NEMLA 2012 Must We Forget to Forgive? Analyzing Forgiveness in Literature

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Abstract:

Must we forget in order to forgive? This panel seeks to further explore and explicate the concept of forgiveness, which has received minimal treatment in scholarship overall. Given the current socio-political climate, conversations on forgiveness may serve to help promote a call for peace and reconciliation based on a recognition of our common humanity. This panel will consider the ethical, aesthetic, and social significance of forgiveness in literature of all genres. Possible approaches may include, but are not limited to, analyzing the philosophical, theological, cultural, political, social implications of forgiveness, and how forgiveness is complicated and/or limited by differences of nation, class, culture, etc. Moreover, by discerning different conceptions of the idea of forgiveness (e.g. ancient versus modern, theological versus socio-political, etc.) we may further understand how to go about forgiving. Please submit 250-300 word abstracts via email to Shelly Jansen, Rochester Institute of Technology, shelly.jansen@gmail.com.