Pressure to Experiment

A two day international conference on experimentation in contemporary writing

Organised by the Centre for Contemporary Writing

To be held at the University of Southampton, UK on
28th and 29th September 2006

This conference explores the role of literary experimentation in contemporary
writing. After nearly a hundred years of modernism we ask what purpose and
meaning we now attribute to experimentation in fiction, in poetry and in
critical thought. Specific questions to be addressed include:

What are the contemporary aesthetic, political, and cultural pressures on
experimentation?

How might innovative writing practices address the social issues facing us at
the start of the twenty-first century?

Is experimentation still necessary? What politics can we attribute to it? Is it
becoming harder to achieve?

How valid and how fragile are the existing histories and achievements of
experimental writing?

Forms and genres to be addressed can include:

"X experimental poetry
"X innovative fiction
"X new media
"X hypertext
"X lyric essay
"X creative non-fiction
"X cross-genre and hybrid forms

We welcome proposals for both academic papers and more practice-based
presentations. Please email abstracts of 150-300 words to
mandy_at_bloomfield.f2s.com or jennifermyoung_at_mac.com by 29th May 2006. If
electronic delivery is not possible, abstracts can be sent by post to:
Mandy Bloomfield, Department of English, School of Humanities, University of
Southampton, Highfield, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK

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Received on Tue Mar 28 2006 - 09:30:35 EST