cfp.english.upenn.edu

Forum on Literature, Terrorism and 9/11

Literature has played a significant role in responses to terrorism and the attacks of 9/11 and subsequent developments in international relations, with a wide range of writers around the world offering different perspectives on transcultural relations, contemporary terrorism and the ‘War on Terror’, globalisation and cosmopolitanism. Authors have engaged very directly in their fiction and non-fiction with the political and social fallout of the September 11 attacks and the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq and this already substantial body of writing is rapidly growing. Postcolonial studies in particular, with its established interests in cross-cultural communication and international encounters, has been at the forefront of intellectual responses to the challenge posed by the growth of international terrorism and the apparent intensification of conflict and suspicion.

The Forum on Literature, Terrorism and 9/11 will take place on 29 May 2010 at the University of Chichester, West Sussex, UK and will include panels of academic papers and readings and a round-table discussion by creative writers. Confirmed speakers include Stephen Morton (University of Southampton), Robert Spencer (University of Manchester), Alison MacLeod (The Wave Theory of Angels, Fifteen Modern Tales of Attraction) and James Miller (Lost Boys, Sunshine State).

Proposals for 20 minute papers are invited on topics that can include (but are not limited to) literature that addresses:

• 11 September and Mourning
• The “War on Terror”
• The invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq
• Intercultural relations post-9/11 and post-7/7

We would particularly welcome papers on:

• British Writing (e.g. Martin Amis, Ian McEwan, James Meek)
• American writers (e.g. John Updike, Don DeLillo, Jonathan Safran Foer)
• Writing from Asia, Africa and the Middle East (e.g. Mohsin Hamid, Roma Tearne)

Deadline for submission of abstracts of around 250 words: 20th April 2010.
Please send your abstracts to Robert Duggan at R.Duggan@chi.ac.uk