UPDATE: The "Drama" of James Purdy (1/1/07; ALA, 5/24/07-5/27/07)

full name / name of organization: 
mybennett_at_english.umass.edu

CALL FOR PAPERS

"The "Drama" of James Purdy"

American Literature Association (ALA) Conference
Westin Copley Place
Boston Massachusetts
May 24-27, 2007

The James Purdy Society will sponsor a session at the 18th Annual ALA
conference. Individuals whose proposals are accepted will join some of the
nation's leading James Purdy scholars for 15-20 minute presentations to
explore multiple facets of this major American author's dramatic works.

James Purdy is mostly referred to as a novelist: less known is that he is also
an accomplished playwright. Though many of his plays are not published, many
of his plays are relatively easy to get a hold of. While there is a growing
body of scholarship on Mr. Purdy's novels, this session aims at bringing
critical attention to James Purdy, the dramatist. However, we also want to
encourage scholars, who so desire, to focus their attention on Purdy's
dramatic tendencies, not just in plays, but in his fiction and/or poetry.

This session will proceed the release (fall 2007) of a new edition of four of
Mr. Purdy's plays, Selected Plays: Brice, The Paradise Circus, Where Quentin
Goes, and Ruthanna Elder (Eds. J. Uecker and C. Lane , Foreword by M.
Feingold), by Northwestern University Press. In the spirit of celebration for
this important publication, participants are encouraged to consider writing
about these plays, in part because these plays will soon be widely available.
Of course, abstracts are not limited to these plays.

Because there is almost no scholarship done on Mr. Purdy's plays (only one two-
page article comes up on the MLA International Bibliography about his plays)
and just as little on his dramatic tendencies, papers are invited on any
aspect of his "drama." Possible topics include, but are not limited to, the
presence and absence of gay themes, Purdy's classical dramatic structures,
role-reversals, memory, coming-of-age stories, and outward and subtle violence.

Please email 250-500 word abstracts and a copy of your C.V. to Michael Y.
Bennett at mybennett_at_english.umass.edu. Queries invited. If you plan to submit
a proposal, please send first notice of your intent ASAP.

Deadline for Proposals: January 1, 2007
Deadline for Notification of Proposal Status: December 15, 2006

The Society's deadline for completed full session proposals is January 30,
2007. For further general information about the conference, please consult the
ALA website at www.americanliterature.org or contact the conference director,
Professor Lauri Ramey of California State University, Los Angeles, via email
at LRamey_at_calstatela.edu with specific questions.

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Received on Sun Nov 05 2006 - 20:37:04 EST