Nature/Theory/Thoreau at ALA, May 22 – 25, 2014, Washington DC. Deadline 1/15/14.
American Literature Association
23rd Annual Conference, Washington DC
May 22 – 25, 2014
CFP for Panel Discussion sponsored by the Thoreau Society
Kristen Case and Rochelle Johnson, Organizers
Nature/Theory/Thoreau
In recent years, new approaches to the relationship between the human and the nonhuman have yielded a rich theoretical vocabulary with which to reconsider the category of "nature." Posthumanism, new materialism, ecocriticism, animal studies, object-oriented ontology, and reexaminations of the pastoral and "nature writing" more broadly (see, for example, the 2013 anthology The Arcadia Project) offer new ways of framing and engaging the questions central to Thoreau's writing. This panel wishes to explore what these new approaches may offer Thoreau studies, as well as the ways that Thoreau's own engagements with the nonhuman might enrich the contemporary theoretical discourse. This panel discussion will be in dialogue with the Thoreau Society's round table discussion "Spirit/Theory/Thoreau." Please send queries or one-page abstracts (for an 18-minute presentation) by January 15, 2014, to: kristen.case@maine.edu.