Critical F(r)iction? Literature, Criticism and the Space Between in Contemporary
Writing

"Generally, an English Lit degree trains you to be a useless member of the
modern world and that's what I'm being in the only way I know how." - Zadie
Smith

Essays are invited for a proposed collection on the theme of critical
f(r)iction, a term which denotes the potential
possibilities/opportunities/conflicts/problems in the work of critics who write
fiction, and creative writers who are also literary critics.

In today's marketplace, many authors of literary fiction come from a background
in academic criticism; even those who do not are likely to have been through a
higher education system which has exposed them to modern critical techniques,
theories and approaches to the interpretation of literature.

This collection seeks to probe this relationship between the literary and the
critical, and the slippages between the two.

Questions/issues contributors might consider include:
The burgeoning genre of creative non-fiction
Intersections between the artist and the academic
Is it possible to separate the artist from the academic?
The blurring of the boundaries between academia and art in a postmodern /
metafictional culture
Should/could we attempt to 'judge' a creative writer by their critical writings
on/responses to other authors?
Can an artist be an academic? Can an academic be an artist?
What happens to the role of the critic when a (meta)fiction contains its own
critical reading/interpretation?
Questions of authorial intention and intertextuality
The anxiety of influence or an ironic gesture?
Theory in fiction / fiction in theory
The academic as an 'artistic vandal'
Does an academic framework affect artistic authenticity?
Does academic input strengthen or weaken a piece of fiction?

Suggested authors might include (but are not limited to) the following:
Peter Ackroyd
Simon Armitage
A.S. Byatt
Jonathan Coe
J.M.Coetzee
Stevie Davies
Margaret Drabble
Carol Ann Duffy
Sarah Dunant
Patricia Duncker
Margaret Forster
John Fuller
Victoria Glendinning
Alasdair Gray
Richard Gwyn
Philip Hensher
James Kelman
David Lodge
Glyn Maxwell
Zadie Smith
Marina Warner
Sarah Waters

Essays are welcome from both established and emergent scholars, and should be no
longer than 5500 words.

Submissions/expressions of interest should be emailed to Dr Mark Llewellyn
(University of Liverpool) m.e.llewellyn_at_liverpool.ac.uk and Martyn Colebrook
(University of Hull) martyn.colebrook_at_english.hull.ac.uk by DECEMBER 15 2006.
All contributors will be contacted with a decision within two months of the
deadline.

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Received on Mon Jun 26 2006 - 19:17:44 EDT