UPDATE: New Formalism Collection

Extended Deadline 11/15

We invite contributions to a proposed collection of essays that examines
new formalism as a vehicle of literary inquiry. We see new formalism as a
literary, cultural movement that harkens back to new criticism, Russian
formalism, and structuralism, while embracing cultural theory and actively
drawing on new historicist methodologies. Because that’s a lot to cover, we
think it appropriate and timely to take another look at contemporary
literary/cultural theory and to call on scholars to reconsider the ways in
which they approach, analyze, and write (about) texts.

There has been a visible increase in scholars’ efforts to reevaluate form
and aesthetics as a starting point for literary analysis over the past few
years. This increase suggests a renewed need for reflection upon the ways
in which cultural criticism and contextual analysis intersect with and
inform established, traditional theoretical approaches. As such, we are
primarily interested in gathering contributions that 1) engage formalism as
a literary-theoretical movement and 2) formalist approaches to literature.

As we gather contributions for a proposed collection, we are interested in
addressing some of the following questions (among others):

1) Critical inquiry into the nature of formalism as a literary-theoretical
movement: In what ways is new formalism meaningfully different from new
criticism as well as new historicism? What are its points of intersection
with other theoretical approaches, such gender studies, queer theory,
post-structuralism, new historicism, cultural materialism, etc.? What are
the political motivations of a return to formalism? Is new formalism an
extension of contextual readings and/or a revitalizing of if not return to
aesthetic readings? Is new formalism a movement or a theory, and what’s at
stake in the difference between these two definitions? At what point does a
literary movement become theory? And how does a movement develop its own
distinct methodology?

2) New formalist approaches to literature:How does a fusing of form and
context lead to deeper insights into a specific literary text? How do the
aesthetics of an individual text guide our reading of context? (Note,
please, that we invite critical engagements with literary texts from all
genres and across all periods.)

Help us come to terms with “new formalism” and/in its various incarnations
and submit a 500-750 word abstract (and a brief biographical sketch) as
WORD attachments (doc/docx) to the editors, Linda Tredennick
(tredennick_at_onzaga.edu) and Verena Theile (verena.theile_at_ndsu.edu).
Non-electronic submissions may be sent to the addresses listed below.
The extended submission deadline for all abstracts is November 15, 2008:

Dr. Linda Tredennick
Department of English
Gonzaga University
502 E. Boone Ave.
Spokane WA 99582-0102

Dr. Verena Theile
Department of English (2320)
North Dakota State University
P. O. Box 6050
Fargo, ND 58108-6050

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Received on Mon Sep 22 2008 - 14:04:23 EDT