theory

Watermark, an annual scholarly journal published by graduate students in the Department of English at California State University, Long Beach, is now seeking papers for our seventh volume to be published in March 2012. Watermark is dedicated to publishing original critical and theoretical papers concerned with the fields of rhetoric and composition and literature of all genres and periods. As this journal is intended to provide a forum for emerging voices, only student work will be considered.

Possible topics may include, but are not limited to:

CALL FOR PAPERS: Before and Beyond Fifty Shades of Grey: New Approaches to Erotic Romance Fiction

Since the 1970s, both the content and the institutional practices surrounding erotic romance fiction have been transformed. The remarkable popularity of E. L. James's Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy has brought a number those transformations to light, not just in terms of the novels' BDSM-inflected sexual content (old news in the romance world) but also in their publishing history, moving from online Twilight fan-fiction to e-book format to paperback bestsellers.

Love and romance are mainstays of popular culture, cutting across the great divides of medium, language, and historical period. From Beyoncé to Bollywood, Dan Savage to Sweet Savage Love, K-Pop to qawwali: if it's about love, it's a welcome topic at the PCA Romance area.

We will consider proposals for individual papers, sessions organized around a theme, and special panels. Sessions are scheduled in 90-minute slots, typically with four 15-minute papers or speakers per standard session, with the remaining time available for discussion.

In the modern era, interstitiality, or the space between one boundary and the next, has become an urgent area of investigation. Existing within and between entities, interstices challenge conventional understandings of boundedness, inviting us to rethink the space between objects and ideas as an erupting site of transformation. From this view, rigid divisions can no longer be taken for granted, whether political (as in the case of national borders) or scholarly (such as the emphasis on discrete academic disciplines).

Art and Cybernetics/ Art and Technology

Deadline: Nov 12, 2012