cfp.english.upenn.edu

Proposed Collection: Beyond “The Lottery”: Critical Approaches to Shirley Jackson

Editor: Matthew B. Prickett, Longwood University

Beyond “The Lottery” will be the first peer-reviewed collection of critical materials examining the life and works of American author Shirley Jackson. The collection will be an opportunity for scholars to draw attention to lesser-known works of Jackson’s, and expand on current scholarship in regards to more widely-known works. Ultimately, the collection will provide the author, and her works, with the critical attention that she has been denied until recently.

Possible topics include but are not limited to:

-The past place, present status and future importance of Jackson’s works in American Literature
-Jackson’s work and (de)construction of gender and gender politics.
-Jackson’s place in the canon of domestic fiction
-Jackson as a feminist writer
-Jackson’s influence on contemporary writers such as Joyce Carol Oates, Stephen King, and Neil Gaiman
-Cinematic, theatrical and television adaptations of Jackson’
-“The Lottery” in popular culture.
-Jackson’s place in the evolution of horror literature
-Jackson as author and icon
-The Haunting of Hill House and the canon of ghost fiction
-Female friendship in Jackson as both homosocial and possibly homoerotic/queer
-Jackson and public controversy / censorship
-Critical attention to currently out-of-print novels such as Hangsaman, The Road Through the Wall, and The Bird’s Nest

Proposals should be at least 2 pages in length. Please send proposals and CVs for this collection electronically as Microsoft Word attachments to Matthew B. Prickett at prickettmb@longwood.edu.

The author’s name, email and postal address should appear in the message that accompanies the submission.

Deadline: September 30, 2009