ODD WOMEN OUT: SPINSTERS IN THE 20th C. BRITISH NOVEL

Panel at the Northeast Modern Language Association Conference, =
Baltimore, 1-4 March 2007

"The position of the unmarried woman--unless, of course, she is =
somebody's mistress, is of no interest whatsoever to the readers of =
modern fiction."
                                    --Barbara Pym, A Very Private Eye, =
1972

George Gissing's 1893 novel The Odd Women dramatized the plight of women =
of modest means rendered "superfluous" by a dearth of men. This panel =
seeks to explore the evolution of the spinster in British novels from =
the turn of the nineteenth century to the turn of the twentieth. =
Possible topics include, but are not limited to

--Traditions of spinsterhood (the legacies of Austen, Gissing and =
others)
--Alternative families and communities
--Lesbianism, overt and implied
--The relationship of the spinster to realism and/or modernism
--Spinsterhood and feminism
--The spinster in the postcolonial British novel

Special consideration will be given to novels less frequently taught. =
Please send 300-500 word abstracts via e-mail attachment to Dana Shiller =
at dshiller_at_washjeff.edu

Deadline for abstracts: September 15, 2006. Please include with your =
abstract: Name and Affiliation; Email address; Postal address; Telephone =
number; A/V requirements (if any).

All panelists must be or become NEMLA members. Visit
http://www.nemla.org/index.html for more information on NEMLA.

Dana J. Shiller, Ph.D.
Associate Dean, Academic Affairs
     and Associate Professor of English
Washington & Jefferson College
60 S. Lincoln St.
Washington, PA 15301
724/223-6006
dshiller_at_washjeff.edu=20

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Received on Sun Jul 09 2006 - 09:30:03 EDT