cfp.english.upenn.edu

This panel investigates how to effectively teach literature that contains strong scientific elements. Literature actively participates in the ongoing rhetoric of scientific inquiry and discourse and gives voice to the promise and fears associated with technological advancement. Many literary works engage very particular aspects of theory and practice from fields such as neurobiology or quantum physics while others engage with the rhetoric associated with science and/or its misinterpretations (Social Darwinism for Evolution or relativism for Relativity, etc.). We are interested in how to effectively introduce scientific culture and the complexity of its theories into the classroom and how to use these ideas to better understand works of literature from Frankenstein to Gravity’s Rainbow as well as science fiction pieces such as Neuromancer or Watchmen. Please send an abstract of 250 words or less by July 13th to ptolliverb@earthlink.net or to Paul Brown, Department of English, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208. (SAMLA will be in Durham, NC this year.]