50th Annual Comparative Literature Conference
50th Annual Comparative Literature Conference
Dear Conference Participants,
We are looking forward to seeing you all on Campus for our 50th Annual Conference–April 15-16, 2015.
2015 Conference Schedule Draft
CALL FOR PAPERS: 50th Annual Comparative Literature Conference
Tradition and Innovation: Comparative Literature in the 21st Century
April 15-17th 2015
California State University, Long Beach
Comparative Literature is a dynamic, interdisciplinary field with a global reach. Its roots can be traced to classical philology, but its modern incarnation can probably be found in Goethe’s early 19th-century concept of “world literature” (Weltliterature), in which he refers to the international circulation, reception, interpretation, and influence of ideas and the arts beyond cultural boundaries, an idea both poignant and prescient in our age of global communication.
Interdisciplinary comparative methodologies enable the field to address historical cultural production but also emergent questions about how humans represent and form their identities and how they interpret and construct meaning(s) in historically and culturally specific contexts. More recently, Comparative Literature provides a space to go beyond “traditional” literature and incorporates film, graphic novels, music, popular culture, digital culture and almost any form of representation as part of its field of study. It also analyzes the discourse that underlies fields not typically associated with the Humanities, such as medicine and engineering–that are produced worldwide, and now have wider distribution and influence than ever.
We invite 250-word proposals for 15-20 minute individual presentations or one-hour panel discussions with up to 4 speakers on any topic that is appropriate for Comparative Literature. A proposal could be an interpretation of a single text, a comparison of multiple texts, or a thematic or theoretical exploration.
Examples of potential panels:
- Developing fields of study (i.e., World Cinema, Digital Humanities, Medical Humanities)
- Comparisons of narrative styles: i.e., between Literature and Film, or in adaptation from text to screen.
- Genres: fairy tales, travel, mythology, creation stories, historical fictions, superheroes
- Classics in the 21st Century
- The importance (or not) of translation
- Thematic issues and their representation: for example, “technology,” “energy,” “medical care,” “poverty,” “violence,” “the environment,” or “migration.”
- New literary and cultural voices in the 21st Century
- Reflections of and resistance to “global” capitalism in the 21st Century
- Reflections on spatial connections in the 21st Century: the Pacific Rim, the Mediterranean World, Eurasia, the cross-Atlantic
In addition to these potential topics, we are particularly interested in examples of effective interdisciplinary research and analysis, in Comparative Literature or other academic fields.
Send your proposals to complitconf.csulb@gmail.com
Deadline: March 15, 2015