CALL FOR PAPERS
For an edition of scholarly essays on William Faulkner and the Visual Arts=20
Deadline for submissions:
15 February 2006
Editor: Randall S. Wilhelm

As a modernist, Faulkner, like many avant garde writers, sought to=20
reinvigorate narrative art forms by appropriating techniques and aesthetic s=
trategies=20
from the =E2=80=9Csister arts=E2=80=9D of painting, sculpture and photograph=
y. In his=20
formative years Faulkner worked as both cartoonist and illustrator, and this=
 tendency=20
towards the visual is pronounced in his fiction, with the great=20
stopped-action scenes of the major works serving, for many critics, as the a=
pogee of this=20
visual dimension. However, a close look reveals a myriad of visual elements=
 at=20
work within his fiction, strategies that have traditionally eluded the=20
critical gaze. This collection of essays welcomes submissions on the use o=
f vision=20
and the visual arts in Faulkner=E2=80=99s fiction that discuss and problemat=
ize the=20
interaction between words and pictures. In essence, this volume asks the=20
question: how can new theories of the visual character of literary texts c=
hange,=20
reshape, or deconstruct traditional approaches to Faulkner=E2=80=99s fiction=
?
Topics could include, but are not limited to, the following:

- the use of specific art genres such as still life, portrait, landscape,=20
sculpture, nude, domestic scene, etc., as =E2=80=9Cpictures in the text=E2=
=80=9D that function=20
as conveyers of meaning

- comparisons between specific artists, individual art works, or aesthetic=20
strategies culled from the visual arts=20

- the use of alternative visionary modes (hallucination, fantasy, dreaming,=20=
=E2=80=9C
second sense=E2=80=9D) as markers for visuality that reinforce, challenge or=
=20
problematize narrative events

- dynamics of vision and power as exemplified in modes of seeing such as=20
voyeurism, exhibitionism, surveillance, iconophilia, and the gendered gaze

- the role of art objects such as paintings, sculpture, photographs, or=20
monuments that contribute to or challenge narrative meaning

- the relationship between subjectivity and vision (what characters see and=20
how they respond to the visual environment as psychological, ethical and=20
empirical markers of personality)

- the use of focusing structures in the text such as mirrors, pools, windows=
,=20
or other reflective surfaces that highlight the act of vision in the=20
construction of social, personal and narrative meaning

- the narrative function, social role, and aesthetic representation of artis=
t=20
figures in Faulkner=E2=80=99s work

- word/image interaction in Faulkner=E2=80=99s fiction, poetry, and in his e=
arly=20
graphic work

- the relationship between ideology and vision, or =E2=80=9Cscopic regimes=
=E2=80=9D through=20
which narrative scenes are presented that represent the world through a=20
particular historical aesthetic perspective (renaissance, baroque, impressio=
nist,=20
modern, etc.)

- design of the text, or the formal structure of the narrative, that=20
exposes visual patterns of composition

Articles need not address these questions directly, but they should reflect=20
on some aspect of the visual dimension in Faulkner=E2=80=99s narratives in s=
ome=20
explicit way. Articles focused on poetry or correspondence as well as on n=
arrative=20
are welcomed. Send submissions of 25-35 pages to Randall S, Wilhelm,=20
Department of English, University of Tennessee, 301 McClung Tower, Knoxville=
, TN=20
37996-0403.

Questions about content should be directed to rswil_at_aol.com.

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Received on Sun Jul 03 2005 - 14:01:13 EDT