The 26thAnnual Conference of the English and American Literature Association

Theme: Redirection

Conference Organizers: English and American Literature Association of the Republic of China (EALA, Taiwan) and National Taitung University, Taiwan

Date: October 27, 2018

Venue: National Taitung University (Zhihben Campus), Taitung, Taiwan

Call for Papers 

(Deadline Extended) January ​31 , 2018 Due)

“Redirections”—or new paths--in literary writing might be tied to, or seen in the light of, such historical and political upheavals as the gaining of independence by former colonies; the greater openness we find, at least in the more developed countries since the mid-to-later 20th century, toward “other” races and ethnicities; the women’s rights (and gay rights) movements. They could also be tied to the birth (also in the later 20th-century) of computers, the Internet, “information technology” and the way in which this has affected reading, writing, written “communication” on various levels—including that of President’s Trump’s early-morning “twitter-storms”. Or even to the obsession of TV viewers, at least in the USA, with shows like “The Living Dead” that boldly predict a coming-soon end-of-the-world via the “zombie apocalypse,” or shows like “Game of Thrones” which draws viewers back into the safe and comfortable depths of the past, of perhaps a millennia (or more) ago. Of course, the other side of this coin is/are the ever-increasing number of sci-fi movies which try to imagine, or place us in, the future—perhaps one in which or where the earth has become too hot for us to live on it any more—including those with their fantastic alien creatures and those which try to more realistically depict space travel and life on other planets.

These are perhaps just a few of the wider domains within which one might think about literary—and televised, and cinematic, and perhaps too musical and visual-artistic—redirections. In Writing Degree Zero, Roland Barthes suggests that the act of writing is essentially the writer’s act of redirection. In Gilles Deleuze’s terms, the creativity of literary works, which may offer readers “lines of flight,” may be found in the redirections or deterritorializations of meaning(s). Noting the potential scope and significance of “redirection(s)” in literature, the 26th International Conference of the English and American Literature Association in Taiwan, hosted by English Department of National Taitung University, has decided to take “Redirection” as its conference theme. To explore the theories and practices of redirection in English and American literature from a wider perspective, we invite papers that investigate this theme from any perspective or direction.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• The redirection of narrative techniques and styles
• The redirection of literary and visual media (such as films, picture books, animation and manga, video games)
• Redirection(s) in music, the visual arts and drama
• The redirection of meaning-production
• The impact of information technology on literary, musical, visual arts
• Science fiction, robots, space travel and redirection
• The impact of the period and environment on literary redirection
• The political redirection of (or toward) the left or right in literature

We encourage individuals as well as pre-formed panels to submit abstracts of 300-500 words, with a title and 5 keywords, including short CVs (name, title, affiliations, selected publications, contacts) to the committee at 2018eala@gmail.com by January ​31 , 2018. Electronic acknowledgements of submission will be sent to all submitters upon receipt of the abstract. Notifications of acceptance will be sent by March 15, 2018. Full papers should be submitted by September 15, 2018.

Important Dates:

• Abstract submission deadline: January ​31 , 2018 ​(extended)​
• Abstract acceptance notification: March 15, 2018
• Full paper submission deadline: September 15, 2018
• Conference date: October 27, 2018