CfP: Death and Desire in Devotional Literature

International Congress on Medieval Studies 2027, Kalamazoo MI May 13-15, 2027

This session invites reflections on how texts concerning devotional practice navigate the tension between worldly desire and the inevitability of death. In teaching the proper way of living, devotional texts often also instruct their readers how to prepare for death. How do these texts reconfigure or redirect desire toward spiritual ends? Which desires are more or less productive for approaching the problems of mortality and embodiment? How does the desire for God, salvation, union, or suffering shape devotional practice? This session welcomes scholars working in the broad category of devotional literature of any language or religious tradition.

Proposals due Sept 15, 2026 through the IMCS Confex portal: https://icms.confex.com/icms/2027/prelim.cgi/Session/8766