CFP: Duras and Cinema (9/1/05; anthology)

full name / name of organization: 
Julie Beaulieu

CALL FOR PAPERS

Marguerite Duras and Cinema (anthology)
Co-editors: Julie Beaulieu and Rosanna Maule

Il y a des films qui restent, il y a des films qui se dissipent dans les
heures qui suivent leur vision. (Marguerite Duras, Les yeux verts,
1980).

Abstract

            In this anthology, we would like to examine the
relationships between Marguerite Duras=92 body of work and the cinema.
In addition to analyzing the films Duras wrote and directed and the filmic
adaptations of her novels, our purpose is to investigate the distinctive
relationship between the Durassian writing style and the cinema.
            Throughout her career, Duras created a filmic experience
which, while always based on previous works, expanded the limits of
cinematic representation and crossed the boundaries between the literary
and the filmic. In so doing, she transformed (or even deconstructed) the
concepts of filmic spectacle and filmic text. Following from these
ideas, we would like to propose a new reading of the Durassian body of
work that would shed light on the cinematic echoes that are found in
Duras=92 literary and theatrical texts.
            As a matter of fact, Duras came to the cinema gradually,
through writing. Un barrage contre le Pacifique was brought to the
screen by Ren=E9 Cl=E9ment eight years after being published. One year
later, Duras co-wrote the screenplay for Hiroshima mon amour (Alain
Resnais, 1959), a film that employs formal aesthetics that recall Duras=92
writing style. Many adaptations of her own novels, such as Peter
Brooks=92 Moderato Cantabile, (1960) and Henri Colpi=92s Une aussi longue
absence (1961), came out before Duras=92 first work as a film director, La
musica (1966), a film she co-directed with Paul Seban.
            Even before filmmakers began adapting her novels for the
screen, Duras=92 writing reveals a unique conceptualization of the cinema
and proposes a filmic writing style that would launch a new approach to
filmmaking.

Orientations

We invite the contributors to submit essays related to one of the
following research areas:

- Duras the Filmmaker: her conceptualization of writing and the
image in the cinema; her critical views about the cinema and the
commercial production system; etc.

- Authorial Perspectives: Duras as a film author; authorial
patterns and practices in the Durassian cinema; feminist authorial
approaches; etc.

- Intermedial Approaches: Duras=92 writing within different media
(text, theatre, film); rereading her films in light of her written works
(novels, scripts, synopses) and theatrical works.

- Philosophical Approaches: interstices in the Durassian corpus;
philosophical and feminist discourses in relation to the Durassian
filmic or feminist writing style; etc.

- New Psychoanalytical Approaches: filmic writing and feminine
subjectivity; the relationship between the feminine and the maternal in
Duras=92 films; feminist film theory and the Durassian cinema; etc.

- Between Theory and Practice: categorizing Duras=92s films;
Duras=92 film style and feminine =E9criture; Duras=92 filmmaking practices;
Duras and French cinema; the reception of Duras=92 films; etc.

- The cinema surrounding Duras: adaptations; documentaries; TV
interviews; fictional works; (auto)biographies; etc.

- Post-Colonial Approaches: the representation of Indochina in
the Durassian cinema; post-colonial discourse and the Durassian cinema;
etc.

Selection procedures

The submissions (abstracts of 250-300 words) must be sent by email to
the co-editors before September 1, 2005. They should include a selected
bibliography as well as a short biography of the contributor (including
recent publications). Please note that the anthology will be in
English, although we will accept French abstracts during the selection
process.

December 1, 2005 is the deadline for submitting the completed articles.
The articles (5000-7000 words) should be formatted according to the MLA
Style Manual and sent to the co-editors by email as a word document.

Contacts

Please do not hesitate to contact the co-editors if you have any
questions about the proposals or articles, or if you need any other
information:

Julie Beaulieu (Universit=E9 de Montr=E9al): julie.beaulieu_at_sympatico.ca
            Rosanna Maule (Concordia University):
rosm_at_alcor.concordia.ca

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Received on Sun Jul 24 2005 - 16:35:24 EDT

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