series of undergraduate and graduate courses on Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, both face to face and online. Their collaborative essay, '[T]hings that were, and things that are, and things that yet may be:' Teaching Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings On-Line, appeared in Approaches to Teaching Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and Other Works, edited by Leslie Donovan (MLA, 2015). Dr. Reid has also published on Peter Jackson’s film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings. Other recent Tolkien publications are an essay on female bodies and femininities in The Lord of the Rings in The Body in Tolkien's Legendarium, edited by Christopher Vaccaro, a bibliographic essay on the history of scholarship on female characters in Tolkien's work in Perilous and Fair, edited by Janet Brennan Croft and Leslie Donovan, and a bibliographic essay on race and Tolkien studies in Tolkien and Alterity, edited by Christopher Vaccaro and Yvette Kisor. Besides her work on Tolkien and feminist science fiction, she has also published on fan productions and fan activism in online media fandom. She is a regular contributor to “The Year’s Work in Tolkien Studies” in the annual journal, Tolkien Studies.
SUBMISSION INFORMATION
Papers dealing with the conference theme are especially encouraged. We also welcome papers focusing on the work and interests of the Inklings (especially J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Charles Williams), on our Guests of Honor, and on other mythopoeic authors and themes. Papers from a variety of critical perspectives and disciplines are likewise welcome. Each paper is generally given a one-hour time slot, but papers should be timed for oral presentation in 40–45 minutes to allow time for questions. Two shorter papers can also be accommodated in a single one-hour time slot. We also welcome proposals for panels consisting of several shorter papers on related topics or for open panel discussions on subjects appropriate to Mythcon. All presenters must register for the full conference; please see the Mythcon 49 web page, www.mythcon.org, for information and rates.
Participants are encouraged to submit papers chosen for presentation at the conference to Mythlore, the refereed journal of the Mythopoeic Society (www.mythlore.org). All papers should conform to the 8th edition of the MLA Style Manual. Presenters who are full-time undergraduate or graduate students are encouraged to submit their completed conference papers in advance for consideration for the Alexei Kondratiev Student Paper Award. Please see www.mythsoc.org/mythcon/alexei.htm for more information.
Paper abstracts of no more than 300 words, along with contact information, should be sent to the Papers Coordinator at the address below by May 1, 2018. Please include the anticipated duration of your presentation and any A/V requirements you feel are essential. We will make every effort to accommodate your A/V requests, but this cannot be guaranteed. You will be notified after the deadline if your paper or panel proposal has been accepted.
Jason Fisher
Mythcon 49 Papers Coordinator
visualweasel@yahoo.com
Location Mythcon 49 will be held in Atlanta, Georgia. This is our first Mythcon in the South in 15 years! The last one was Mythcon 34 in Nashville, Tennesee. We will be at the Ritz-Carlton in Downtown, right in the heart of the city near all of the tourist destinations.
We have arranged for a preferred guest rate of $159 per room at the Ritz-Carlton. When booking you will need to identify yourself as an attendee of Mythcon 49, more details about this are below. We recommend staying at the Ritz, not only to be in the middle of things and avoid a long, late-night walk back from the hospitality suite, but also so the conference is credited with your room nights.
Guests can contact the Ritz-Carlton call center at 1-800-241-3333 and state that they are coming to The Ritz-Carlton, Atlanta (Downtown), for Mythcon July 2018 and provide the agent with their requested dates of stay; the agent will identify your group rate of $159.00.
Guests can also reserve online at http://www.ritzcarlton.com/en/Properties/Atlanta/Default.htm - enter their desired dates of stay, enter the seven letter Group/Promotion code MCJMCJA and click find to complete the reservation process.
Thursday, October 26, 2017
Fantastic Area Sessions 2017
Sorry about the lack of formatting; Blogger doesn't make pasting from Word easy:
Fantastic (Fantasy, Horror, and Science Fiction) Areas Sessions 2017
(full conference program at https://nepca.blog/2017-conference-schedule/)
Session I: Friday, October 27, 1:00-2:30pm
PANEL 1 – CC 803 – The Fantastic: Horrors Past and Present
CHAIR: Amie Doughty, SUNY Oneonta
“Horrifying Mythical Obstacles: Masculine Anxieties and Alternate Gazes in Robert Eggers’s The Witch (2015),” Dustin Fisher, University of Cincinnati
Dustin Fisher received an M.A. in Literature from Wright State University in 2014 where he completed and presented his master’s thesis, “Doppelgangers and Dualistic Femininity in Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House.” In 2014 he also presented a paper at Newcastle University in Newcastle, UK, on Ian McEwan’s Atonement. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in contemporary Gothic fiction and film studies at the University of Cincinnati.
“Images of the Indigenous Monster in The Green Inferno (2013),” Erica Tortolani, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Erica Tortolani is currently enrolled at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she is pursuing a Ph.D. in Communication with a concentration in Film Studies. Her past research explored the intersection of film theory with rhetorical studies, looking specifically at how the cinematic medium can transmit messages regarding gender, sexuality, and the female body through visual and narrative elements. These interests culminated into her Masters thesis, entitled "Dual Images of the ‘Monstrous Feminine’ in Three Horror Films," a project that received the 2015 Graduate Research Excellence award at the University of Rhode Island. Erica has also presented at the 2015 Graduate Conference at the URI, the 2016 Northeastern Modern Language Association Conference, and earned her publication in the Fall 2013 issue of the undergraduate journal, Film Matters. Her research interests include general film theory and criticism, silent cinema, comedy and theories of humor, horror films, German Expressionist film, and feminist film theory.
“The Decomposing Youths and the Revival of the Zombies in Contemporary Korea,” Ha Rim Park, Seoul National University
After receiving her Master of Literature in 2016, Harim Park is doing a Ph.D in Comparative Literature at Seoul National University. She has published an article titled “The Origin of Catastrophe and Melancholy: A Korean Cultural Study on Zombie Narrative in the 2000s” in the journal of Korea Comparative Literature as the result of her master degree. Her areas of research include 1990-2000s Korean literature, genre fiction, movie, webtoon, and modernization, democratization after the Korean War. Harim is currently studying on disaster, apocalypse, Sci-fi narratives and non-human representations in contemporary East asian cultures, specifically Korea, Taiwan and Japan.
“The Bunhill Apocalypse: Robert Aickman’s ‘Larger than Oneself’ (1966) as a Post-Christian Metaphor,” Steffen Silvis, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Steffen Silvis is a playwright, theatre critic, actor and director, who is currently finishing his Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Theatre Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Among Silvis’ plays are Archetypes (1991; produced at The King’s Head, London), Liberty, Oregon (winner of the London International Playwrights Festival, 1993, produced by The Man-in-the-Moon Theatre, Chelsea, London, 1994, [nominated for best new work on the London Fringe]; The Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, 1995, California State University, 2005,); The Kalama Orpheum (winner of the London International Playwrights Festival, 2001); Nothing, If Not Critical (co-winner of the London One-Act Festival, 2003, and produced in London and Portland, Oregon, 2004); and Phere[crates]: Scraps (produced in Madison, Wisconsin, 2013). Silvis was the theatre critic for Portland’s Willamette Week and The Prague Post in the Czech Republic. His writing has appeared in American Theatre Magazine, Time Out, Paperback Jukebox, and Black Lamb. Co-Founder of the Madison-based theatre company, In-House, Silvis has produced Manjula Padmanabhan’s Light’s Out, and directed the devised-environmental piece, Reunion. Silvis has also won an NEA/Annenberg Fellowship and an O’Neil Fellowship for his criticism.
Session II: Friday, October 27, 2:45-4:15pm
PANEL 8 – CC 803 – The Fantastic: Meeting Monsters
CHAIR: Michael A. Torregrossa, Independent Scholar
“‘Everything That Ought to Have Remained Hidden’: Sublimation and the Uncanny in Anya's Ghost (2011),” Shane Gomes, North Dakota State University
Shane is from Honolulu, Hawaii, and completed his BA at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, his MA at the University of Northern Colorado, and is currently pursuing his PhD in English at North Dakota State University. His primary research interests are graphic novels and pop/comic culture more broadly, especially minority representations therein.
“Murder, Reproduction, and Bad Women in Junji Ito’s Tomie,” Rahel Worku, University of Maryland
Rahel Worku was an undergrad English major at UMBC and is currently a Masters student at the University of Maryland studying Comparative Literature. Rahel is now in the second year of the program and once again teaching English 101. Rahel’s interests are in African American literature, speculative fiction, and comic books.
“A Trekkie’s Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse,” Cinzia DiGiulio, Merrimack College
Cinzia DiGiulio is an Associate Professor of Italian and Cultural Studies at Merrimack College in North Andover, Massachusetts. Cinzia completed a Doctorate in Russian and English (languages and literatures) at the Catholic University of Milan, a Master’s degree in Comparative Literature and Classics at Purdue University, and then a Ph.D. in Romance Studies and Comparative Literature at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Most Cinzia’sstudies and research interests revolve around late 19th-century narrative (British, Russian, and Italian) -- particularly popular narrative -- and its intersections with contemporary popular culture.
“Scientists Become Monsters: The Strain’s Dr. Goodweather,” Kristine Larsen, Central Connecticut State University
Dr. Kristine Larsen is Professor of Astronomy at Central Connecticut State University, where her teaching and research focus on the intersections between science and society. She is the co-editor of The Mythological Dimensions of Doctor Who and The Mythological Dimensions of Neil Gaiman.
Session III: Friday, October 27, 4:30-6:00pm
PANEL 15 – CC 803 – The Fantastic: Re-envisioning the Heroic in Fantastic Fiction
CHAIR: Shane Gomes, North Dakota State University
“Happy Endings: Frankenstein’s Creature as a Romantic Lead,” Maggie Damken, Independent Scholar
Maggie Damken is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, where she studied literature and creative writing. She has presented previously at the Northeast Regional Honors Conference and Beacon Conference. A previous essay on Frankenstein was accepted for presentation by the Science Fiction Research Association.
“Decentering Monsterhood: Blurred Histories, Genres and Narrative Identities in John M. Ford’s Fantasy The Last Hot Time (2000),” Angela Gustafsson Whyland, Southern New Hampshire University [WITHDRAWN]
“Guinevere, the Warrior Queen of Camelot?: The Altered Fate of Guinevere in Recent Comics,” Michael A. Torregrossa, Independent Scholar
Independent scholar Michael A. Torregrossa is a graduate of the Medieval Studies program at the University of Connecticut (Storrs). His research interests include adaptation, Arthuriana, comics and comic art, medievalism, monsters, and wizards. Michael has presented papers on these topics at regional, national, and international conferences, as well as in published works. In addition, he is currently Fantastic (Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Horror) Area Chair for the Northeast Popular Culture/American Culture Association and organizes sessions, like this one, for their annual conference in the fall and maintains the area’s blogs.
Session IV: Saturday, October 28, 8:45-10:15am
PANEL 22 – CC 803 – The Fantastic: New Approaches to the Fantastic
CHAIR: Nova Seals, Salve Regina University
“The Princess Bride and Slavoj Žižek's Fantasy of the Real,” Heather Flyte, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania
Heather Flyte is a graduate student in English Literature at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania. She is working on her thesis investigating the dialogue of imperialism created during translation of non-western fairy tales in the Victorian era, with a specific focus on Japanese folk tales. In September 2014, she presented at the “Sensational Influences: Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s Literary Legacy” in London and recently was awarded the Emma Richards-Bausch Award in Literary Criticism from Kutztown University for her writing on H.G. Wells. She is a non-traditional student who has previously worked in journalism and web development and plans to pursue doctoral work in English Literature.
“Madness and Mixed-Bloods: Racial Metaphors in Seanan McGuire’s October Daye Series,” Amie Doughty, SUNY Oneonta
Amie Doughty is an associate professor of English as SUNY Oneonta, where she teaches course in linguistics, composition, and literature, including children’s literature, folklore, fantasy, and science fiction. She is the author of Folktales Retold: A Critical Overview of Stories Updated for Children and “Throw the book away”: Reading versus Experience in Children’s Fantasy, and is the editor of Children’s and Young Adult Literature and Culture: A Mosaic of Criticism.
“Heredity And The Hero: The Role of Heredity in Shaping Popular Heroes and Why It Matters,” Cheryl Hunter, University of Massachusetts Lowell
Cheryl Hunter is an adjunct professor of English and the Humanities at UMASS Lowell and Southern New Hampshire University. She attended the University of New Hampshire where she received a Master of Arts degree in Liberal Studies with a concentration in Philosophy and Literature. She was a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow at a week-long workshop on Henry David Thoreau. Her book, Myths and Archetypes in The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, looks at the roles of Philosophy and Mythology in modern literature and what important lessons about the human condition are conveyed to the audience through the hero and journey archetypes. She is a writer and artist, and she loves to travel.
Session V: Saturday, October 28, 10:30am-noon
PANEL 29 – CC 803 – The Fantastic: Re-Thinking the Monstrous
CHAIR: Heather Flyte, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania
“‘If You're So Hungry, Why Don’t You Get a Job?’: Patrick Bateman as Neoliberal Monster and Hero in American Psycho,” Caitlin Duffy, Stony Brook University
Caitlin Duffy is a doctoral student in the English Department at Stony Brook University. Her scholarly interests include horror films and 19th century American Gothic literature. Her work will be published in the 2017 issue of The Journal of Dracula Studies and in an upcoming volume on 1980’s horror films.
“Tackling the Femme: The Psycho-Biddy Genre,” James Patrick Carraghan, Kutztown University
James Patrick Carraghan is a graduate student, writing tutor, and research assistant at Kutztown University. He is currently writing a thesis on the intersection of Harlem Renaissance scholarship and Queer Theory. His work has been published in On the Road, Glimmer on the Bookshelf, and 5x5. He is currently a contributing writer at Terse Journal and Vada Magazine (UK).
“The Aesthetics of Abjection in Anna Dressed in Blood (2011),” Nova Seals, Salve Regina University
Nova Seals is a Ph.D. candidate in humanities at Salve Regina University in Newport, Rhode Island. Nova is also the Director of Library Services and Archives and teaches philosophy courses at St. George’s School, an independent preparatory school in Middletown, Rhode Island. Her academic interests are the intersection of philosophy and technology, as well as art and aesthetics. Nova is particularly interested in how groups use technology, especially social media, to transform knowledge.
“The Brides of Dracula Tell All: Dracula as Romantic Protagonist in Recent Neo-Victorian Fiction,” Terry Riley, Bloomsburg University
Terry Riley teaches in the English Department at Bloomsburg University. He teaches 19th and 20th century British Literature; his research interests are in 19th century science and neo-Victorian fiction.
Session VI: Saturday, October 28, 1:30-3pm
PANEL 36 – CC 803 – The Fantastic: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein: 199 Years Old and Still Going Strong
CHAIR: Kristine Larsen, Central Connecticut State University
“Frankenstein and the Real: A Psychoanalytic Look at Power and the Unconscious,” Emilie Lewis, Simmons College
Emilie Lewis is currently an M.A. candidate in Gender/Cultural Studies at Simmons College in Boston. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English-Creative Writing from Goucher College and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
“Coexistence of Gender Binaries: Bisexualism in Frankenstein,” Christopher Maye, California State University, Long Beach
Christopher Maye graduated from California State University, Long Beach with a Bachelor's in English Literature and a minor in music in 2015. His research interest includes Critical Theory, Gender Studies, Political, and Ethnic Literature, but he primarily focuses on literature within the 18th Century English and 20th Century American periods. While he is currently pursuing a Master of Arts in English at CSULB, he works as a substitute teacher in the Los Angeles Charter School system, and is one of the managing editors for CSULB’s graduate academic journal Watermark.
“Modern Prometheus Bound,” Dennin Ellis, Independent Scholar
Dennin Ellis grew up in upstate New York and was raised by a consortium of stubborn women, a trait they passed to him. He learned how to read from X-Men comics and how to talk (and sing) from Beatles records. Throughout his childhood he vacillated between his dual passions for music and writing before settling on the former, receiving his Bachelor’s in Music from the College of Saint Rose. He then immediately went back to vacillating, achieving his Master’s in English from the State University of Albany. His graduate thesis, Colossus, concerned the place of humanity and the individual in the face of technological encroachment, brought to life through the melding of historical fiction, journalism and the epistolary novel. More recent projects include a collection of speculative fiction and research papers on topics as diverse as Edgar Allan Poe and Pink Floyd. He currently lives with his girlfriend in Ulsan, Korea, where he teaches English.
Session VII: Saturday, October 28, 3:15-4:45pm
PANEL 43 – CC 803 – The Fantastic: New England Horrors
CHAIR: Amie Doughty, SUNY Oneonta
“Body Horror in Lovecraft Fiction and Film,” Shastri Akella, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Shastri Akella earned an MFA in Creative Writing before joining the Comparative Literature PhD in 2014. He lived all over India, Dublin, and San Francisco, before moving the valley. He previously worked for a street theater troupe and for Google. His fiction and essays have been published or is forthcoming in Guernica, Electric Literature, The Common, The Rumpus, and Hypothetical Review, among other places. He has taught at the university for 5 years and was one of two teaching associates to win the campus-wide Distinguished Teaching Award for the academic year 2015-2016. His dissertation topic is a comparison of the perception of children in horror films and the perception of refugees. His other interests include film and translation, and he is working to get certified in both areas.
“The Dead Past in New England Vernacular Poetry,” N. C. Christopher Couch, University of Massachusetts Amherst
N. C. Christopher Couch holds a Ph.D. in art history from Columbia University, and is the author of numerous books and articles on comic art, graphic novels, and Latin American art. His most recent book, Jerry Robinson: Ambassador of Comics (Abrams 2010), on the artist and humanitarian famed for his Expressionist Batman and creation of the Joker, was a Harvey Award finalist and was featured in a New York Times profile of Robinson. As senior editor at Kitchen Sink Press, he worked with Will Eisner, about whom he has published two co-authored volumes, including The Will Eisner Companion (2005, with Stephen Weiner). He has held fellowships at the Institute for Advanced Study, Dumbarton Oaks of Harvard University, and the Newberry Library among others. He teaches at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Trinity College in Hartford, and in the Care Center Clemente Program, Holyoke, MA, and has curated exhibitions at the American Museum of Natural History and other art and science museums.
“Tilting at Vampires,” Katie Gagnon, Independent Scholar
Katie Gagnon has a Master of Arts in American Studies from Trinity College.
Fantastic (Fantasy, Horror, and Science Fiction) Areas Sessions 2017
(full conference program at https://nepca.blog/2017-conference-schedule/)
Session I: Friday, October 27, 1:00-2:30pm
PANEL 1 – CC 803 – The Fantastic: Horrors Past and Present
CHAIR: Amie Doughty, SUNY Oneonta
“Horrifying Mythical Obstacles: Masculine Anxieties and Alternate Gazes in Robert Eggers’s The Witch (2015),” Dustin Fisher, University of Cincinnati
Dustin Fisher received an M.A. in Literature from Wright State University in 2014 where he completed and presented his master’s thesis, “Doppelgangers and Dualistic Femininity in Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House.” In 2014 he also presented a paper at Newcastle University in Newcastle, UK, on Ian McEwan’s Atonement. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in contemporary Gothic fiction and film studies at the University of Cincinnati.
“Images of the Indigenous Monster in The Green Inferno (2013),” Erica Tortolani, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Erica Tortolani is currently enrolled at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she is pursuing a Ph.D. in Communication with a concentration in Film Studies. Her past research explored the intersection of film theory with rhetorical studies, looking specifically at how the cinematic medium can transmit messages regarding gender, sexuality, and the female body through visual and narrative elements. These interests culminated into her Masters thesis, entitled "Dual Images of the ‘Monstrous Feminine’ in Three Horror Films," a project that received the 2015 Graduate Research Excellence award at the University of Rhode Island. Erica has also presented at the 2015 Graduate Conference at the URI, the 2016 Northeastern Modern Language Association Conference, and earned her publication in the Fall 2013 issue of the undergraduate journal, Film Matters. Her research interests include general film theory and criticism, silent cinema, comedy and theories of humor, horror films, German Expressionist film, and feminist film theory.
“The Decomposing Youths and the Revival of the Zombies in Contemporary Korea,” Ha Rim Park, Seoul National University
After receiving her Master of Literature in 2016, Harim Park is doing a Ph.D in Comparative Literature at Seoul National University. She has published an article titled “The Origin of Catastrophe and Melancholy: A Korean Cultural Study on Zombie Narrative in the 2000s” in the journal of Korea Comparative Literature as the result of her master degree. Her areas of research include 1990-2000s Korean literature, genre fiction, movie, webtoon, and modernization, democratization after the Korean War. Harim is currently studying on disaster, apocalypse, Sci-fi narratives and non-human representations in contemporary East asian cultures, specifically Korea, Taiwan and Japan.
“The Bunhill Apocalypse: Robert Aickman’s ‘Larger than Oneself’ (1966) as a Post-Christian Metaphor,” Steffen Silvis, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Steffen Silvis is a playwright, theatre critic, actor and director, who is currently finishing his Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Theatre Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Among Silvis’ plays are Archetypes (1991; produced at The King’s Head, London), Liberty, Oregon (winner of the London International Playwrights Festival, 1993, produced by The Man-in-the-Moon Theatre, Chelsea, London, 1994, [nominated for best new work on the London Fringe]; The Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, 1995, California State University, 2005,); The Kalama Orpheum (winner of the London International Playwrights Festival, 2001); Nothing, If Not Critical (co-winner of the London One-Act Festival, 2003, and produced in London and Portland, Oregon, 2004); and Phere[crates]: Scraps (produced in Madison, Wisconsin, 2013). Silvis was the theatre critic for Portland’s Willamette Week and The Prague Post in the Czech Republic. His writing has appeared in American Theatre Magazine, Time Out, Paperback Jukebox, and Black Lamb. Co-Founder of the Madison-based theatre company, In-House, Silvis has produced Manjula Padmanabhan’s Light’s Out, and directed the devised-environmental piece, Reunion. Silvis has also won an NEA/Annenberg Fellowship and an O’Neil Fellowship for his criticism.
Session II: Friday, October 27, 2:45-4:15pm
PANEL 8 – CC 803 – The Fantastic: Meeting Monsters
CHAIR: Michael A. Torregrossa, Independent Scholar
“‘Everything That Ought to Have Remained Hidden’: Sublimation and the Uncanny in Anya's Ghost (2011),” Shane Gomes, North Dakota State University
Shane is from Honolulu, Hawaii, and completed his BA at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, his MA at the University of Northern Colorado, and is currently pursuing his PhD in English at North Dakota State University. His primary research interests are graphic novels and pop/comic culture more broadly, especially minority representations therein.
“Murder, Reproduction, and Bad Women in Junji Ito’s Tomie,” Rahel Worku, University of Maryland
Rahel Worku was an undergrad English major at UMBC and is currently a Masters student at the University of Maryland studying Comparative Literature. Rahel is now in the second year of the program and once again teaching English 101. Rahel’s interests are in African American literature, speculative fiction, and comic books.
“A Trekkie’s Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse,” Cinzia DiGiulio, Merrimack College
Cinzia DiGiulio is an Associate Professor of Italian and Cultural Studies at Merrimack College in North Andover, Massachusetts. Cinzia completed a Doctorate in Russian and English (languages and literatures) at the Catholic University of Milan, a Master’s degree in Comparative Literature and Classics at Purdue University, and then a Ph.D. in Romance Studies and Comparative Literature at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Most Cinzia’sstudies and research interests revolve around late 19th-century narrative (British, Russian, and Italian) -- particularly popular narrative -- and its intersections with contemporary popular culture.
“Scientists Become Monsters: The Strain’s Dr. Goodweather,” Kristine Larsen, Central Connecticut State University
Dr. Kristine Larsen is Professor of Astronomy at Central Connecticut State University, where her teaching and research focus on the intersections between science and society. She is the co-editor of The Mythological Dimensions of Doctor Who and The Mythological Dimensions of Neil Gaiman.
Session III: Friday, October 27, 4:30-6:00pm
PANEL 15 – CC 803 – The Fantastic: Re-envisioning the Heroic in Fantastic Fiction
CHAIR: Shane Gomes, North Dakota State University
“Happy Endings: Frankenstein’s Creature as a Romantic Lead,” Maggie Damken, Independent Scholar
Maggie Damken is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, where she studied literature and creative writing. She has presented previously at the Northeast Regional Honors Conference and Beacon Conference. A previous essay on Frankenstein was accepted for presentation by the Science Fiction Research Association.
“Decentering Monsterhood: Blurred Histories, Genres and Narrative Identities in John M. Ford’s Fantasy The Last Hot Time (2000),” Angela Gustafsson Whyland, Southern New Hampshire University [WITHDRAWN]
“Guinevere, the Warrior Queen of Camelot?: The Altered Fate of Guinevere in Recent Comics,” Michael A. Torregrossa, Independent Scholar
Independent scholar Michael A. Torregrossa is a graduate of the Medieval Studies program at the University of Connecticut (Storrs). His research interests include adaptation, Arthuriana, comics and comic art, medievalism, monsters, and wizards. Michael has presented papers on these topics at regional, national, and international conferences, as well as in published works. In addition, he is currently Fantastic (Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Horror) Area Chair for the Northeast Popular Culture/American Culture Association and organizes sessions, like this one, for their annual conference in the fall and maintains the area’s blogs.
Session IV: Saturday, October 28, 8:45-10:15am
PANEL 22 – CC 803 – The Fantastic: New Approaches to the Fantastic
CHAIR: Nova Seals, Salve Regina University
“The Princess Bride and Slavoj Žižek's Fantasy of the Real,” Heather Flyte, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania
Heather Flyte is a graduate student in English Literature at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania. She is working on her thesis investigating the dialogue of imperialism created during translation of non-western fairy tales in the Victorian era, with a specific focus on Japanese folk tales. In September 2014, she presented at the “Sensational Influences: Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s Literary Legacy” in London and recently was awarded the Emma Richards-Bausch Award in Literary Criticism from Kutztown University for her writing on H.G. Wells. She is a non-traditional student who has previously worked in journalism and web development and plans to pursue doctoral work in English Literature.
“Madness and Mixed-Bloods: Racial Metaphors in Seanan McGuire’s October Daye Series,” Amie Doughty, SUNY Oneonta
Amie Doughty is an associate professor of English as SUNY Oneonta, where she teaches course in linguistics, composition, and literature, including children’s literature, folklore, fantasy, and science fiction. She is the author of Folktales Retold: A Critical Overview of Stories Updated for Children and “Throw the book away”: Reading versus Experience in Children’s Fantasy, and is the editor of Children’s and Young Adult Literature and Culture: A Mosaic of Criticism.
“Heredity And The Hero: The Role of Heredity in Shaping Popular Heroes and Why It Matters,” Cheryl Hunter, University of Massachusetts Lowell
Cheryl Hunter is an adjunct professor of English and the Humanities at UMASS Lowell and Southern New Hampshire University. She attended the University of New Hampshire where she received a Master of Arts degree in Liberal Studies with a concentration in Philosophy and Literature. She was a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow at a week-long workshop on Henry David Thoreau. Her book, Myths and Archetypes in The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, looks at the roles of Philosophy and Mythology in modern literature and what important lessons about the human condition are conveyed to the audience through the hero and journey archetypes. She is a writer and artist, and she loves to travel.
Session V: Saturday, October 28, 10:30am-noon
PANEL 29 – CC 803 – The Fantastic: Re-Thinking the Monstrous
CHAIR: Heather Flyte, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania
“‘If You're So Hungry, Why Don’t You Get a Job?’: Patrick Bateman as Neoliberal Monster and Hero in American Psycho,” Caitlin Duffy, Stony Brook University
Caitlin Duffy is a doctoral student in the English Department at Stony Brook University. Her scholarly interests include horror films and 19th century American Gothic literature. Her work will be published in the 2017 issue of The Journal of Dracula Studies and in an upcoming volume on 1980’s horror films.
“Tackling the Femme: The Psycho-Biddy Genre,” James Patrick Carraghan, Kutztown University
James Patrick Carraghan is a graduate student, writing tutor, and research assistant at Kutztown University. He is currently writing a thesis on the intersection of Harlem Renaissance scholarship and Queer Theory. His work has been published in On the Road, Glimmer on the Bookshelf, and 5x5. He is currently a contributing writer at Terse Journal and Vada Magazine (UK).
“The Aesthetics of Abjection in Anna Dressed in Blood (2011),” Nova Seals, Salve Regina University
Nova Seals is a Ph.D. candidate in humanities at Salve Regina University in Newport, Rhode Island. Nova is also the Director of Library Services and Archives and teaches philosophy courses at St. George’s School, an independent preparatory school in Middletown, Rhode Island. Her academic interests are the intersection of philosophy and technology, as well as art and aesthetics. Nova is particularly interested in how groups use technology, especially social media, to transform knowledge.
“The Brides of Dracula Tell All: Dracula as Romantic Protagonist in Recent Neo-Victorian Fiction,” Terry Riley, Bloomsburg University
Terry Riley teaches in the English Department at Bloomsburg University. He teaches 19th and 20th century British Literature; his research interests are in 19th century science and neo-Victorian fiction.
Session VI: Saturday, October 28, 1:30-3pm
PANEL 36 – CC 803 – The Fantastic: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein: 199 Years Old and Still Going Strong
CHAIR: Kristine Larsen, Central Connecticut State University
“Frankenstein and the Real: A Psychoanalytic Look at Power and the Unconscious,” Emilie Lewis, Simmons College
Emilie Lewis is currently an M.A. candidate in Gender/Cultural Studies at Simmons College in Boston. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English-Creative Writing from Goucher College and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
“Coexistence of Gender Binaries: Bisexualism in Frankenstein,” Christopher Maye, California State University, Long Beach
Christopher Maye graduated from California State University, Long Beach with a Bachelor's in English Literature and a minor in music in 2015. His research interest includes Critical Theory, Gender Studies, Political, and Ethnic Literature, but he primarily focuses on literature within the 18th Century English and 20th Century American periods. While he is currently pursuing a Master of Arts in English at CSULB, he works as a substitute teacher in the Los Angeles Charter School system, and is one of the managing editors for CSULB’s graduate academic journal Watermark.
“Modern Prometheus Bound,” Dennin Ellis, Independent Scholar
Dennin Ellis grew up in upstate New York and was raised by a consortium of stubborn women, a trait they passed to him. He learned how to read from X-Men comics and how to talk (and sing) from Beatles records. Throughout his childhood he vacillated between his dual passions for music and writing before settling on the former, receiving his Bachelor’s in Music from the College of Saint Rose. He then immediately went back to vacillating, achieving his Master’s in English from the State University of Albany. His graduate thesis, Colossus, concerned the place of humanity and the individual in the face of technological encroachment, brought to life through the melding of historical fiction, journalism and the epistolary novel. More recent projects include a collection of speculative fiction and research papers on topics as diverse as Edgar Allan Poe and Pink Floyd. He currently lives with his girlfriend in Ulsan, Korea, where he teaches English.
Session VII: Saturday, October 28, 3:15-4:45pm
PANEL 43 – CC 803 – The Fantastic: New England Horrors
CHAIR: Amie Doughty, SUNY Oneonta
“Body Horror in Lovecraft Fiction and Film,” Shastri Akella, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Shastri Akella earned an MFA in Creative Writing before joining the Comparative Literature PhD in 2014. He lived all over India, Dublin, and San Francisco, before moving the valley. He previously worked for a street theater troupe and for Google. His fiction and essays have been published or is forthcoming in Guernica, Electric Literature, The Common, The Rumpus, and Hypothetical Review, among other places. He has taught at the university for 5 years and was one of two teaching associates to win the campus-wide Distinguished Teaching Award for the academic year 2015-2016. His dissertation topic is a comparison of the perception of children in horror films and the perception of refugees. His other interests include film and translation, and he is working to get certified in both areas.
“The Dead Past in New England Vernacular Poetry,” N. C. Christopher Couch, University of Massachusetts Amherst
N. C. Christopher Couch holds a Ph.D. in art history from Columbia University, and is the author of numerous books and articles on comic art, graphic novels, and Latin American art. His most recent book, Jerry Robinson: Ambassador of Comics (Abrams 2010), on the artist and humanitarian famed for his Expressionist Batman and creation of the Joker, was a Harvey Award finalist and was featured in a New York Times profile of Robinson. As senior editor at Kitchen Sink Press, he worked with Will Eisner, about whom he has published two co-authored volumes, including The Will Eisner Companion (2005, with Stephen Weiner). He has held fellowships at the Institute for Advanced Study, Dumbarton Oaks of Harvard University, and the Newberry Library among others. He teaches at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Trinity College in Hartford, and in the Care Center Clemente Program, Holyoke, MA, and has curated exhibitions at the American Museum of Natural History and other art and science museums.
“Tilting at Vampires,” Katie Gagnon, Independent Scholar
Katie Gagnon has a Master of Arts in American Studies from Trinity College.
Sunday, October 1, 2017
Fantastic Area Sessions 2018
I am pleased to announce the schedule for the area's tenth-anniversary sessions. My thanks to the program chair, Marty Norden, for his help in organizing.
The complete conference schedule and registration information can be accessed at https://nepca.blog/2017-conference/.
Session I: Friday, October 27, 1:00-2:30pm
PANEL 1 – CC 803 – The Fantastic: Horrors Past and Present
CHAIR: Amie Doughty, SUNY Oneonta
“Horrifying Mythical Obstacles: Masculine Anxieties and Alternate Gazes in Robert Eggers’s The Witch (2015),” Dustin Fisher, University of Cincinnati
“Images of the Indigenous Monster in The Green Inferno (2013),” Erica Tortolani, University of Massachusetts Amherst
“The Decomposing Youths and the Revival of the Zombies in Contemporary Korea,” Ha Rim Park, Seoul National University
“The Bunhill Apocalypse: Robert Aickman’s ‘Larger than Oneself’ (1966) as a Post-Christian Metaphor,” Steffen Silvis, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Session II: Friday, October 27, 2:45-4:15pm
PANEL 8 – CC 803 – The Fantastic: Meeting Monsters
CHAIR: Michael A. Torregrossa, Independent Scholar
“‘Everything That Ought to Have Remained Hidden’: Sublimation and the Uncanny in Anya's Ghost (2011),” Shane Gomes, North Dakota State University
“Murder, Reproduction, and Bad Women in Junji Ito’s Tomie,” Rahel Worku, University of Maryland
“A Trekkie’s Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse,” Cinzia DiGiulio, Merrimack College
“Scientists Become Monsters: The Strain’s Dr. Goodweather,” Kristine Larsen, Central Connecticut State University
Session III: Friday, October 27, 4:30-6:00pm
PANEL 15 – CC 803 – The Fantastic: New Approaches to the Heroic in Fantastic Fiction
CHAIR: Shane Gomes, North Dakota State University
“Happy Endings: Frankenstein’s Creature as a Romantic Lead,” Maggie Damken, Independent Scholar
“Decentering Monsterhood: Blurred Histories, Genres and Narrative Identities in John M. Ford’s Fantasy The Last Hot Time (2000),” Angela Gustafsson Whyland, Southern New Hampshire University
“Guinevere, the Warrior Queen of Camelot?: The Altered Fate of Guinevere in Recent Comics,” Michael A. Torregrossa, Independent Scholar
Session IV: Saturday, October 28, 8:45-10:15am
PANEL 22 – CC 803 – The Fantastic: New Approaches to the Fantastic
CHAIR: Nova Seals, Salve Regina University
“The Princess Bride and Slavoj Žižek's Fantasy of the Real,” Heather Flyte, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania
“Madness and Mixed-Bloods: Racial Metaphors in Seanan McGuire’s October Daye Series,” Amie Doughty, SUNY Oneonta
“Heredity And The Hero: The Role of Heredity in Shaping Popular Heroes and Why It Matters,” Cheryl Hunter, University of Massachusetts Lowell
Session V: Saturday, October 28, 10:30am-noon
PANEL 29 – CC 803 – The Fantastic: Re-Thinking the Monstrous
CHAIR: Heather Flyte, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania
“‘If You're So Hungry, Why Don’t You Get a Job?’: Patrick Bateman as Neoliberal Monster and Hero in American Psycho,” Caitlin Duffy, Stony Brook University
“Tackling the Femme: The Psycho-Biddy Genre,” James Patrick Carraghan, Kutztown University
“The Aesthetics of Abjection in Anna Dressed in Blood (2011),” Nova Seals, Salve Regina University
“The Brides of Dracula Tell All: Dracula as Romantic Protagonist in Recent Neo-Victorian Fiction,” Terry Riley, Bloomsburg University
Session VI: Saturday, October 28, 1:30-3pm
PANEL 36 – CC 803 – The Fantastic: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein: 199 Years Old and Still Going Strong
CHAIR: Kristine Larsen, Central Connecticut State University
“Frankenstein and the Real: A Psychoanalytic Look at Power and the Unconscious,” Emilie Lewis, Simmons College
“Coexistence of Gender Binaries: Bisexualism in Frankenstein,” Christopher Maye, California State University, Long Beach
“Modern Prometheus Bound,” Dennin Ellis, Independent Scholar
Session VII: Saturday, October 28, 3:15-4:45pm
PANEL 43 – CC 803 – The Fantastic: New England Horrors
CHAIR: Cheryl Hunter, University of Massachusetts Lowell
“Body Horror in Lovecraft Fiction and Film,” Shastri Akella, University of Massachusetts Amherst
“The Dead Past in New England Vernacular Poetry,” N. C. Christopher Couch, University of Massachusetts Amherst
“Tilting at Vampires,” Katie Gagnon, Independent Scholar
The complete conference schedule and registration information can be accessed at https://nepca.blog/2017-conference/.
Session I: Friday, October 27, 1:00-2:30pm
PANEL 1 – CC 803 – The Fantastic: Horrors Past and Present
CHAIR: Amie Doughty, SUNY Oneonta
“Horrifying Mythical Obstacles: Masculine Anxieties and Alternate Gazes in Robert Eggers’s The Witch (2015),” Dustin Fisher, University of Cincinnati
“Images of the Indigenous Monster in The Green Inferno (2013),” Erica Tortolani, University of Massachusetts Amherst
“The Decomposing Youths and the Revival of the Zombies in Contemporary Korea,” Ha Rim Park, Seoul National University
“The Bunhill Apocalypse: Robert Aickman’s ‘Larger than Oneself’ (1966) as a Post-Christian Metaphor,” Steffen Silvis, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Session II: Friday, October 27, 2:45-4:15pm
PANEL 8 – CC 803 – The Fantastic: Meeting Monsters
CHAIR: Michael A. Torregrossa, Independent Scholar
“‘Everything That Ought to Have Remained Hidden’: Sublimation and the Uncanny in Anya's Ghost (2011),” Shane Gomes, North Dakota State University
“Murder, Reproduction, and Bad Women in Junji Ito’s Tomie,” Rahel Worku, University of Maryland
“A Trekkie’s Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse,” Cinzia DiGiulio, Merrimack College
“Scientists Become Monsters: The Strain’s Dr. Goodweather,” Kristine Larsen, Central Connecticut State University
Session III: Friday, October 27, 4:30-6:00pm
PANEL 15 – CC 803 – The Fantastic: New Approaches to the Heroic in Fantastic Fiction
CHAIR: Shane Gomes, North Dakota State University
“Happy Endings: Frankenstein’s Creature as a Romantic Lead,” Maggie Damken, Independent Scholar
“Decentering Monsterhood: Blurred Histories, Genres and Narrative Identities in John M. Ford’s Fantasy The Last Hot Time (2000),” Angela Gustafsson Whyland, Southern New Hampshire University
“Guinevere, the Warrior Queen of Camelot?: The Altered Fate of Guinevere in Recent Comics,” Michael A. Torregrossa, Independent Scholar
Session IV: Saturday, October 28, 8:45-10:15am
PANEL 22 – CC 803 – The Fantastic: New Approaches to the Fantastic
CHAIR: Nova Seals, Salve Regina University
“The Princess Bride and Slavoj Žižek's Fantasy of the Real,” Heather Flyte, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania
“Madness and Mixed-Bloods: Racial Metaphors in Seanan McGuire’s October Daye Series,” Amie Doughty, SUNY Oneonta
“Heredity And The Hero: The Role of Heredity in Shaping Popular Heroes and Why It Matters,” Cheryl Hunter, University of Massachusetts Lowell
Session V: Saturday, October 28, 10:30am-noon
PANEL 29 – CC 803 – The Fantastic: Re-Thinking the Monstrous
CHAIR: Heather Flyte, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania
“‘If You're So Hungry, Why Don’t You Get a Job?’: Patrick Bateman as Neoliberal Monster and Hero in American Psycho,” Caitlin Duffy, Stony Brook University
“Tackling the Femme: The Psycho-Biddy Genre,” James Patrick Carraghan, Kutztown University
“The Aesthetics of Abjection in Anna Dressed in Blood (2011),” Nova Seals, Salve Regina University
“The Brides of Dracula Tell All: Dracula as Romantic Protagonist in Recent Neo-Victorian Fiction,” Terry Riley, Bloomsburg University
Session VI: Saturday, October 28, 1:30-3pm
PANEL 36 – CC 803 – The Fantastic: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein: 199 Years Old and Still Going Strong
CHAIR: Kristine Larsen, Central Connecticut State University
“Frankenstein and the Real: A Psychoanalytic Look at Power and the Unconscious,” Emilie Lewis, Simmons College
“Coexistence of Gender Binaries: Bisexualism in Frankenstein,” Christopher Maye, California State University, Long Beach
“Modern Prometheus Bound,” Dennin Ellis, Independent Scholar
Session VII: Saturday, October 28, 3:15-4:45pm
PANEL 43 – CC 803 – The Fantastic: New England Horrors
CHAIR: Cheryl Hunter, University of Massachusetts Lowell
“Body Horror in Lovecraft Fiction and Film,” Shastri Akella, University of Massachusetts Amherst
“The Dead Past in New England Vernacular Poetry,” N. C. Christopher Couch, University of Massachusetts Amherst
“Tilting at Vampires,” Katie Gagnon, Independent Scholar
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