TEXTUAL ETHOS STUDIES: AN EXPLORATORY READER

We are putting together a collection to illustrate the distinction
between positing literature as a container for moral values and as
performing values. We are promoting studies that attempt to avoid an
assumption of a known code of ethics in favour of seeing the act of
reading and engaging with literature as a process of discovery of the
ethos portrayed through the manner in which the story is told or the book
is written. The ethos of a work thus functions dialogically on two primary
levels, inside the text-world and in the textual links to the world
outside the text, to the reader. Textual ethos as the manner and mode of
writing relates to professed ethics in the text as a confirmation or a
denial.

Ethical criticism has traditionally dealt with relating literature to
ethical questions in the real world and the contributors to this volume
acknowledge the value and importance of this while also recognizing the
complexity of texts and of responding to a world that is growing
increasingly aware of its mutual dependence as well as its diversity and
difference. Many of the contributors have chosen to deal with types of
texts not usually dealt with in ethical criticism, e.g. violent texts, the
grotesque, and psychotic writing, while others deal with issues that
have strong ethical implications but where these are not easily pinned
down in the text without prejudging the text by either its author's status
or an assumption of cultural values.

We are still interested in receiving proposals and papers dealing with
any of the following:

--violence in contemporary literature
--the grotesque (especially in relation to gender)
--psychotic writing
--female circumcision
--the position of women in Muslim countries (e.g. seclusion, the veil
problematic, sexuality)
--texts written by authors that are problematic for their known/reputed
e.g. sexism, anti-semitism, or racism

Deadline: May 15th, 2004 but sooner is preferable. We are working with
publishers for this volume to come out in the fall. MLA format. 4000-7000
words (on the shorter end of this scale is good). Endnotes. Write to
anna.fahraeus_at_eng.gu.se.

--Anna FåhraeusDepartment of EnglishGoteborg University =============================================== From the Literary Calls for Papers Mailing List CFP_at_english.upenn.edu Full Information at http://www.english.upenn.edu/CFP/ or write Erika Lin: elin_at_english.upenn.edu ===============================================Received on Wed Apr 21 2004 - 00:40:57 EDT