R. K. Narayan Birth-Centenary Conference

A birth-centenary conference on R. K. Narayan will be held from 10 to 12
October 2006 at Mysore. The conference is organized by the Indian
Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies (IACLALS) and
the Sahitya Akademi (the National Academy of Letters), New Delhi.

Of all the Indian novelists in English, R. K. Narayan remains one of the
most highly regarded, perhaps the most widely popular, and even the most
"typically Indian". On the occasion of his birth-centenary, we propose to
bring together a group of scholars and admirers of Narayan to re-read and
revaluate his life, works, context and legacy.

Confirmed speakers include Fakrul Alam, Wang Chunjing, Keki Daruwalla,
Shashi Deshpande, Neelum Saran Gaur, Martina Ghosh-Schellhorn, Evelyne
Hanquart-Turner, Lakshmi Holmstrom, Chelva Kanaganayakam, Meenakshi
Mukherjee, Makarand Paranjape, Susan Ram, P. Ranga Rao, Dieter
Riemenschneider, and Ludmilla Volna.

Paper-readers may wish to address one or more of the following suggested
rubrics or indeed any other relevant aspect.

Narayan's life, especially in relation to his works.
Narayan's works, including his fiction, autobiographical writings, essays,
travel writing, and re-tellings (e.g. of The Ramayana and The Mahabharata).
Narayan's comic vision.
Narayan's style, especially his humour, "simplicity" and "charm".
Malgudi.
Narayan and the genre/form of the novel (especially in the context of
Naipaul's remarks).
Narayan in translation into other languages, and in adaptation on film and
TV.
Narayan and his predecessors, contemporaries and successors, in both English
and the Indian languages.
Narayan as a "quintessentially Indian" writer.
Narayan's legacy.

Abstracts of about 300 words, together with a bio-note of between 50 and 70
words, may be sent by 7 July 2006 to Harish Trivedi, at trivedih_at_vsnl.com
or at the Department of English, University of Delhi, Delhi 110007, India.

Papers from younger scholars will be especially welcome.

Harish Trivedi
Chair, IACLALS

         ==========================================================
              From the Literary Calls for Papers Mailing List
                        CFP_at_english.upenn.edu
                         Full Information at
                     http://cfp.english.upenn.edu
         or write Jennifer Higginbotham: higginbj_at_english.upenn.edu
         ==========================================================
Received on Thu Jun 15 2006 - 07:46:12 EDT