Gothic Confinement

Northeast Modern Language Association Convention
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
March 2-5, 2006

Perhaps due in part to the material grotesqueries of such socially
sanctioned confinements as slavery and imprisonment, confinement has
a long history of representation in gothic fiction and film. Papers
are invited that examine not only the representation of the physical
grotesque of these confinements, but also the ways in which gothic
literary or cinematic endeavours themselves could be part of the
social projects surrounding confinement. Certainly the gothic played
a part in abolitionist narratives--does this project continue in
representations of imprisonment? Or, have gothic portrayals of
imprisonment been used as part of a project of crime
deterrence? Have the gothic elements of confinement, particularly,
had specific resonances in terms of gender, sexuality, or other
identity categories? Papers are also welcome that examine the gothic
use of confinement to represent issues of domesticity, education (or
academia), or other "every day" situations. Proposals on other
topics are likewise welcome.

Proposals should be 250-500 words, and can address any national
literature or period.

Send proposals by email (no attachments, please) to
Jason.Haslam_at_dal.ca. Deadline: Sept. 15, 2005.

See the full call for papers for the NEMLA convention at www.nemla.org

---------------------------------------------
Click on the titles to see details:
By Jason Haslam:
<http://www.utppublishing.com/pubstore/merchant.ihtml?pid=8616&step=4>Fitting
Sentences: Identity in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Prison
Narratives, a monograph forthcoming from the University of Toronto Press, 2005.

Edited by Jason Haslam and Julia M. Wright:
<http://www.utppublishing.com/pubstore/merchant.ihtml?pid=8244&step=4>Captivating
Subjects: Writing Confinement, Citizenship, and Nationhood in the
Nineteenth Century, a collection of critical essays available now
(University of Toronto Press, 2005).
--------------------------------------------
Dr. Jason Haslam
Assistant Professor
Department of English
Dalhousie University
6135 University Ave.
Halifax, Nova Scotia
B3H 4P9
<http://users.eastlink.ca/~jasonhaslam>http://users.eastlink.ca/~jasonhaslam

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Received on Tue Aug 02 2005 - 12:21:12 EDT