cfp.english.upenn.edu

“The Image in the Short Story in English”
Conference organized by the CRILA
(Centre de Recherches Interdisciplinaires en Langue Anglaise – JE2536)
Friday , 19 March – Saturday 20 March 2010
Université d’Angers, France--Maison des Sciences Humaines

Call for papers

The “image drive” which, according to Philippe Hamon, emerged in the XIXth century, continues to prevail, or even thrive, in our current society where inventions, technology, business strategies, and communication campaigns emphasize diverse iconographic media. Literary texts appear as the mirror image of this development in that they often accord an essential position to the protean image. An interest in the study of the relationship between text and image --intermedial theory, the cinematographic adaptation of certain texts, etc.-- is consequently validated.
This international conference organized by the CRILA research group will take place 19-20 March 2010 at the University of Angers, France, and will pursue the lines of reflection previously explored by the group on the theme of description in the short story in English. It will be specifically dedicated to the short story in English, and all presentations will be in English.
The following themes will be given a privileged position in the conference but are not restrictive, as researchers interested in the study of the relationship between the short story and the image may propose other avenues of reflection.
- What forms do images take in the short story? What are the shifters or markers that indicate their presence?
- What sorts of images are included in the frame of the short story? In a particular author’s work, or in a specific story, is one of the elements in the triad of visual images (description and ekphrasis), verbal images (clichés and stereotypes), and reading images (stylistic and rhetorical tropes) given a dominant position?
- What are the objectives that inform the inclusion of the iconic and “substitutes for the pictorial” (L. Louvel) in the body of the story?
- Does an aesthetics of flatness, suggested by the image, conflict with the concept of textual depth or, on the contrary, does it serve the text’s overall design? Is there a relationship of dangerous competition or of advantageous complementarity between the story and the image?
- What effects does the image have on the reader of short stories? What does the reader see when he/she reads? Would it be possible to speak of photographic or cinematographic effects?
- Does the brevity of the short story form, as compared to the novel, allow for special effects, framing, decentering, or other instances of experimentation that might constitute signs of the genre’s particular strengths or workmanship?

A selection of articles will be published in a special issue of The Journal of the Short Story in English, an international, peer review journal (paper version and available for consultation at Revues.org).
Paper proposals of approximately 300 words in English, followed by a short bio-bibliography, should be sent to the following conference organizers for 15 December 2009 at
Linda.collinge@univ-angers.fr, laurent.lepaludier@univ-angers.fr, lauric.guillaud@free.fr