Call for Papers Oxford Research in English, Issue 5: Brevity

The literary context of ‘brevity’ spans across centuries, cultures and artistic forms, emerging in styles such as short stories and aphorisms, and ranging from the texts of the late Middle Ages to auspices of contemporary poetry.  Whether found in the incisiveness of Anne Carson or the pith of Alexander Pope’s epigrams, economy of language is often prized in texts and academic work; whether or not that superiority is merited is, of course, up for debate.  The term ‘brevity’ also brings about various material interpretations—abbreviations and abridgements, for example. Alternatively, we can consider texts and forms that are naturally short as well as texts that are exceptionally long to consider the comparative value of brevity and length. In the end, the age-old question rises once more: ‘does size really matter’?

Oxford Research in English (ORE) is an online journal for postgraduate and early career scholars in English, Film Studies, Creative Writing, and related disciplines. All submissions are peer-reviewed by current graduate students at the University of Oxford. The journal is currently seeking papers of 5,000-8,000 words for its fifth issue, to be released in 2017. Please submit papers for consideration to ore@ell.ox.ac.uk by the new extended deadline of 1 March 2017.

Papers should be formatted according to the journal’s house style. For more ideas on the topic of brevity see the expanded CFP at our website.