CFP: Asian Gothic: A Critical Reader (10/31/06; collection)
Urgemt Call for Essays (Collection)
Asian Gothic: A Critical Reader
I am reposting a call for essays for a collection on Asian Gothic. After
some hiatus, a reputable publisher has finally been found, and I writing
to solicit essays which deploys Gothic poetics to read a variety of
Asian-centric narratives. I am looking for a few more essays which will
complete the project.
(Attention to those who have responded to the initial CFP: can you
please contact me directly with regards to the status of your proposal
and update me with your latest contacts as I have been unable to contact
you).
Here is the original posting: Despite its Anglo-centric literary
heritage, I believe that the Gothic, in its ambivalence and
susceptibility to polyvalent interpretations and theorising, is a
helpful way of reading and understanding the vast output of powerful
Asian texts that carry strong strains of the forbidden, the
extraordinary, the fantastic, the supernatural and the uncanny (amongst
other concerns). Furthermore, a vast majority of contemporary Asian
writers have been exposed to turn-of-the-century Western literatures
(Kafka, Beckett, Mann) and philosophies (Existentialism, modernism,
deconstruction), which have more or less influenced their writing. In
this, I am not suggesting that a wholesale borrowing or appropriation of
Western literary and philosophical traditions have been made by Asian
writers, and it is part of this book's concern with the way Asian
writers have also reshaped such ideological otherness to address their
immediate cultural, social and/or political climates.
I am interested in the way Gothic as a theory and a poetics of reading
can help elucidate some crucial insights into the complexity of Asian
narratives (of course, argument for how a particular text is to be read
as Gothic must be staged first). I am therefore seeking essays that
would deal with the following two main concerns:
* How useful is the Gothic as a theory and mechanism for reading Asian
literatures, and how would this reading performance extend and expand
the Gothic.
* The similarities/differences between Asian-centric Gothic and an
Anglo-American-centric one. In what way does
cultural/social/political/ideological uniqueness complicate and/or
inform readings and understanding of the Gothic.
There are four main categories for which this collection is seeking
essays:
1. Postcolonial Asian literature
2. Asian American literature
3. Japanese literature
4. Literature from other Asian nations not directly under the above
three categories (such as narratives from China, Turkey, Saudi Arabia,
etc.)
As we are working on a very tight schedule (publication is scheduled for
mid 2007, although this is negotiable), please submit a 500 - 800 word
proposal by 31st October 2006 if you are interested in participating in
this project. I will get back to you by mid November. Or you can write
to me if you have further questions.
Submit proposal/query to: Andrew Ng, email:
ng.hock.soon_at_artsci.monash.edu.my
Thank you.
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Received on Thu Oct 12 2006 - 11:20:08 EDT