cfp.english.upenn.edu

Alien invasion, viral outbreak, nuclear holocaust, the rise of the machines, the flood, the second coming, the second ice age—these are just a few of the ways human beings have imagined their “end of days.” And someone’s Armageddon clock is always ticking—we just dodged Harold Camping’s rapture on May 21st of this year, and the Mayan-predicted doomsday of 2012 is just around the corner. In the end, what do we reveal about ourselves when we dream of the apocalypse? What are the social and political functions of these narratives in any given historical period? How do different cultures imagine the apocalypse, and what do these differences reveal? What is particular to the narratological design and content of apocalyptic texts?
LIT: Literature Interpretation Theory solicits papers for an upcoming special issue on representations of the apocalypse in literature and film across a range of genres, time periods, and cultural traditions. LIT welcomes essays that consider representations of the apocalypse in literature and film and that are theoretically grounded but also engaging and accessible. Contributions should be from 5,000-10,000 words in length.

Guest Editors: Karen J. Renner, Northern Arizona University; Joshua J. Masters, University of West Georgia.

LIT: Literature Interpretation Theory publishes critical essays that employ engaging, coherent theoretical perspectives and provide original, close readings of texts. Because LIT addresses a general literate audience, we encourage essays unburdened by excessive theoretical jargon. We do not restrict the journal's scope to specific periods, genres, or critical paradigms. Submissions must use MLA citation style. Please email an electronic version of your essay (as an MS Word document), along with a 100 word abstract, to litjourn@yahoo.com.

Deadline for submissions: October 1, 2011

LIT: Literature Interpretation Theory also welcomes submissions for general issues.

LIT: Literature Interpretation Theory
Editors: Professor Regina Barreca, University of Connecticut &
Associate Professor Margaret E. Mitchell, University of West Georgia