NEMLA 2007 =

Call for Papers
 =

Panel=3A The Violence of the Photographic Image and its Legacies=3A
30 Years After Susan Sontag=92s On Photography

38th Convention=2C Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA)
March 1-4=2C 2007
Baltimore=2C Maryland =

 =

Contact=3A Marcelline Block=2C mblock=40princeton=2Eedu and Masha Mimran=
=2C mmimran=40princeton=2Eedu
Deadline for Paper Proposals=3A September 1st=2C 2006

This panel aims to re-examine Susan Sontag=92s groundbreaking work On Ph=
otography (1977)=2C particularly the =93ethics of seeing=2C=94 as well a=
s the semiotics of death=2C violence=2C and captivity inherent to the me=
dium of photography=2E For Sontag=2C =93the modern camera is trying to b=
e a ray gun=94 and taking a picture is =93as simple as pulling the trigg=
er=2E=94 If the violent gaze of the camera can be seen as a tool of and =
for surveillance=2C the photographic image materializes itself as eviden=
ce=2C while the mechanisms of photography can frame the image as a misse=
d encounter with reality=2E We would like to explore the intrusion=2C oc=
casionally disruptive=2C of photography into text and cinema=2E We invit=
e papers that consider the legacies of Sontag=92s work on violence and p=
hotography=2C focusing on the ways in which literary and cinematic works=
 (mis)appropriate photography as an aesthetic tool of investigation=2C d=
etection=2C seduction=2C violence=2C crime=2C and death=2E =

Possible topics include but are not limited to=3A =

-How does photography thwart and/or advance the resolution of a crime=3A=
 photographic evidence=2C the manipulation of photography=2C photographi=
c ekphrasis=3F
-How do still pictures and motion pictures interact=3F =

-What are the ways in which the camera becomes fetishized and represente=
d as an object of desire in narrative=3F =

-How are the conventions of crime cinema and literature upheld and/or fr=
ustrated by the intrusion of photography=3F =

Please submit a 250-word abstract=2C short bio=2C and contact informatio=
n via e-mail attachment (MS Word=2C please)=2C by September 1st=2C 2006=2C=
 to Marcelline Block=2C mblock=40princeton=2Eedu and Masha Mimran=2C mmi=
mran=40princeton=2Eedu=2E
For further information on this convention=2C consult www=2Enemla=2Eorg

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Received on Fri Aug 11 2006 - 17:15:50 EDT