cfp.english.upenn.edu

This CFP IS for a MSA Conference

Much of the work on cinema's relationship to modernism has focused on avant-garde and silent film. Sound film is always on the horizon, or just starting to be heard, but sound film in and of itself, or successful sound film ventures, are rarely considered within the scope of modernism. This is in large part due to the avant-garde and modernist resistance to sound film, making connections between sound film and modernism less apparent. This panel will reconsider the relationship between the “talkies” and the constellations of modernism.

Possible topics might include:
—The relationship of classical Hollywood film to modernism and/or the avant-garde.
—The resistance of the avant-garde to sound film.
—Technologies of perception in modernity.
—Theories of the aural’s relationship to the visual.
—Literary considerations of sound film experience.
—Global circulation of the “talkies.”
—Censorship and production codes.
—Sound film and notions of gender and/or race.

Please send a 300-word proposal and brief biographical info (2-3 sentences) to slb4ca@virginia.edu by May 9.