Wednesday, 17 September 2014
Friday, 1 August 2014
CFP: Literary Margins and Digital Media
Seminar of the Academia Europaea and the University of Wrocław
15–17 April 2015
The Academia Europaea Knowledge Hub Wrocław and the University of Wrocław invite young scholars (PhD candidates and postdocs), to take part in the Seminar Literary margins and digital media, to be held in Wrocław (Poland) on 15–17 April 2015.
Context and rationale
Traditional elite culture is becoming increasingly marginalized, while forms of cultural expression which were seen as marginal during the first half of the twentieth century, or which, in the terminology of Bourdieu and Even-Zohar, were located at the periphery of the cultural field, have been gaining a more prominent place. The three vital factors that have played a crucial role in this phenomenon are the commercialisation of cultural life, democratic access to culture, and the development of the Internet and new media. The aim of this conference is to discuss the implications of these shifts for European literatures, and particularly for those of Central and Eastern Europe.
First, special consideration will be given to the evolution of literary genres which were until recently deemed marginal from the perspective of the traditional cultural centre, such as children’s and young adult literature, popular literature and, in recent times, electronic literature. Second, a related issue to be discussed will be ways in which literature repositions itself with regard to contemporary technological and social developments. Of interest here is not so much the question whether traditional literary culture will be displaced by new media, but rather in what manner literature reacts to these developments and retains its significance either through a symbiosis with other modes of cultural expression or by generating new genres.
Tracks
Terminology and concepts
- Do the existing terminology and traditional methods of literary analysis apply to analyzing electronic literature? Is there a need for developing new approaches?
- How does the transition from the book as an art object (‘liberature’) to electronic literature occur?
- What new genres have emerged in cyberspace?
Crossing boundaries
- Is the division into high and low culture relevant in cyberspace? What are processes involved in textualisation of visual signs and visualisation of the text?
- How does literature exists in the nonlinguistic realm? How are the limits of language challenged?
- How do elements of subcultures move to the mainstream in the context of new media?
Ethics
- Stealing or recycling? How to define the use of traditional literature for digital purposes?
- What is the status of the author in cyberspace?
- What is the role of digital culture and new media in the preservation and dissemination of national cultural heritage?
Age and media
- How does age affect media preferences and use?
- Is the distinction between children’s literature and adult literature still valid in the context of new media?
- What forms of cultural convergence are emerging within children’s culture?
Readers and consumers of popular culture
- How does the evolution from the reader (of traditional print literature) to the active performer or player proceed?
- What alternative forms of sharing cultural experiences have emerged thanks to social media and participatory culture?
- What are possible methods of empirical research into readers and popular culture audiences?
Games
- Are computer games a literary genre?
- What processes are involved in turning literature into games and games into literature?
- What is the aesthetics of alternative and artistic games?
Future: dangers & possibilities
- What is the future of translation in view of instant translation available on the Internet?
- How to promote new media literacies among children and adults?
- What may be potential applications of popular culture and media convergence in education?
- What are possible uses of games in developing media literacies?
- Remediation – a new life for historical texts?
- How is children’s publishing in Central and Eastern Europe being affected by multimedia?
- What is the influence of new media on the development and status of popular literature?
APPLICATION: For registration, click here. Submit a 300-word proposal, a curriculum vitae with a list of publications by October 5, 2014. All applicants will be notified about the selection of participants before October 31, 2014.
REQUIREMENTS: Presenters are required to submit a 3,000-5,000 word description or excerpt (i.e., chapter, article, etc.) to be circulated among participants by March 1, 2015. All workshop participants are asked to read these submissions prior to the workshop. The paper should be an unpublished one. Presenters who do not meet the submission deadline will not be able to present their work.
SEMINAR LANGUAGE will be English.
FINANCIAL ARRANGEMENTS: The organizers will cover the conference fee and the costs of accommodation*, travel**, insurance and publication.
SCIENTIFIC AND ORGANISING COMMITTEE
Irena Barbara Kalla (University of Wrocław)
Justyna Deszcz-Tryhubczak (University of Wrocław)
Dorota Michułka (University of Wrocław)
Bogumiła Staniów (University of Wrocław)
Bożena Czarnecka (University of Wrocław)
Pieter Emmer (Academia Europaea)
Siegfried Huigen (University of Wrocław)
Stefan Kiedroo (University of Wrocław)
Aleksandra Nowak (Academia Europaea)
All correspondence, including submission of proposals and final papers, must be addressed to Aleksandra Nowak or via the website.
*up to 4 nights
** up to certain maximum: Western Europe – up to 100 EUR, Central and Eastern Europe – up to 150 EUR
15–17 April 2015
The Academia Europaea Knowledge Hub Wrocław and the University of Wrocław invite young scholars (PhD candidates and postdocs), to take part in the Seminar Literary margins and digital media, to be held in Wrocław (Poland) on 15–17 April 2015.
Context and rationale
Traditional elite culture is becoming increasingly marginalized, while forms of cultural expression which were seen as marginal during the first half of the twentieth century, or which, in the terminology of Bourdieu and Even-Zohar, were located at the periphery of the cultural field, have been gaining a more prominent place. The three vital factors that have played a crucial role in this phenomenon are the commercialisation of cultural life, democratic access to culture, and the development of the Internet and new media. The aim of this conference is to discuss the implications of these shifts for European literatures, and particularly for those of Central and Eastern Europe.
First, special consideration will be given to the evolution of literary genres which were until recently deemed marginal from the perspective of the traditional cultural centre, such as children’s and young adult literature, popular literature and, in recent times, electronic literature. Second, a related issue to be discussed will be ways in which literature repositions itself with regard to contemporary technological and social developments. Of interest here is not so much the question whether traditional literary culture will be displaced by new media, but rather in what manner literature reacts to these developments and retains its significance either through a symbiosis with other modes of cultural expression or by generating new genres.
Tracks
Terminology and concepts
- Do the existing terminology and traditional methods of literary analysis apply to analyzing electronic literature? Is there a need for developing new approaches?
- How does the transition from the book as an art object (‘liberature’) to electronic literature occur?
- What new genres have emerged in cyberspace?
Crossing boundaries
- Is the division into high and low culture relevant in cyberspace? What are processes involved in textualisation of visual signs and visualisation of the text?
- How does literature exists in the nonlinguistic realm? How are the limits of language challenged?
- How do elements of subcultures move to the mainstream in the context of new media?
Ethics
- Stealing or recycling? How to define the use of traditional literature for digital purposes?
- What is the status of the author in cyberspace?
- What is the role of digital culture and new media in the preservation and dissemination of national cultural heritage?
Age and media
- How does age affect media preferences and use?
- Is the distinction between children’s literature and adult literature still valid in the context of new media?
- What forms of cultural convergence are emerging within children’s culture?
Readers and consumers of popular culture
- How does the evolution from the reader (of traditional print literature) to the active performer or player proceed?
- What alternative forms of sharing cultural experiences have emerged thanks to social media and participatory culture?
- What are possible methods of empirical research into readers and popular culture audiences?
Games
- Are computer games a literary genre?
- What processes are involved in turning literature into games and games into literature?
- What is the aesthetics of alternative and artistic games?
Future: dangers & possibilities
- What is the future of translation in view of instant translation available on the Internet?
- How to promote new media literacies among children and adults?
- What may be potential applications of popular culture and media convergence in education?
- What are possible uses of games in developing media literacies?
- Remediation – a new life for historical texts?
- How is children’s publishing in Central and Eastern Europe being affected by multimedia?
- What is the influence of new media on the development and status of popular literature?
APPLICATION: For registration, click here. Submit a 300-word proposal, a curriculum vitae with a list of publications by October 5, 2014. All applicants will be notified about the selection of participants before October 31, 2014.
REQUIREMENTS: Presenters are required to submit a 3,000-5,000 word description or excerpt (i.e., chapter, article, etc.) to be circulated among participants by March 1, 2015. All workshop participants are asked to read these submissions prior to the workshop. The paper should be an unpublished one. Presenters who do not meet the submission deadline will not be able to present their work.
SEMINAR LANGUAGE will be English.
FINANCIAL ARRANGEMENTS: The organizers will cover the conference fee and the costs of accommodation*, travel**, insurance and publication.
SCIENTIFIC AND ORGANISING COMMITTEE
Irena Barbara Kalla (University of Wrocław)
Justyna Deszcz-Tryhubczak (University of Wrocław)
Dorota Michułka (University of Wrocław)
Bogumiła Staniów (University of Wrocław)
Bożena Czarnecka (University of Wrocław)
Pieter Emmer (Academia Europaea)
Siegfried Huigen (University of Wrocław)
Stefan Kiedroo (University of Wrocław)
Aleksandra Nowak (Academia Europaea)
All correspondence, including submission of proposals and final papers, must be addressed to Aleksandra Nowak or via the website.
*up to 4 nights
** up to certain maximum: Western Europe – up to 100 EUR, Central and Eastern Europe – up to 150 EUR
OUT NOW: Hauntings: An Anthology (Hic Dragones, 2014)
A memory, a spectre, a feeling of regret, a sense of déjà vu, ghosts, machines, something you can’t quite put your finger on, a dark double, the long shadow of a crime, your past, a city’s past, your doppelganger, a place, a song, a half-remembered rhyme, guilt, trauma, doubt, a shape at the corner of your eye, the future, the dead, the undead, the living, someone you used to know, someone you used to be.
We are all haunted.
Twenty-one new tales of the uncanny:
The Conch
Rachel Halsall
Ghost Pine Lake
Brandy Schillace
Haunting Melody
Allen Ashley
Lever’s Row
Hannah Kate
Crying for my Father
Audrey Williams
The Man in Blue Boots
James Everington
A Handful of Dust
David Webb
Stella’s
Sarah Peploe
Focal Point
Michael Hitchins
First Bell
Patrick Lacey
Ghost Estate, Phase II
Tracy Fahey
A Place for Everyone
Rue Karney
Under His Wing, Poor Thing
Keris McDonald
The Foolish Light
Guy Burtenshaw
The Philosopher’s Way
B.E. Scully
Dreaming a Dream to Prize
Mark Forshaw
Professor Donaldson’s Séance
Stewart Pringle
Shifting Sands
Daisy Black
Moon Child
Mere Joyce
The Eight Pane Sash
Jeanette Greaves
The Anatomy of Mermaids
Elisabeth Brander
Available now in paperback and eBook. For more information about Hauntings: An Anthology, or to buy a copy, please visit the publisher's website.
Saturday, 26 July 2014
OUT NOW: Prison Service Journal (July 2014, No. 214)
Special Edition: The Prison and the Public
Contents
Editorial Comment: The Prison and the Public
Dr Alana Barton and Dr Alyson Brown
Review of ‘The Prison and the Public’ Conference, Edge Hill University, Wednesday 27 March 2013
Holly White, Lindsey Ryan, Chris Wadsworth and Phil Williams
Chapter and Verse: The Role of Creating Writing in Reducing Re-offending
Michael Crowley
Free to Write: A Case Study in the Impact of Cultural History Research and Creative Writing Practice
Dr Tamsin Spargo and Dr Hannah Priest
Talking Justice: Building Vocal Public Support for Prison Reform
Katy Swaine Williams and Janet Crowe
Challenging Perceptions: Considering the Value of Public Opinion
Rachel Forster and Liz Knight
Repression and Revolution: Representations of Criminal Justice and Prisons in Recent Documentaries
Dr Jamie Bennett
How the Public Sphere was Privatized and Why Civil Society Could Reclaim it.
Mary S Corcoran
Artist or Offender?: Braving the Mirror
Robin Baillie
Civic Re-engagements Amongst Former Prisoners
Gill Buck
Film review: Everyday (2012)
Dr Jamie Bennett
Book Review: Critique and Dissent: An Anthology to Mark 40 Years of the European Group for the Study of Deviance and Social Control; Rethinking Social Exclusion: The End of the Social?; Criminal Justice and Neoliberalism; Why Prison?
Dr Jamie Bennett
For more information, please see the journal website. To download this issue of the PSJ, please click here.
Contents
Editorial Comment: The Prison and the Public
Dr Alana Barton and Dr Alyson Brown
Review of ‘The Prison and the Public’ Conference, Edge Hill University, Wednesday 27 March 2013
Holly White, Lindsey Ryan, Chris Wadsworth and Phil Williams
Chapter and Verse: The Role of Creating Writing in Reducing Re-offending
Michael Crowley
Free to Write: A Case Study in the Impact of Cultural History Research and Creative Writing Practice
Dr Tamsin Spargo and Dr Hannah Priest
Talking Justice: Building Vocal Public Support for Prison Reform
Katy Swaine Williams and Janet Crowe
Challenging Perceptions: Considering the Value of Public Opinion
Rachel Forster and Liz Knight
Repression and Revolution: Representations of Criminal Justice and Prisons in Recent Documentaries
Dr Jamie Bennett
How the Public Sphere was Privatized and Why Civil Society Could Reclaim it.
Mary S Corcoran
Artist or Offender?: Braving the Mirror
Robin Baillie
Civic Re-engagements Amongst Former Prisoners
Gill Buck
Film review: Everyday (2012)
Dr Jamie Bennett
Book Review: Critique and Dissent: An Anthology to Mark 40 Years of the European Group for the Study of Deviance and Social Control; Rethinking Social Exclusion: The End of the Social?; Criminal Justice and Neoliberalism; Why Prison?
Dr Jamie Bennett
For more information, please see the journal website. To download this issue of the PSJ, please click here.
CFP: Manhood in Anglo-Saxon England
Manchester Centre for Anglo-Saxon Studies (MANCASS)
Easter Conference 2015
Hulme Hall, University of Manchester, UK
7-9 April 2015
Proposals for 20 minute papers on this topic are invited. Topics that the conference will include, but are not limited to:
• Male identities and constructions of masculinity
• Literary presentations and representations of manhood
• Laws and Penitentials
• Male sexualities
• Manhood and Archaeology
• Representations of masculinity in art
We are looking for submissions (approx. 300 words) on these and related subjects to reach us by 30th November 2014. Please send submissions, and direct enquiries to the conference director, Dr Charles Insley, Department of History, University of Manchester.
Easter Conference 2015
Hulme Hall, University of Manchester, UK
7-9 April 2015
Proposals for 20 minute papers on this topic are invited. Topics that the conference will include, but are not limited to:
• Male identities and constructions of masculinity
• Literary presentations and representations of manhood
• Laws and Penitentials
• Male sexualities
• Manhood and Archaeology
• Representations of masculinity in art
We are looking for submissions (approx. 300 words) on these and related subjects to reach us by 30th November 2014. Please send submissions, and direct enquiries to the conference director, Dr Charles Insley, Department of History, University of Manchester.
Saturday, 12 July 2014
Hauntings: An Anthology - Launch Party
International Anthony Burgess Foundation
3 Cambridge Street
Manchester M1
United Kingdom
Thursday, 31 July 2014
7-9pm
Come and join us at the launch party for Hauntings: An Anthology, a new collection of short stories from Hic Dragones.
Hauntings: An Anthology - twenty-one new tales of the uncanny
A memory, a spectre, a feeling of regret, a sense of déjà vu, ghosts, machines, something you can’t quite put your finger on, a dark double, the long shadow of a crime, your past, a city’s past, your doppelganger, a place, a song, a half-remembered rhyme, guilt, trauma, doubt, a shape at the corner of your eye, the future, the dead, the undead, the living, someone you used to know, someone you used to be.
We are all haunted.
Join us at the launch party on Thursday July 31st. Readings by: Tracy Fahey, Mark Forshaw, Hannah Kate, Sarah Peploe, James Everington, Michael Hitchins, Daisy Black and Rachel Halsall
Free wine reception, giveaways and launch discount on the book. For more information, please visit the publisher's website.
3 Cambridge Street
Manchester M1
United Kingdom
Thursday, 31 July 2014
7-9pm
Come and join us at the launch party for Hauntings: An Anthology, a new collection of short stories from Hic Dragones.
Hauntings: An Anthology - twenty-one new tales of the uncanny
A memory, a spectre, a feeling of regret, a sense of déjà vu, ghosts, machines, something you can’t quite put your finger on, a dark double, the long shadow of a crime, your past, a city’s past, your doppelganger, a place, a song, a half-remembered rhyme, guilt, trauma, doubt, a shape at the corner of your eye, the future, the dead, the undead, the living, someone you used to know, someone you used to be.
We are all haunted.
Join us at the launch party on Thursday July 31st. Readings by: Tracy Fahey, Mark Forshaw, Hannah Kate, Sarah Peploe, James Everington, Michael Hitchins, Daisy Black and Rachel Halsall
Free wine reception, giveaways and launch discount on the book. For more information, please visit the publisher's website.
Wednesday, 9 July 2014
Summer Sale from Hic Dragones!
All paperbacks are £4.99 for the whole of July!
To celebrate the publication of Hauntings: An Anthology later this month, all our titles are now just £4.99 (plus p+p).
Check out our catalogue for more information about our titles.
To celebrate the publication of Hauntings: An Anthology later this month, all our titles are now just £4.99 (plus p+p).
Check out our catalogue for more information about our titles.
CFP: Gender and Medieval Studies Conference 2015
Gender, Dirt and Taboo
7-9 January 2015
Bangor University
The Middle Ages are synonymous with dirt – bodily, spiritual, linguistic and literary. People lived in closer proximity to the material reality of filth: privies, animal waste, the midden, and while walking city streets. Keeping one’s body and clothes uncontaminated by filth would have represented a challenge. The Church took great pains to warn about the polluting effect of sin, and the literal and metaphorical stains that it could leave upon body and soul. The Middle Ages remains (in)famous, to some, due to the perception that its comedy is simply ‘latrine humour.’ Women, with their leaky and pollutant bodies, lie at the heart of the medieval materiality of filth. Throughout her life course, a woman engaged with dirt; in bearing children, caring for the sick, working within the household and outside of the home, listening to sermons in church and to literature in a variety of contexts. In the misogynist discourse of Churchmen such as Odo of Cluny, woman was little more than dirt herself. Odo of Cluny did not acknowledge that manure is, of course, essential to healthy new growth.
We welcome abstracts from postgraduates and colleagues on all aspects of gender, dirt and taboo and from a broad range of disciplines, including history, archaeology, book history, literature, art history, music, theology and medicine.
Papers are particularly welcome on, but are not limited to:
The language of dirt
Dirt in texts/‘dirty’ texts
Landscapes of dirt
Bodily dirt
Dramatising dirt
Dirt and spirituality
Dirt and sexuality
Controlling/cleansing dirt
The comedy of dirt
The science of dirt
Please send abstracts of 200-300 words, for papers lasting 20 minutes, no later than 30 September 2014 to Dr Sue Niebrzydowski (School of English, Bangor University) for consideration. Please also include your research area, institution and level of study in your abstract.
It is hoped that The Kate Westoby Fund will be able to offer a modest contribution (but not the full costs) towards as many student travel expenses as possible.
7-9 January 2015
Bangor University
‘to embrace a woman is to embrace a sack of manure’
Odo of Cluny
The Middle Ages are synonymous with dirt – bodily, spiritual, linguistic and literary. People lived in closer proximity to the material reality of filth: privies, animal waste, the midden, and while walking city streets. Keeping one’s body and clothes uncontaminated by filth would have represented a challenge. The Church took great pains to warn about the polluting effect of sin, and the literal and metaphorical stains that it could leave upon body and soul. The Middle Ages remains (in)famous, to some, due to the perception that its comedy is simply ‘latrine humour.’ Women, with their leaky and pollutant bodies, lie at the heart of the medieval materiality of filth. Throughout her life course, a woman engaged with dirt; in bearing children, caring for the sick, working within the household and outside of the home, listening to sermons in church and to literature in a variety of contexts. In the misogynist discourse of Churchmen such as Odo of Cluny, woman was little more than dirt herself. Odo of Cluny did not acknowledge that manure is, of course, essential to healthy new growth.
We welcome abstracts from postgraduates and colleagues on all aspects of gender, dirt and taboo and from a broad range of disciplines, including history, archaeology, book history, literature, art history, music, theology and medicine.
Papers are particularly welcome on, but are not limited to:
The language of dirt
Dirt in texts/‘dirty’ texts
Landscapes of dirt
Bodily dirt
Dramatising dirt
Dirt and spirituality
Dirt and sexuality
Controlling/cleansing dirt
The comedy of dirt
The science of dirt
Please send abstracts of 200-300 words, for papers lasting 20 minutes, no later than 30 September 2014 to Dr Sue Niebrzydowski (School of English, Bangor University) for consideration. Please also include your research area, institution and level of study in your abstract.
It is hoped that The Kate Westoby Fund will be able to offer a modest contribution (but not the full costs) towards as many student travel expenses as possible.
Friday, 13 June 2014
WIN 3 BOOKS! Wolf-Girls Competition (International Entry)
A fantastic new competition from Hic Dragones...
Enter now via the Rafflecopter widget below for a chance to win 3 wonderful paperbacks PLUS an exclusive WOLF-GIRLS tote bag!
Wolf-Girls: Dark Tales of Teeth, Claws and Lygogyny
edited by Hannah Kate
Feral, vicious, fierce and lost… the she-wolf is a strange creature of the night. Attractive to some; repulsive to others, she stalks the fringes of our world as though it were her prey. She is the baddest of girls, the fatalest of femmes – but she is also the excluded, the abject, the monster. The Wolf-Girls within these pages are mad, bad and dangerous to know. But they are also rejected and tortured, loving and loyal, avenging and triumphant. Some of them are even human…
Seventeen new tales of dark, snarling lycogyny by Nu Yang, Mary Borsellino, Lyn Lockwood, Mihaela Nicolescu, L. Lark, Jeanette Greaves, Kim Bannerman, Lynsey May, Hannah Kate, J. K. Coi, Rosie Garland, R. A. Martens, Beth Daley, Marie Cruz, Helen Cross, Andrew Quinton and Sarah Peacock.
In addition to this lycanthropic anthology, the prize also includes novels by two of the contributors: Kim Bannerman and Beth Daley!
The Tattooed Wolf
by K. Bannerman
Morris Caufield thought he’d seen it all…
Until the moment Dan Sullivan walked into his office. Dan needs a divorce lawyer he can trust, and he thinks Morris is the man for the job. The thing is, Dan wants Morris to represent his wife. Who tried to kill him. Twice. And as if that wasn’t enough, Dan expects Morris to buy some crazy story about werewolves…
As Dan reveals the truth about his life and his marriage, Morris listens to a captivating tale of lycanthropy, love and betrayal. It’s lunacy, he’s sure of that, but there’s something about Dan Sullivan that makes it all very easy to believe.
Blood and Water
by Beth Daley
Dora lives by the sea. Dora has always lived by the sea. But she won’t go into the water.
The last time Dora swam in the sea was the day of her mother’s funeral, the day she saw the mermaid. Now she’s an adult, a respectable married woman, and her little sister Lucie has come home from university with a horrible secret. Dora’s safe and dry life begins to fray, as she is torn between protecting her baby sister and facing up to a truth she has always known but never admitted. And the sea keeps calling her, reminding her of what she saw beneath the waves all those years ago… of what will be waiting for her if she dives in again.
Enter now!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Enter now via the Rafflecopter widget below for a chance to win 3 wonderful paperbacks PLUS an exclusive WOLF-GIRLS tote bag!
Wolf-Girls: Dark Tales of Teeth, Claws and Lygogyny
edited by Hannah Kate
Feral, vicious, fierce and lost… the she-wolf is a strange creature of the night. Attractive to some; repulsive to others, she stalks the fringes of our world as though it were her prey. She is the baddest of girls, the fatalest of femmes – but she is also the excluded, the abject, the monster. The Wolf-Girls within these pages are mad, bad and dangerous to know. But they are also rejected and tortured, loving and loyal, avenging and triumphant. Some of them are even human…
Seventeen new tales of dark, snarling lycogyny by Nu Yang, Mary Borsellino, Lyn Lockwood, Mihaela Nicolescu, L. Lark, Jeanette Greaves, Kim Bannerman, Lynsey May, Hannah Kate, J. K. Coi, Rosie Garland, R. A. Martens, Beth Daley, Marie Cruz, Helen Cross, Andrew Quinton and Sarah Peacock.
In addition to this lycanthropic anthology, the prize also includes novels by two of the contributors: Kim Bannerman and Beth Daley!
The Tattooed Wolf
by K. Bannerman
Morris Caufield thought he’d seen it all…
Until the moment Dan Sullivan walked into his office. Dan needs a divorce lawyer he can trust, and he thinks Morris is the man for the job. The thing is, Dan wants Morris to represent his wife. Who tried to kill him. Twice. And as if that wasn’t enough, Dan expects Morris to buy some crazy story about werewolves…
As Dan reveals the truth about his life and his marriage, Morris listens to a captivating tale of lycanthropy, love and betrayal. It’s lunacy, he’s sure of that, but there’s something about Dan Sullivan that makes it all very easy to believe.
Blood and Water
by Beth Daley
Dora lives by the sea. Dora has always lived by the sea. But she won’t go into the water.
The last time Dora swam in the sea was the day of her mother’s funeral, the day she saw the mermaid. Now she’s an adult, a respectable married woman, and her little sister Lucie has come home from university with a horrible secret. Dora’s safe and dry life begins to fray, as she is torn between protecting her baby sister and facing up to a truth she has always known but never admitted. And the sea keeps calling her, reminding her of what she saw beneath the waves all those years ago… of what will be waiting for her if she dives in again.
Enter now!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
CFP: 'Profitable and spedful to use': Medieval and Early Modern Prayer
A Postgraduate Conference
Friday 19th September 2014, Cardiff University
Generously funded by Cardiff University Graduate College, this one-day conference will address the theme of prayer in the Medieval and Early Modern periods. Given its pervasive nature as an element of Medieval and Early Modern culture, prayer is often overlooked by scholars as a discrete topic of enquiry. Prayer’s very ubiquity in the literature, historical record and material culture of the time has led, perhaps counterintuitively, to a lack of sustained critical attention, at least in some disciplines. In the context of a religiously-literate society, prayer performs many functions beyond its role in worship, with its artistic, rhetorical and performative aspects often used for propagandistic, interrogative or subversive means, among others.
The topic of prayer has of late gained momentum amongst Early Modern scholars, but in Medieval Studies it is only just beginning to emerge as a field of enquiry. This conference aims to bring together researchers in this up-and-coming area. This theme is, by its nature, interdisciplinary, encompassing literature, history and religion, and we are seeking to reflect this interdisciplinarity throughout the day’s events. By inviting speakers from these, and related, disciplines, we hope that the day will offer a broad and rich insight into Medieval and Early Modern prayer.
We are delighted to announce that Dr Alastair Bennett (Royal Holloway, University of London) will be giving a keynote lecture.
We invite papers from researchers in the fields of archaeology, architecture, art history, history, language, literature, music, philosophy, politics, religion, and other relevant disciplines to submit abstracts of 300 words. Topics can include:
- Literary prayer
- Theory of prayer
- Prayer in liturgy
- Prayer and music
- Prayer and Biblical translation
- Prayer and rhetoric
- Prayer and violence
- Language of prayer
- Prayer as protest
- Prayer manuals
- Prayer books
- Prayer and politics
- Teaching on prayer
- Private devotion
- Prayer as magic
- Physical manifestations of prayer (e.g. objects, buildings, art, etc.)
- Any other related topic
Please send abstracts for papers of 20 minutes by the 9th of July 2014 to Judith Dray and Sheri Smith.
Friday 19th September 2014, Cardiff University
Generously funded by Cardiff University Graduate College, this one-day conference will address the theme of prayer in the Medieval and Early Modern periods. Given its pervasive nature as an element of Medieval and Early Modern culture, prayer is often overlooked by scholars as a discrete topic of enquiry. Prayer’s very ubiquity in the literature, historical record and material culture of the time has led, perhaps counterintuitively, to a lack of sustained critical attention, at least in some disciplines. In the context of a religiously-literate society, prayer performs many functions beyond its role in worship, with its artistic, rhetorical and performative aspects often used for propagandistic, interrogative or subversive means, among others.
The topic of prayer has of late gained momentum amongst Early Modern scholars, but in Medieval Studies it is only just beginning to emerge as a field of enquiry. This conference aims to bring together researchers in this up-and-coming area. This theme is, by its nature, interdisciplinary, encompassing literature, history and religion, and we are seeking to reflect this interdisciplinarity throughout the day’s events. By inviting speakers from these, and related, disciplines, we hope that the day will offer a broad and rich insight into Medieval and Early Modern prayer.
We are delighted to announce that Dr Alastair Bennett (Royal Holloway, University of London) will be giving a keynote lecture.
We invite papers from researchers in the fields of archaeology, architecture, art history, history, language, literature, music, philosophy, politics, religion, and other relevant disciplines to submit abstracts of 300 words. Topics can include:
- Literary prayer
- Theory of prayer
- Prayer in liturgy
- Prayer and music
- Prayer and Biblical translation
- Prayer and rhetoric
- Prayer and violence
- Language of prayer
- Prayer as protest
- Prayer manuals
- Prayer books
- Prayer and politics
- Teaching on prayer
- Private devotion
- Prayer as magic
- Physical manifestations of prayer (e.g. objects, buildings, art, etc.)
- Any other related topic
Please send abstracts for papers of 20 minutes by the 9th of July 2014 to Judith Dray and Sheri Smith.
Monday, 9 June 2014
Coming Soon: New Digital Editions of Victorian Penny Dreadfuls
Serialized Victorian Gothic pulp fiction for the discerning modern reader!
Penny dreadfuls have a significant place in the modern imagination and affections, but they are rarely read in the twenty-first century. And this is hardly surprising—with only a few exceptions, these texts can only be found in original publications or mechanically scanned copies. Until now!
The Digital Periodicals serials from Hic Dragones have been fully formatted (by a human being) to create searchable eBook texts with interactive tables of contents. For the first time since their original publication in the mid-nineteenth century, these texts will be sold as serials, with new instalments (comprising between 5-10 chapters) being released fortnightly. Readers can once again savour the anticipation of a new instalment, and enjoy these episodic stories as they were once intended.
Digital Periodicals launches on Friday 13th June 2014 with two of James Malcolm Rymer’s classic titles: VARNEY THE VAMPYRE; OR, THE FEAST OF BLOOD and VILEROY; OR, THE HORRORS OF ZINDORF CASTLE. Additional serials will be published in due course, with THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF VALENTINE VOX, THE VENTRILOQUIST coming out later in the month. As well as better-known titles, such as WAGNER THE WEHR-WOLF and THE STRING OF PEARLS (Sweeney Todd), Digital Periodicals will introduce readers to works that have unfairly fallen into obscurity: including, George Reynolds’ FAUST, Albert Coates’ SPRING-HEEL’D JACK and Pierce Egan’s WAT TYLER.
Penny dreadfuls were always meant to be pure, sensationalist entertainment, and the Digital Periodicals series is designed to inject the fun back into these under-read masterpieces of lurid, melodramatic, garish pleasure. Readers can subscribe to receive reminders about their favourite serials, and join in discussion about the stories on Twitter and Facebook.
Let the feast of blood begin again…
For more information, or to sign up for the mailing list, please see the website or contact Hic Dragones via email. For academic and press enquiries, please contact Hannah Kate (series editor).
OUT NOW: Unraveling Resident Evil: Essays on the Complex Universe of the Games and Films, ed. by Nadine Farghaly (McFarland, 2014)
About the book:
Resident Evil is a multidimensional as well as multimedia universe: Various books, graphic novels, games and movies (the fifth one came out in 2012) all contribute to this enormous universe. The new essays written for this volume focus on this particular zombie manifestation and its significance in popular culture. The essayists come from very different fields, so it was possible to cover a wide range and discuss numerous issues regarding this universe. Among them are game theory, the idea of silence as well as memory, the connection to iconic stories such as Alice in Wonderland, posthumanism and much more. A lot of ground is covered that will facilitate further discussions not only among Resident Evil interested persons but also among other zombie universes and zombies in general. Most of these essays focus on the female figure Alice, a character revered by many as a feminist warrior.
Contents:
Introduction: Unraveling the Resident Evil Universe
Nadine Farghaly
From Necromancy to the Necrotrophic: Resident Evil's Influence on the Zombie Origin Shift from Supernatural to Science
Tanya Carinae Pell Jones
Survival and System in Resident Evil (2002): Remembering, Repeating and Working-Through
David Müller
Why They Keep Coming Back: The Allure of Incongruity
Adam M. Crowley
Opening Doors: Art-Horror and Agency
Stephen Cadwell
Survival Horror, Metaculture and the Fluidity of Video Game Genres
Broc Holmquest
The Strong, Silent Type: Alice's Use of Rhetorical Silence as Feminist Strategy
Suzan E. Aiken
'My name is Alice and I remember everything!': Surviving Sexual Abuse in the Resident Evil Films
James Stone
The Woman in the Red Dress: Sexuality, Femmes Fatales, the Gaze and Ada Wong
Jenny Platz
Chris Redfield and the Curious Case of Wesker's Sunglasses
Nicolas J. Lalone
Through the Looking-Glass: Interrogating the 'Alice-ness' of Alice
Hannah Priest
Thank You for Making Me Human Again: Alice and the Teaching of Scientific Ethics
Kristine Larsen
Zombies, Cyborgs and Wheelchairs: The Question of Normalcy Within Diseased and Disabled Bodies
J.L. Schatz
'I barely feel human anymore': Project Alice and the Posthuman in the Films
Margo Collins
'Six impossible things before breakfast': Living Memory and Undead History
Simon Bacon
For more information about the book, please visit the publisher's website.
Monday, 19 May 2014
CFP: Bodies Beyond Borders: The Circulation of Anatomical Knowledge, 1750-1950
Leuven, 7-9 January 2015
Bodies Beyond Borders is a scholarly conference on the circulation of anatomical knowledge that indicates the heighted interest in the history of anatomy in Leuven. This conference fits in with two current projects on the history of anatomy in Leuven. The first is a research project on Anatomy, scientific authority and the visualized body in medicine and culture (Belgium, 1780-1930), that is conducted in our research group, Cultural History since 1750. The project is supervised by Kaat Wils, and co-supervised by Raf de Bont, Jo Tollebeek and Geert Vanpaemel, and has two PhD fellows, Tinne Claes and Veronique Deblon and one postdoctoral fellow, Pieter Huistra. This research project takes as its object the history of anatomy in Belgium in the ‘long nineteenth century’.
Secondly, Leuven will celebrate a Vesalius year in 2014-2015, to commemorate the 500th birthday of Andreas Vesalius. The mainstay of the programme will be the exhibition Unravelling the body. The theatre of anatomy, of which Geert Vanpaemel will serve as curator. This exhibition studies Vesalius himself, but also his work influenced representations of the human body and the tradition of anatomical research. These themes will also be included in Bodies Beyond Borders, our conference that takes up the question: how does anatomical knowledge move from site to another? Whereas our research project focuses specifically on Belgium, the conference will have a broad geographical scope in its topics as well as its speakers.
Call for Papers
How does anatomical knowledge move from one site to another? Between 1750 and 1950 the study of anatomy underwent great changes, as a part of the development of scientific medicine, through public anatomies, as well as in the interplay between the two. How did these changes spread geographically? How did knowledge about newly discovered lesions travel from one hospital to another? What was the role of anatomical models in the spread of the public consciousness of syphilis, for example? Was the spread of this knowledge hindered by national borders, or did anatomical knowledge cross those borders easily? These questions are concerned with what James Secord terms ‘knowledge in transit’. To seek an answer to these questions, a conference focusing on the circulation of anatomical knowledge between 1750 and 1950 will be organized in Leuven from 7-9 January 2015. Confirmed speakers are Sam Alberti, Sven Dupré, Rina Knoeff, Helen MacDonald, Anna Maerker, Chloé Pirson, Natasha Ruiz-Gómez and Michael Sappol.
Knowledge does not move by itself – it has to be carried. To better understand how anatomical knowledge moves from place to place, we will seek to trace the trajectories of its bearers. Some of those bearers were tied very specifically to the discipline of anatomy: wax models, preserved bodies (or parts of them) or anatomical atlases, for example. These objects are polysemic in nature, tending to have different meanings in different contexts and for different audiences. It makes the question of how anatomical knowledge travelled all the more pertinent if, for example, wax models that went from a Florentine museum to a Viennese medical training institution underwent a shift in meaning en route. But bearers of knowledge less specifically tied to anatomy were equally important: articles, books and individual persons to name but a few examples.
For our conference we welcome contributions regarding the geographical movement of anatomical knowledge between 1750 and 1950. We are equally interested in ‘scientific’ and ‘public’ anatomy – as well as in exchanges between the two domains. Therefore, we encourage contributions about bearers of anatomical knowledge as wide-ranging as persons (scientists, students, freaks), objects (models, preparations, bodies or body parts), visual representations (films, atlases, wall maps) and practices (dissections, travelling exhibitions), as well as their (transnational and intranational) trajectories.
Paper proposals must be submitted by 1 June 2014.
Please send a 300-word abstract to Pieter Huistra.
Notification of acceptance: early July, 2014.
Bodies Beyond Borders is a scholarly conference on the circulation of anatomical knowledge that indicates the heighted interest in the history of anatomy in Leuven. This conference fits in with two current projects on the history of anatomy in Leuven. The first is a research project on Anatomy, scientific authority and the visualized body in medicine and culture (Belgium, 1780-1930), that is conducted in our research group, Cultural History since 1750. The project is supervised by Kaat Wils, and co-supervised by Raf de Bont, Jo Tollebeek and Geert Vanpaemel, and has two PhD fellows, Tinne Claes and Veronique Deblon and one postdoctoral fellow, Pieter Huistra. This research project takes as its object the history of anatomy in Belgium in the ‘long nineteenth century’.
Secondly, Leuven will celebrate a Vesalius year in 2014-2015, to commemorate the 500th birthday of Andreas Vesalius. The mainstay of the programme will be the exhibition Unravelling the body. The theatre of anatomy, of which Geert Vanpaemel will serve as curator. This exhibition studies Vesalius himself, but also his work influenced representations of the human body and the tradition of anatomical research. These themes will also be included in Bodies Beyond Borders, our conference that takes up the question: how does anatomical knowledge move from site to another? Whereas our research project focuses specifically on Belgium, the conference will have a broad geographical scope in its topics as well as its speakers.
Call for Papers
How does anatomical knowledge move from one site to another? Between 1750 and 1950 the study of anatomy underwent great changes, as a part of the development of scientific medicine, through public anatomies, as well as in the interplay between the two. How did these changes spread geographically? How did knowledge about newly discovered lesions travel from one hospital to another? What was the role of anatomical models in the spread of the public consciousness of syphilis, for example? Was the spread of this knowledge hindered by national borders, or did anatomical knowledge cross those borders easily? These questions are concerned with what James Secord terms ‘knowledge in transit’. To seek an answer to these questions, a conference focusing on the circulation of anatomical knowledge between 1750 and 1950 will be organized in Leuven from 7-9 January 2015. Confirmed speakers are Sam Alberti, Sven Dupré, Rina Knoeff, Helen MacDonald, Anna Maerker, Chloé Pirson, Natasha Ruiz-Gómez and Michael Sappol.
Knowledge does not move by itself – it has to be carried. To better understand how anatomical knowledge moves from place to place, we will seek to trace the trajectories of its bearers. Some of those bearers were tied very specifically to the discipline of anatomy: wax models, preserved bodies (or parts of them) or anatomical atlases, for example. These objects are polysemic in nature, tending to have different meanings in different contexts and for different audiences. It makes the question of how anatomical knowledge travelled all the more pertinent if, for example, wax models that went from a Florentine museum to a Viennese medical training institution underwent a shift in meaning en route. But bearers of knowledge less specifically tied to anatomy were equally important: articles, books and individual persons to name but a few examples.
For our conference we welcome contributions regarding the geographical movement of anatomical knowledge between 1750 and 1950. We are equally interested in ‘scientific’ and ‘public’ anatomy – as well as in exchanges between the two domains. Therefore, we encourage contributions about bearers of anatomical knowledge as wide-ranging as persons (scientists, students, freaks), objects (models, preparations, bodies or body parts), visual representations (films, atlases, wall maps) and practices (dissections, travelling exhibitions), as well as their (transnational and intranational) trajectories.
Paper proposals must be submitted by 1 June 2014.
Please send a 300-word abstract to Pieter Huistra.
Notification of acceptance: early July, 2014.
CFP: Seventeenth Biennial Meeting of the International Society of Anglo-Saxonists
University of Glasgow, 3–7 August 2015 (post-conference excursion to Iona, 8–9 August 2015)
Call for Papers
The conference theme is “The Daily Life of the Anglo-Saxons”. Ordinary Anglo-Saxons are often less visible to us than the key political and religious figures, but their lives shaped and were shaped by the wider events of the early medieval period. The theme encompasses all aspects of life, whether mundane or glamorous, covering activities such as farming and cooking, trade and craftsmanship, child-rearing and education, as well as government and administration, religion and devotional practices, travel and communication, medicine, art and leisure. The theme is a broad one by design to accommodate not only archaeological and historical investigations, but also explorations of the language, literature and place-names of the period. Papers on open topics are also welcome.
Proposals will be evaluated “blind” by members of the ISAS Advisory Board. Decisions regarding which proposals are accepted will be announced by January 2015.
Papers should be no more than 20 minutes in length, and will be grouped into 3-paper sessions of one hour and 30 minutes in length so as to leave time for questions and discussion. Proposals are welcome for individual papers or for complete sessions. Abstracts, whether for papers or for sessions, should be no more than 500 words in length (including bibliography). Abstracts are also required for individual papers within a proposed session.
Proposals are also welcome for project reports, which should be no more than 10 minutes in length and will be grouped into 5-report sessions of one hour so as to leave a short time for factual questions. Abstracts for project reports should be no more than 250 words in length (including bibliography).
All sessions will be held in a room that is fully equipped with audiovisual and computer equipment. Abstracts can be submitted from 15 June 2014 to 15 October 2014 via the submission site (note: this link will not be active beforehand). There you will receive instructions as to how to submit your proposal. To submit an abstract within the permitted amount of time online, you might wish to prepare it first as a word-processing document, then copy and paste it in. Please note that the deadline of 15 October is necessary to allow time for the reviewing process, and will not be extended.
Please note that in order to present at ISAS Glasgow, it is necessary to be a current member of ISAS. Information on joining ISAS or updating membership can be found on the ISAS website. http://www.isas.us/mem.html
Questions or problems relating to the submission of proposals may be directed either to the conference host, current ISAS President Carole Hough or to Executive Director Martin Foys.
Call for Papers
The conference theme is “The Daily Life of the Anglo-Saxons”. Ordinary Anglo-Saxons are often less visible to us than the key political and religious figures, but their lives shaped and were shaped by the wider events of the early medieval period. The theme encompasses all aspects of life, whether mundane or glamorous, covering activities such as farming and cooking, trade and craftsmanship, child-rearing and education, as well as government and administration, religion and devotional practices, travel and communication, medicine, art and leisure. The theme is a broad one by design to accommodate not only archaeological and historical investigations, but also explorations of the language, literature and place-names of the period. Papers on open topics are also welcome.
Proposals will be evaluated “blind” by members of the ISAS Advisory Board. Decisions regarding which proposals are accepted will be announced by January 2015.
Papers should be no more than 20 minutes in length, and will be grouped into 3-paper sessions of one hour and 30 minutes in length so as to leave time for questions and discussion. Proposals are welcome for individual papers or for complete sessions. Abstracts, whether for papers or for sessions, should be no more than 500 words in length (including bibliography). Abstracts are also required for individual papers within a proposed session.
Proposals are also welcome for project reports, which should be no more than 10 minutes in length and will be grouped into 5-report sessions of one hour so as to leave a short time for factual questions. Abstracts for project reports should be no more than 250 words in length (including bibliography).
All sessions will be held in a room that is fully equipped with audiovisual and computer equipment. Abstracts can be submitted from 15 June 2014 to 15 October 2014 via the submission site (note: this link will not be active beforehand). There you will receive instructions as to how to submit your proposal. To submit an abstract within the permitted amount of time online, you might wish to prepare it first as a word-processing document, then copy and paste it in. Please note that the deadline of 15 October is necessary to allow time for the reviewing process, and will not be extended.
Please note that in order to present at ISAS Glasgow, it is necessary to be a current member of ISAS. Information on joining ISAS or updating membership can be found on the ISAS website. http://www.isas.us/mem.html
Questions or problems relating to the submission of proposals may be directed either to the conference host, current ISAS President Carole Hough or to Executive Director Martin Foys.
CFP: Mid-American Medieval Association XXXIX: Collectivity and Exchange
with a keynote by Dr Pamela Sheingorn
Papers are invited on a range of topics, including the conference theme of ‘Collectivity and Exchange’ for the annual meeting of the Mid-America Medieval Assn, which will convene on Saturday, 28 February 2015, at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
Collectivity might be imagined expansively to include not just temporal but also ephemeral and spiritual communities. Exchange might also be considered in various forms, from economic and material to ideological and philosophical.
Please send proposals of 250 words by 1 December 2014 to:
Dr Virginia Blanton
Department of English, CH106
University of Missouri-Kansas City
5121 Rockhill Road
Kansas City, Missouri 64110 USA
Papers are invited on a range of topics, including the conference theme of ‘Collectivity and Exchange’ for the annual meeting of the Mid-America Medieval Assn, which will convene on Saturday, 28 February 2015, at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
Collectivity might be imagined expansively to include not just temporal but also ephemeral and spiritual communities. Exchange might also be considered in various forms, from economic and material to ideological and philosophical.
Please send proposals of 250 words by 1 December 2014 to:
Dr Virginia Blanton
Department of English, CH106
University of Missouri-Kansas City
5121 Rockhill Road
Kansas City, Missouri 64110 USA
CFP: All That Gothic: Excess and Exuberance
2nd International Conference
Łódź, 9-11 October, 2014
organised by
Department of British Literature and Culture
Department of American Literature and Culture
University of Łódź
Call for Papers
The Gothic is wildly diverse. It can refer to ecclesiastical architecture, supernatural fiction, cult horror films and a distinctive style of music. It has influenced poets, novelists, painters, musicians, political theorists, social reformers, academics, home décor and fashion. It manifests itself in regional and national diversities. It ruptures borders, defies conventions and ridicules taboos.
Łódź seems an ideal venue for discussions on all things Gothic. This city is post-industrial grandeur with neo-gothic architecture and archetypically Gothic cobbled alleyways. Here the past speaks through dereliction and wistfulness, fresh-glazed modernity overlying cobwebs and broken plaster where cinematic paths lead directly to Polański and Lynch.
The 2014 follow-up to the initial All that Gothic conference, held in Łódź in 2011, aims to capture the evolution of the Gothic, providing accounts of this haunting-to-horrifying cultural mode from its onset to the early years of the twenty-first century, adopting a broad international perspective. Open for inspection under this canopy are such manifestations of the Gothic as the sack of Rome by barbarian tribes, mediaeval architecture, popular culture of the sixteenth century (including ballads and revenge tragedy), political theories of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the rise of the Gothic novel, the Gothic Revival, and the influence of Gothic culture on film, music, and fashion today.
Among its more modern concerns, this interdisciplinary conference will foster new readings of popular Gothic productions over the last few decades. Topics may include, but are not limited to:
• from Victorian to contemporary High Street Goth/ic fashion
• Gothic performance and art festivals
• Gothic popular fiction from Twilight to Shadow of the Wind
• Goth/ic manifestations across genres: novel, theatre, poetry, music, Goth/ic as film and TV
• such trends and icons as Steampunk, Batman and Lady Gaga,
• theorizations of popular Gothic monsters (from zombies and vampires to werewolves and ghosts) in an age of terror/ism.
Excess and Exuberance are key words in the 2014 edition of All That Gothic. In keeping with the conference theme, individual proposals may address:
• the connections of Gothic fictions to political and industrial revolutions
• Gothic regional and national diversities
• nationalism and racism from Europe to America, colonized and post-colonial populations
• the struggle of "high" with "popular" culture
• changing attitudes towards human identity, life and death, sanity and madness
It is our great honour to announce that our confirmed plenary speakers are:
Zofia Kolbuszewska
John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, the author of The Poetics of Chronotope in the Novels of Thomas Pynchon, and The Purloined Child: American Identity and Representations of Childhood in American Literature 1851-2000
Agnieszka Soltysik-Monnet
University of Lausanne, Switzerland, the author of The Poetics and Politics of the American Gothic: Gender and Slavery in the Nineteenth Century American Gothic and the co-editor of The Gothic in Contemporary Literature and Popular Culture
Catherine Spooner
County College, Lancaster University, the author of Fashioning Gothic Bodies, and Contemporary Gothic, co-president of the International Gothic Association
Conference organisers Agnieszka Łowczanin and Dorota Wiśniewska welcome proposals (maximum 250 words) for panels and 20-minute papers from academics and post-graduate students working in all areas of literary, film and cultural studies. Selected papers will be published in a themed volume.
Abstract submission deadline: 10 August, 2014. Please email abstracts to the conference organisers.
Notification of acceptance: 15 August, 2014.
Registration deadline: 10 September, 2014.
Conference fee:
Polish academics: 500 PLN
Foreign scholars: € 150
Polish Ph.D. candidates: 250 PLN
Foreign Ph.D. candidates: € 80
Conference fee includes conference materials, conference banquet, snacks and beverages and covers the cost of post-conference publication.
For more information, please visit the conference website.
Łódź, 9-11 October, 2014
organised by
Department of British Literature and Culture
Department of American Literature and Culture
University of Łódź
Call for Papers
The Gothic is wildly diverse. It can refer to ecclesiastical architecture, supernatural fiction, cult horror films and a distinctive style of music. It has influenced poets, novelists, painters, musicians, political theorists, social reformers, academics, home décor and fashion. It manifests itself in regional and national diversities. It ruptures borders, defies conventions and ridicules taboos.
Łódź seems an ideal venue for discussions on all things Gothic. This city is post-industrial grandeur with neo-gothic architecture and archetypically Gothic cobbled alleyways. Here the past speaks through dereliction and wistfulness, fresh-glazed modernity overlying cobwebs and broken plaster where cinematic paths lead directly to Polański and Lynch.
The 2014 follow-up to the initial All that Gothic conference, held in Łódź in 2011, aims to capture the evolution of the Gothic, providing accounts of this haunting-to-horrifying cultural mode from its onset to the early years of the twenty-first century, adopting a broad international perspective. Open for inspection under this canopy are such manifestations of the Gothic as the sack of Rome by barbarian tribes, mediaeval architecture, popular culture of the sixteenth century (including ballads and revenge tragedy), political theories of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the rise of the Gothic novel, the Gothic Revival, and the influence of Gothic culture on film, music, and fashion today.
Among its more modern concerns, this interdisciplinary conference will foster new readings of popular Gothic productions over the last few decades. Topics may include, but are not limited to:
• from Victorian to contemporary High Street Goth/ic fashion
• Gothic performance and art festivals
• Gothic popular fiction from Twilight to Shadow of the Wind
• Goth/ic manifestations across genres: novel, theatre, poetry, music, Goth/ic as film and TV
• such trends and icons as Steampunk, Batman and Lady Gaga,
• theorizations of popular Gothic monsters (from zombies and vampires to werewolves and ghosts) in an age of terror/ism.
Excess and Exuberance are key words in the 2014 edition of All That Gothic. In keeping with the conference theme, individual proposals may address:
• the connections of Gothic fictions to political and industrial revolutions
• Gothic regional and national diversities
• nationalism and racism from Europe to America, colonized and post-colonial populations
• the struggle of "high" with "popular" culture
• changing attitudes towards human identity, life and death, sanity and madness
It is our great honour to announce that our confirmed plenary speakers are:
Zofia Kolbuszewska
John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, the author of The Poetics of Chronotope in the Novels of Thomas Pynchon, and The Purloined Child: American Identity and Representations of Childhood in American Literature 1851-2000
Agnieszka Soltysik-Monnet
University of Lausanne, Switzerland, the author of The Poetics and Politics of the American Gothic: Gender and Slavery in the Nineteenth Century American Gothic and the co-editor of The Gothic in Contemporary Literature and Popular Culture
Catherine Spooner
County College, Lancaster University, the author of Fashioning Gothic Bodies, and Contemporary Gothic, co-president of the International Gothic Association
Conference organisers Agnieszka Łowczanin and Dorota Wiśniewska welcome proposals (maximum 250 words) for panels and 20-minute papers from academics and post-graduate students working in all areas of literary, film and cultural studies. Selected papers will be published in a themed volume.
Abstract submission deadline: 10 August, 2014. Please email abstracts to the conference organisers.
Notification of acceptance: 15 August, 2014.
Registration deadline: 10 September, 2014.
Conference fee:
Polish academics: 500 PLN
Foreign scholars: € 150
Polish Ph.D. candidates: 250 PLN
Foreign Ph.D. candidates: € 80
Conference fee includes conference materials, conference banquet, snacks and beverages and covers the cost of post-conference publication.
For more information, please visit the conference website.
Friday, 9 May 2014
True Crime: Fact, Fiction, Ideology (Manchester, 7 June 2014)
Registration is now open for True Crime: Fact, Fiction, Ideology, a one-day conference to be held at the Manchester Conference Centre on Saturday 7 June 2014. Registration information can be found on the conference website.
Programme
9.00-9.30 Registration
9.30-11.00 Panel 1: Depicting Taboo Crimes
Chair: Hannah Priest
Karen Oughton (Regents University London): Deliciously Deranged: Depicting the Raison d’être of Jeffrey Dahmer as a Celebrity Serial Killer
Jacquelyn Bent (University of Huddersfield): What Constitutes a ‘Taboo’?: Cultural, Societal and Legal Standards for the Identification of Taboo Acts Including Taboo Crime
David McWilliam (Lancaster University): Without Conscience: Re-opening Old Wounds to Pass the Empathy Test in Dave Cullen’s Columbine (2009)
11.00-11.30 Coffee
11.30-1.00 Panel 2: Generic Boundaries and Conventions
Chair: tbc
Carys Crossen (University of Manchester): Invoke Not Reason: Defining the Parameters of True Crime in the Case of Jack the Ripper
Charlotte Beyer (University of Gloucestershire): ‘Angel Makers’: Recent True Crime Stories of Baby Farming
Maysaa Jaber (University of Baghdad): Crime Culture of Monstrosity: The Cold War, Paranoia and the Psychopathy in Post-war Crime Fiction
Abby Bentham (University of Salford): Cold Blood, Warm Heart: Truman Capote and the Transformation of the Psychopath
1.00-2.00 Lunch
2.00-3.30 Keynote Lecture
Chair: David McWilliam
David Schmid (University at Buffalo, State University of New York): The Moors Murders and the “Truth” of True Crime
3.30-4.00 Coffee
4.00-5.30 Panel 3: Place, History, Communities
Chair: tbc
John David Jordan (Manchester Metropolitan University): Real Life Crimes, Council Estate Dramas and Proleaphobia: How ‘Socio-Chthonic Mythologies’ Serve the Neoliberal Welfare Agenda
Martyn Colebrook (Independent Scholar): ‘Do what you want, just don’t get caught doing it’ – Gordon Burn’s Happy Like Murderers
Het Phillips (University of Birmingham): ‘Digging Up Your Fiction’: Place, Intertext and the Raw Materials of History in Neil McKay’s True Crime Television
5.30 Conference Close
The registration fee for the day is £40, including refreshments and lunch. For more information and to register, please visit the conference website or email the organizers.
Wednesday, 30 April 2014
OUT NOW: Wounds in the Middle Ages, ed. Anne Kirkham and Cordelia Warr (Ashgate, 2014)
Wounds were a potent signifier reaching across all aspects of life in Europe in the middle ages, and their representation, perception and treatment is the focus of this volume. Following a survey of the history of medical wound treatment in the middle ages, paired chapters explore key themes situating wounds within the context of religious belief, writing on medicine, status and identity, and surgical practice. The final chapter reviews the history of medieval wounding through the modern imagination.
Adopting an innovative approach to the subject, this book will appeal to all those interested in how past societies regarded health, disease and healing and will improve knowledge of not only the practice of medicine in the past, but also of the ethical, religious and cultural dimensions structuring that practice.
Contents:
Part I: Medical Overview
1. The Management of Military Wounds in the Middle Ages
Jon Clasper
Part II: Miraculous Wounds and Miraculous Healing
2. Changing Stigmata
Cordelia Warr
3. Miracle and Medicine: Conceptions of Medical Knowledge and Practice in Thirteenth-Century Miracle Accounts
Louise Elizabeth Wilson
Part III: The Broken Body and the Broken Soul
4. The Solution of Continuous Things: Wounds in Late Medieval Medicine and Surgery
Karine van 't Land
5. Medicine for the Wounded Soul
M.K.K. Yearl
Part IV: Wounds as Signifiers for Romance Man and Civil Man
6. Christ's Wounds and the Birth of Romance
Hannah Priest
7. Wounding in the High Middle Ages: Law and Practice
Jenny Benham
Part V: Wound Surgery in the Fourteenth Century
8. Medicines for Surgical Practice in Fourteenth-Century England: The Judgement Against John le Spicer
Ian Naylor
9. The Medical Crossbow from Jan Yperman to Isaak Koedijck
Maria Patijn
Part VI: The Modern Imagination
10. The Bright Side of the Knife: Dismemberment in Medieval Europe and the Modern Imagination
Lila Yawn
About the Editor: Dr Anne Kirkham is a research associate at the University of Manchester. She obtained her PhD in 2007 and has published an article on St Francis of Assisi in Revival and Resurgence in Christian History (Studies in Church History, vol. 44, 2008). Since 2008, she has taught in the department of Art History and Visual Studies and researched, with Cordelia Warr, medieval wounds and has also co-supervised medical students researching dissertations in the history of medieval medicine.
Dr Cordelia Warr is senior lecturer in Art History and Visual Studies at the University of Manchester. She has published on Dressing for Heaven (2010), has co-edited two books on art in Naples with Janis Elliot (The Church of Santa Maria Donna Regina, 2004, and Art and Architecture in Naples, 1266-1714, 2010), and is currently working on the representation of stigmata between the thirteenth and seventeenth centuries.
For more information about the book, please visit the publishers' website.
Wednesday, 16 April 2014
OUT NOW: K Bannerman, The Tattooed Wolf (Hic Dragones, 2014)
A fantastic new novel, edited by yours truly...
Caufield muttered as he slouched back in his seat and crossed his hands over his belly, smirking. “You’ve got my attention, Dan; I’ll humour you. Tell me, from the very beginning, how you got into this whole bloody mess.”
Morris Caufield thought he’d seen it all...
Until the moment Dan Sullivan walked into his office. Dan needs a divorce lawyer he can trust, and he thinks Morris is the man for the job. The thing is, Dan wants Morris to represent his wife. Who tried to kill him. Twice. And as if that wasn’t enough, Dan expects Morris to buy some crazy story about werewolves...
As Dan reveals the truth about his life and his marriage, Morris listens to a captivating tale of lycanthropy, love and betrayal. It’s lunacy, he’s sure of that, but there’s something about Dan Sullivan that makes it all very easy to believe.
Praise for The Tattooed Wolf:
“[K. Bannerman] displays unusual and sometimes uncomfortable characters, and I care about them all, the significant players and the extras. If you like reading stories about intriguing people, this story doesn’t disappoint... buy this book.”
- Joe Murphy, The Dragon Page
K Bannerman lives in a tiny house surrounded by forests on Vancouver Island, Canada, where she writes short stories, novels and plays. She is the author of four novels, including the historical murder mystery Bucket of Blood. Together with her partner-in-crime, Shawn Pigott, they run Fox&Bee Studio, where they have written, produced and directed over 100 short films.
For more information, please visit the publisher's website.
Caufield muttered as he slouched back in his seat and crossed his hands over his belly, smirking. “You’ve got my attention, Dan; I’ll humour you. Tell me, from the very beginning, how you got into this whole bloody mess.”
Morris Caufield thought he’d seen it all...
Until the moment Dan Sullivan walked into his office. Dan needs a divorce lawyer he can trust, and he thinks Morris is the man for the job. The thing is, Dan wants Morris to represent his wife. Who tried to kill him. Twice. And as if that wasn’t enough, Dan expects Morris to buy some crazy story about werewolves...
As Dan reveals the truth about his life and his marriage, Morris listens to a captivating tale of lycanthropy, love and betrayal. It’s lunacy, he’s sure of that, but there’s something about Dan Sullivan that makes it all very easy to believe.
Praise for The Tattooed Wolf:
“[K. Bannerman] displays unusual and sometimes uncomfortable characters, and I care about them all, the significant players and the extras. If you like reading stories about intriguing people, this story doesn’t disappoint... buy this book.”
- Joe Murphy, The Dragon Page
K Bannerman lives in a tiny house surrounded by forests on Vancouver Island, Canada, where she writes short stories, novels and plays. She is the author of four novels, including the historical murder mystery Bucket of Blood. Together with her partner-in-crime, Shawn Pigott, they run Fox&Bee Studio, where they have written, produced and directed over 100 short films.
For more information, please visit the publisher's website.
Monday, 7 April 2014
OUT NOW: Hannah Priest (ed.), The Female of the Species: Cultural Constructions of Evil, Women and the Feminine (Inter-Disciplinary Press, 2013)
Blurb:
From Alien Queens to prostitutes, 'phallic' mothers to child murderers, evil women proliferate across cultural productions that span millennia. This collections explores the perennial question of 'evil' and its relationship to women and femininity. Taking as their starting points material as diverse as Greek mythology, nineteenth-century medical texts, Elizabethan drama and contemporary cartoons, and informed by various theoretical perspectives, the authors scrutinise the construction of the feminine as evil, and vice versa. Throughout these essays, recurring anxieties of female agency, reproduction and the appropriation of patriarchal power are identified and explored. As the writers reveal, these anxieties are not always situated within the anatomically or genetically 'female' (or even human) body, but rather in culturally-constructed and pervasive concepts of femininity - which is at once recognisable and abject, necessary and disavowed. These essays reveal the strategies of construction and maintenance upon which the reification of feminine evil are based.
Contents
- Introduction, by Hannah Priest
Part I: Writing the Evil Woman
- Medea's Medicine: Women and Pharmaka in Greek Mythology, by Alison Innes
- The Representation of the Evil Woman in Elizabethan Literature, by Abdulaziz Al-Mutawa
- (De)centring Women in Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses, by Zubaidah Mohamed Shaburdin
Part II: Reproductive Evils
- Alien Queens and Monstrous Machines: The Conflation of the Out-of-Control Female and Robotic Body, by Simon Bacon
- The Ultimate Cold War Monster: Exploring 'Mother' in the Film The Manchurian Candidate, by Kathleen Starck
- The Tainted Birth in Lovecraft's Fiction, by Cécile Cristofari
Part III: The Evil That Women Do
- Sugar and Spice, But Not Very Nice: Depictions of Evil Little Girls in Cartoons and Comics, by Jacquelyn Bent, Helen Gavin and Theresa Porter
- A Wellspring of Contamination: The Transgressive Body of the Prostitute in Nineteenth-Century Medical Discourse, by J. Shoshanna Ehrlich
- Myra: Portrait of a Portrait, by Shelley Campbell
For more information, please visit the publisher's website.
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