From ancient Greek τραύμα (meaning “wound, damage”), the term trauma refers to a physical or psychological injury provoked by a violent event, and the very event causing this great distress. Traumatic events abound in early modern France, whether be caused by natural catastrophes (floods, storms, fires, harsh winter, plagues) or by human activity (warfare, sexual violence, religious persecution).

Print: Theories, Histories, and Futures

Comparative Literature Conference

February 23-25, 2023

University of South Carolina (Columbia)

The twenty-first century is lauded for the strides in progress that have encouraged the rights of individuals to flourish and succeed regardless of gender, creed, or race. Yet issues of disparity still abound relating to gender constructions and sexual orientations especially against the backdrop of ecological crisis that are plaguing the world. The myriad of challenges which include issues of gender representation, sexual orientation, climate and/or environmental challenges, and cultural difference have become topical within scholarly circles.

Dear Conradians/Colleagues/ Scholars/Academics

Game Studies has adopted a notion of genre that overcomes the “tension between ‘ludology’ and ‘narratology’... [by] “conceptualizing video games as operating in the interplay between these two taxonomies of genre” (Apperley 2006). That is, the consensus of the field is that game genres are a combination of both narrative and other forms of representation (e.g. Adventure, Western, or Sci-Fi stories and/or motifs) and formal, ludic structures (e.g  cooperative or competitive, role-playing, shooting, platforming). 

 James Baldwin’s presence in American culture and political history follows a trajectory that is perhaps unique in American letters, being the signature literary voice for two very different cultural moments: the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 60s and then—after a period of relative quiet—being taken up again six decades later as a prophetic precursor and guiding spirit for the larger Black Lives Matter movement.  Baldwin’s continuing relevance for our discourse and disputation about race, nationhood, masculinity and sexuality is now all but taken for granted.  His voice helps us navigate the thicket of cultural politics as we seek a world that is more just and more free than the one in which we live. 

Coming to Charlotte Brontë's 1847 novel, Jane Eyre, for the first time, one may be struck by its apparently forward-looking elements, ones that do not seem to line up with expectations for early Victorian novels. In terms of the novel's explorations of inner consciousness, one observer finds that Jane Eyre is a precursor of modernist authors such as Proust, Woolf, and Joyce. Furthermore, Jane's keen awareness of women's equality with men in terms of the right to education, access to the wider world, and happiness in a relationship has distinctly feminist overtones. But may Jane Eyre be classified as a modernist and feminist work of literature?

The Cinematic Codes Review is in need of a regular film reviewer(s). The reviewer has complete freedom to choose the films from past or present that they want to review. They can choose to do in-depth review essays that analyze one or two films seperately or comparatively, or six or so short surface reviews of a few films or series that they enjoyed watching. Reviews should be illustrated with screen-shots from the films you are describing. Non-regular scholarly essays from academics and articles about filmmaking from those inside the film industry are also warmy invited. CCR releases three issues per year, and a set of reviews is included in each issue. If more than one reviewer volunteers, reviewers can split the work.

NeMLA 2023: Niagara Falls, NY. March 23-26, 2023.

As we continue to transition our daily lives “back to normal”—or rather to our understanding of “normal” from a pre-pandemic perspective—how do we negotiate the lessons learned during the pandemic? Quarantine, lockdown, self-isolation, social distancing, and the many other necessary health measures we have taken, currently take, and may continue to take, have forced a reconsideration of how we work and how we teach. What are our key pedagogical takeaways to help build and foster resiliency during these times?

We are trying to put together a panel proposal for the SCMS conference from April 12-15, 2023, in Denver. We are looking to supplement the papers we have already gathered with one or two more that deal with queer nostalgia/temporality in film/media. Please send an abstract of no more than 2500 characters and a bio (500 characters) to mstekl@stanford.edu and jennyme@stanford.edu. 

Diverse African literary works portray the experiences of African characters in the United States and other Western nations. Such works include Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Americanah, Imbolo Mbue's Behold the Dreamers, and NoViolet Bulawayo's We Need New Names. What do such portrayals tell us about imagined ideas of Western opportunity and promise? What do these types of narratives reveal about shared and divergent outlooks and lifestyles in African and Western communities? What different kinds of political and gender-based experiences are dramatized in these works, and what are the similarities and differences between the views of such experiences by African and Western characters?

Critical Plant Studies, a book series published by Lexington Books, an imprint of Rowman & Littlefield, calls us to re-examine in fundamental ways our understanding of and engagement with plants, drawing on diverse disciplinary perspectives. A sampling of topics appropriate for this series includes but is not limited to:
• Representations of plants in literature, art, film, and popular culture
• Relationships between humans and plants
• Boundaries and distinctions between plants and animals
• Plants and the environmental crisis
• Phytosemiotics and plant communication
• Plant sensation and consciousness
• Vegetal agency

The (Non)Human and the Monarch in Literatue and Cinema: Western and Global Perspective

This NeMLA 2023 session will explore literary critical and environmental humanities methods for rethinking water justice and urban climate adaptation. We are interested in formal and informal relationships to water justice; representations of riverine and coastal cities; and readings of texts that help us consider governmental, private, and community-based strategies of water management. Topics might include representations of drought, flooding, toxicity and cleanup, water access, and water infrastructures.