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Call for Papers - Edith Wharton Society - American Literature Association (ALA) Conference 2022

Edith Wharton Society Call for Papers

American Literature Association (ALA) Conference 2022

May 26-29 (Chicago, IL)

Panel One:

Bodies and Mobility in Wharton and Her Contemporaries

The Edith Wharton Society invites papers that explore how Wharton and her contemporaries represent bodies and mobility in their work. Panelists are especially encouraged to consider comparative analyses of Wharton’s work on this subject in relation to her contemporary writers. All theoretical approaches are welcome. Proposals might consider (but are not limited to) the following questions:

  • How does the representation and/or meaning of bodies change (or not) in different places/settings?
  • Who moves and who cannot, and how do bodies facilitate or hinder movement?
  • How do bodies mark social acceptance and belonging?
  • How do Wharton and her contemporaries represent gendered, classed, or raced bodies?
  • What constitutes acceptable or unacceptable bodies?
  • How do bodies coincide with upward or downward social and economic mobility?
  • What role does the mobility or immobility of bodies (Wharton’s, her contemporaries’ or their characters’) play in travel writing and other nonfiction works, or in depictions of travel in fiction?

Please submit a 250-300 word abstract and a brief CV by January 10, 2022 to Gary Totten (gary.totten@unlv.edu). Please include any requests for AV needs in your proposal. Scholars whose proposals are accepted must be members in good standing of the Edith Wharton Society by the time of the conference.

Panel Two:

Revisiting Edith Wharton’s Short Stories

The Edith Wharton Society invites papers that explore how Wharton engages with the form of the short story throughout her career. Panelists are encouraged to consider Wharton’s lesser-known stories as well as comparative analyses in relation to Wharton’s contemporary writers. All theoretical approaches are welcome. Proposals might consider (but are not limited to) the following questions:

  • How does Wharton’s short fiction converse with turn-of-the-century literary movements, including realism, naturalism, regionalism, and modernism?
  • How does Wharton work with specific short story genres, such as the ghost story?
  • How does Wharton address questions of race, ethnicity, gender, ability, and age throughout her short fiction?
  • How do themes and tropes in short stories complement (or conflict with) Wharton’s novels, poems, plays, and non-fiction works?
  • How do short stories represent issues of illness, contamination, and risk, in particular?
  • How do short stories shed light upon established readings of Wharton’s major novels or other writings?
  • How does the short story’s economy of form work within the economy of capitalism and the literary market?

Please submit a 250-300 word abstract and a brief CV by January 10, 2022 to Myrto Drizou (myrto.drizou@boun.edu.tr). Please include any requests for AV needs in your proposal. Scholars whose proposals are accepted must be members in good standing of the Edith Wharton Society by the time of the conference.