CFP "Writing the World Fair, 1851-1900"; proposed special session at MLA 2016 (Austin, TX, 7-10 January 2016)

full name / name of organization: 
Etienne Charriere, University of Michigan
contact email: 

Papers sought for a planned special session at the 2016 MLA Convention (Austin, TX; 7-10 January 2016). Entitled "Writing the World Fair" this special session proposes to examine literary accounts of nineteenth-century world expositions, from the London Great Exhibition of 1851 to the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1900. Submissions adopting a transnational framework and/or focusing on works outside the Anglo-American tradition are particularly encouraged.

Possible topics may include:

-writers' accounts of visits to world fairs
-world fairs in nineteenth-century fiction
-poetry at/on the world fairs
-relationship between world fairs and world literature

Please send 300-word abstract and short bio by March 16 2015 to etiechar@umich.edu