We're soliciting papers for a volume tentatively titled Literature and
the Addicted Subject, 1700-Present. This volume will examine how the
post-Romantic conception of literature constructs both the possibility
and our understanding of addiction. While there are collections and
books that discuss the addictions of authors or representations of
addiction, the focus of this book is substantially different: it seeks
to examine how addiction is a historical phenomenon that is enabled by
particular ideological and cultural preconditions. Thus, we do not
assume addiction's existence prima facie, and do not assume it is one
thing at all times. Addiction needs particular historical preconditions:
access to substances; a commodity culture that sees pleasure and
immediate gratification as the natural product of the consumption of
goods; a change in subjectivity (that is, the change from an inherently
rational human being that can itself mediate physical and emotional
excess to the notion of a self that is capable of growth and development
and one who has a "subconscious" that is not always rational); a desire
for individual improvement usually depicted as a "productive" member of
society; and a modern medical vocabulary that characterizes a particular
course of this pathology and recounts it as a "disease." We will
collect essays that consider the form of the subject necessary to
addiction, a divided subject whose desire is inherently unrealizable,
and the role of the special category of literature in creating that
subject. Essays on American, British, or other European literatures are
welcome.

Since we do have an interested publisher, we would like completed essays
and CVs on or before November 15, 2005. All essays or inquiries can be
sent to the editors:

Patricia Comitini

Associate Professor of English

Quinnipiac University

275 Mt. Carmel Ave.

Hamden, CT 06815

203-582-8253

Patricia.Comitini_at_quinnipiac.edu

Or

W. Thomas Pepper

63 Bayberry Rd.

Cheshire, CT 06410

wpepper_at_quinnipiac.edu

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Received on Mon May 16 2005 - 11:43:15 EDT