Call for contributions LISA e-journal

Jane Eyre: past and present

The aim of this number of LISA e-journal is to look into the posterity of
Jane Eyre from its publication to the present. Umberto Eco reminds us that
all books speak of other books and Jane Eyre seems to be one of those novels
that have left a deep imprint. Jane Eyre and its characters influenced their
times. E. Showalter for instance mentions a "post-Jane heroine" who can be
noticed in George Eliot's, Elizabeth Gaskell's, Mrs Oliphant's and Miss
Yonge's novels. She also points to the emergence of a new type of male
character following that of Mr Rochester.
The phenomenon of intertextuality became openly obvious towards the end of
the twentieth century with the publication of reworkings as diverse as
numerous of canonical texts, mainly Victorian novels. Among these, Jane Eyre
has been the object of many rewritings. The first example of this
contemporary appropriation of the Victorian era, before it became more
widespread in the 1980s and 1990s, was Wide Sargasso Sea. This 1966 novel by
Jean Rhys fills in the blanks left by Brontë's tale and lends a voice to the
first Mrs Rochester, Bertha Mason, a character almost reduced to silence in
Jane Eyre. In 1969, Doris Lessing picked up the plot of Brontë's novel but
changed the end in The Four-Gated City. Since then, Jane Eyre has been the
object of many appropriations such as D.M. Thomas's Charlotte (2000) which
continues the original novel or Lin Haire-Sargeant's H., The Story of
Heathcliff's Journey Back to Wuthering Heights (1992) and J. Fforde's The
Eyre Affair (2001) which transfer the characters into another tale.

Proposals are invited on the notion of rewriting (transfer, reworking,
appropriation) applied to Jane Eyre. Papers will for instance focus on the
choice of this novel by various writers, on the aspects of the original text
which are kept and / or transformed, completed or contradicted, on the
influence of this novel on its contemporaries and on the image which the
twentieth century has chosen to retain of this Victorian novel.

Contributions, in English or in French, should be submitted to Dr. Isabelle
Roblin (macphail_at_club-internet.fr) and to Dr. Armelle Parey
(armelle_parey_at_yahoo.fr) before January15th 2005 and should be preceded by
an abstract of about 8-10 lines and a short bio-bibliography of the authors.
Illustrations can be provided on the express condition that no copyrights
are to be paid. Contributions accepted for this project will be reviewed by
at least two reviewers with the understanding that the materials have not
been submitted to and accepted by another journal. All submissions should be
double-spaced, and conform to the MLA style. Articles should not exceed 20
pages (5,000 words) in length, excluding notes and references. For other
details, please check on LISA e-journal's web-site:
http://www.unicaen.fr/mrsh/anglais/lisa.

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Received on Tue May 25 2004 - 00:18:19 EDT