cfp.english.upenn.edu

The changing landscape of our discipline can be understood through the work of Emily Apter and Amir Mufti on Auerbach, Spitzer, Said and the figure of the intellectual in exile. The cases of these intellectuals lead one to reconsider what it means to be a comparatist in our cosmopolitan age.

Is the Comparatist the "perfect man" spoken of by Hugo of St. Victor, the figure who erases borders and detaches himself from any notion of home? Is the concept of exile a necessary condition of the Comparatist, permitting the assessment of one’s own culture and those of others? Could the Comparatist or the exiled intellectual become "worlded" through an engagement with various attachments and detachments? Might adopting an "exilic consciousness" contribute to the study of Comparative Literature?

This panel is seeking papers that examine the figure of the intellectual in exile and how this figure can be used to better understand what it means to be a Comparatist today. It also welcomes papers that engage with literature that deals with the figure of the intellectual in exile, and how these texts can also be used to read the ever shifting and changing landscape of Comparative Literature.

This is the ACLA web page where you can view this seminar: http://www.acla.org/acla2010/?p=944
To submit a paper proposal for this seminar, 'Worlded Comparatist:The Intellectual in Exile as Foundation for a New Comparative Literature' please go to http://www.acla.org/submit/index.php . Proposals need to be submitted by November 23, 2009. If you have questions about the seminar, please contact me at evrenakaltun@gmail.com