CFP: Encyclopedic Fictions of 21st-Century American Literature

43rd Annual Convention, Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA)
March 15-18, 2012
Rochester, New York – Hyatt Rochester
Host Institution: St. John Fisher College
Keynote speaker: Jennifer Egan, 2011 Pulitzer Prize winner, A Visit from the Goon Squad

Writing an encyclopedic fiction has constituted a bid for literary greatness at least since the publication of Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow in 1973. In light of the fact that the year 2010 saw the publication of no fewer than three such encyclopedic fictions (Joshua Cohen's Witz, Adam Levin's The Instructions, and Karen Tei Yamashita's I Hotel), this panel will examine the continued relevance of the encyclopedic form as a means by which authors stake their claims to places in the canon of American literature.

What is the continuing place of the encyclopedic novel in the 21st century? How do the texts of this newer wave of encyclopedic fictions position themselves in relation to predecessors such as Gravity's Rainbow, David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest (1996), and Don DeLillo's Underworld (1997)? Do such fictions represent the continued validity of the postmodern aesthetic that informed that earlier wave of encyclopedic fictions, or do they rather constitute a challenge that signifies the end of postmodernism as a cultural dominant? What of the earlier wave of postmodernist authors who continue to produce encyclopedic fictions, as Pynchon has done with Against the Day (2006)? How do the texts of this newer wave of encyclopedic fictions respond to their particular moment in America's sexual, racial, and geostrategic politics?

Please send 250-500-word abstracts to Stephen Hock at shock@vwc.edu by September 30, 2011.

Interested participants may submit abstracts to more than one NeMLA session; however, panelists can only present one paper (panel or seminar). Convention participants may present a paper at a panel and also present at a creative session or participate in a roundtable. For more information, please see http://www.nemla.org/convention/2012/cfp.html.

The 43rd annual convention will be held March 15-18th in Rochester, New York at the Hyatt Regency Hotel downtown, located minutes away from convenient air, bus, and train transportation options for attendees. St. John Fisher College will serve as the host college, and the diverse array of area institutions are coordinating with conference organizers to sponsor various activities, such as celebrated keynote speakers, local events, and fiction readings.

Building upon the excellence of past NeMLA conferences, the association continues to grow as a vibrant community of scholars, thanks to the wide array of intellectual and cultural opportunities at every venue. Compact yet diverse, Rochester also boasts important historical connections; it is the site of the home, publication operations, and orations of Frederick Douglass, where he edited the North Star, as well as his eponymous periodical, and delivered the speech, "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?". Visitors can explore the houses of abolitionist, suffragette, and reformer Susan B. Anthony and the inventor of devices popularizing photography, George Eastman, as well as shopping and eateries; attendees will also be within reach of the beautiful Finger Lakes region, known for its local wineries.

cfp categories:
american
twentieth_century_and_beyond