"CONTEMPLATING THE VOID": POSTGRADUATE SYMPOSIUM XIII, SCHOOL OF ENGLISH, UNIVERSITY
OF NEW SOUTH WALES, Sydney, Australia, October 12-13, 2006

What fills the gap left by the evacuation of the grand narratives? What is the value of negative space?
Silence? Incoherence? What are the politics and problematics of representation in a world oft marked
by political, intellectual, and spiritual chaos? In contemporary society, how can language function as a
bridge, articulating loss and thereby filling the void with significance?

The conveners of the School of English's Postgraduate Symposium XIII welcome proposals from
postgraduate students and early-career researchers that utilize a wide variety of critical and creative
approaches to this year's theme. Works that contemplate the void enact a crucial negotiation at the
outer limits of representation and originate from disciplines as diverse as cultural studies, creative
writing, critical theory, trauma theory, post-theory, performativity, as well as interdisciplinary realms.
Key words that may characterize your proposal include:

Absence
Abyss
Censorship
Chaos
Death
Desert/Deserted
Discontinuities
Emptiness
Erasure
Ethnocide
Holocaust
Idleness
Incoherence
Lack
Le Différend
Loss
Meaninglessness
Nihilism
Originality
(Public) Secrets
Separation
Silence
Space
Unintelligible
Unpresentable
Void
Writer's Block
 
To register your interest in presenting at this forum, email a 250-word abstract to Heather Moritz
(heather.moritz_at_student.unsw.edu.au) no later than September 1, 2006. Please include a working title
for your presentation, your name, institutional affiliation, email address and contact details. Proposals
for academic papers or creative works are welcome. All presentations are limited to 20 minutes.
Notice of accepted proposals will be conducted via email by September 8, 2006.

The Symposium provides an ideal forum for postgraduates and early-career researchers to share
their ideas and receive constructive feedback. Registration is free and lunch, morning and afternoon
tea will be provided.

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Received on Fri Aug 11 2006 - 15:28:06 EDT