cfp.english.upenn.edu

Cal State San Marcos Literature and Writing Department
This Literature and Writing Graduate Conference offers participants an opportunity to explore how literary analysis and the teaching of literature have been continually and systematically re-examined, re-interpreted, and re-assessed. How are the processes of translation, interpretation, rhetorical word craft, and composition impacted by context? To what degree do specific political, cultural, and societal factors influence the texts we strive to teach, interpret, and translate? How do literary aesthetics—structure, form, poetics—interact with the cultural and political environment of writers and their audiences? Is literature obliged to engage political discourse or issues of diversity? Are its teachers? In addition, how do political and cultural factors influence the process of translation and the teaching of composition? Must literature engage political discourse or issues of diversity to merit academic inquiry?

We invite proposals for essays addressing the dynamic qualities of language and literature in genres ranging from poetry to composition, from fiction to film. Participants are encouraged to:

*examine a wide range of issues including but not limited to writing and rhetoric, fostering a culture of writing at the university, language, the changing role of translation, gender, sexuality, the body, imperialism/post-colonialism, immigration, and globalization.

*address historical questions such as the way that a literary work defines itself both against and within dominant discourses or how, in our century, cultural and political issues have infiltrated popular literature; proposals that address the literature of any culture or nation or engage the writing process are welcome.

*consider whether contemporary reinterpretations or revised translations result in a deeper understanding, or is much of the original lost to modern audiences? To what extent and in what ways are the concepts of composition and rhetoric, “writing” and “self,” linked to multiculturalism and postcolonial theory?

The California State University San Marcos’ Literature and Writing Department invites current graduate students in MA or PhD programs, as well as individuals with recently completed MAs (within the past three years) to submit proposals for scholarly papers on any aspect of our conference theme as explored in literature, film, or other media. Studies of texts produced in any part of the world, as long as they are presented in translation in English and address some aspects of our conference theme, are welcome.

Proposals
Please electronically submit proposals of 250-300 words, along with a titled 25 – 40 word synopsis of your work, to the Program Committee at stric010@csusm.edu by March 26, 2012. The authors of accepted proposals will be notified by April 2, 2012. We welcome suggestions for panels and hope to accommodate a wide range of presentations.