CALL FOR PAPERS
Plenary Speakers:
Daniel Schwarz (Cornell University)
Helmut Müller-Sievers (Northwestern University)
The graduate students of the University of Colorado at Boulder’s Department of Comparative Literature and Humanities invite paper proposals on the topic of “Literary Odysseys.”
This conference will investigate various ways of thinking about the theme and figure of the journey. The journey has been and continues to be a thematic cornerstone in every age and in every literature, from epic to lyric, from Biblical exegesis to deconstruction, from poiesis to pop art. The journey can be located at the center of Comparative Literature, insofar as the field defines itself by its rejection of traditional borders, whether they be national, linguistic, temporal, or disciplinary. This motif offers ways to transgress these many boundaries, to cross these many thresholds. In all of its literal and figurative senses, the journey helps us to identify and address the diverse complexities challenging us in our reading, research, and writing. Please join us for an exploration of this compelling subject, and an inquiry into how it illuminates the discourses of comparative studies.
Graduate students are invited to submit abstracts relating to one of the following panel subjects. If more than one subject seems interesting, you may send multiple abstracts, but we will, however, accept only one paper per student. Please be aware that if your paper is accepted, we might not be able (because of organizational issues) to place it on the panel you requested. A prize will be awarded for best essay.
- Allegorical journeys in the classical epic
- Metapherein and the traversal of tropes
- Nostalgia and the voyage home
- Literal and figurative wanderings in the literature of exile
- Travel journals and their depictions of the foreign and domestic
- Travel and the widening of perspectives
- The (trans)formative journey
- Crossing into unknown realms: Textualizing the unconscious
- The passage from one language to another
- Gender journeys
- Theorizing the journey and the journey of theory
- A veritable inquiry: Literature and the quest for truth
- Paths toward revelation, apocalypse, telos
- Aperture and closure
- Cultures (and their art) over time
- Life’s journey and its depictions in film, visual arts, literature
- The creative process and the rendering of artistic experience
- Ambiguities and the liminal position
- Movement in, through, and out of time
- The transgressive journey
- Declarations of artistic innovation
- “Is our discipline still alive?” The path of Comparative Literature
Abstracts (and papers) should be in English. Presentations should be 20 minutes and no longer. Email abstracts of 250 words to Odysseys@Colorado.edu. Please include a Word attachment AND paste the abstract into the email, with the title of the panel you are applying to as the email’s subject. Both the abstract and email should include the author’s name, affiliation, full address and phone number, proposed title of each paper, and the titles of each panel to which the student is applying (i.e. if sending two abstracts, clearly indicate to which panel each one relates). Also, please indicate if you will require technological support during your presentation.
Visit our website at www.Colorado.edu/comparativeliterature/literaryodysseys
Submission Deadline: November 1, 2006
Send abstracts to Odysseys@Colorado.edu
We look forward to seeing you next spring. In addition to the conference panels and plenary speeches by two distinguished scholars, participants are invited to a welcoming breakfast on Friday morning, a cocktail reception with free appetizers in downtown Boulder on Friday night, and a final reception on Saturday evening. Between papers and events, you will also have a chance to enjoy all that Boulder has to offer. Located at the foot of the Flatiron Mountain Range, and home to gorgeous hiking trails and bike paths, as well as great restaurants, bars, and cafes, Boulder is a cultural center in the midst of a sublime natural setting.