cfp.english.upenn.edu

The Kurt Vonnegut Society invites proposals for papers to be presented at two panels at the American Literature Association Annual Meeting in Boston, May 23-26 2013.
One panel will feature papers on any theme or issue relating to Vonnegut and his life and works.
The second panel will consider his landmark novel BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS, forty years after its publication. Accompanied by childlike doodles, BREAKFAST is a journey through a culture in crisis after the collapse of 1960s utopianism. Deploying his trademark gallows humor, Vonnegut offers an upside-down view of American history, and comments on the alienation
of daily life in the 1970s, amid the emptiness of sprawl and advertising slogans, the poisons of racism, sexism and economic inequality. How does the novel read today?

Please send a 250-word abstract by JANUARY 15 to Gregory Sumner, sumnergd@netzero.com