CALL FOR PAPERS:
"Narratology in the Age of Interdisciplinary Narrative Research" (2/15/07;
6/25/07-6/26/07)

Papers are invited for the Inaugural Symposium of the Center for Narrative
Research at Wuppertal University, Germany, 25-26 June, 2007.
The significance of narrative as a cognitive and communicative tool used to
make sense of the world by creating personal and cultural identities or
relating the present to the past and future is increasingly recognized in a
variety of disciplines, ranging from literary studies and linguistics to
anthropology, sociology, psychology, historiography and business studies, to
name but a few. The growing interdisciplinary interest in narrative and
storytelling, however, has so far not led to a convergence of theoretical
frameworks and methodological approaches: Far from developing a 'lingua
franca' for interdisciplinary discussions of narrative, the numerous studies
of stories and storytelling in recent years seem to have contributed to a
'Babelisation' of narrative studies. This situation raises a number of
questions which the contributions to the symposium will explore:

- What are the differences or similarities between (the analysis of)
non-fictional and fictional storytelling?
- To what degree have the various disciplinary approaches to narrative
acknowledged each other's findings? Do they proceed from the same premises?
- Can the terminology developed by narratological approaches to fiction
serve as the basis for an interdisciplinary lingua franca in narrative
research? Or is fictional narrative significantly different from
non-fictional story-telling?
- How can (literary) narratology benefit from concepts and methods proposed
by narrative researchers in other disciplines? Might the insights of
narrative psychology, for instance, help to further shape the approach known
as 'cognitive narratology'?
- Can 'narrative' and 'storytelling' function as 'travelling concepts'
(Mieke Bal), facilitating interdisciplinary communication?
- Is there any common ground between hermeneutic, narratological and
empirical methods of describing, analysing and interpreting narrative(s)?

We welcome contributions both from literary scholars and from narrative
researchers in other disciplines. There will be keynote lectures by David
Herman (Project Narrative, Ohio State University) and Bo Pettersson
(Department of English, University of Helsinki). Please submit proposals for
a 20-minute paper to Roy Sommer at rsommer_at_uni-wuppertal.de by February 15,
2007. Proposals should include both an abstract (150-250 words) and a short
biographical note. All submissions will be considered for a prospective
volume on the topic.

Prof. Dr. Roy Sommer
University of Wuppertal
English and American Studies
Gaussstrasse 20
D-42119 Wuppertal
Germany
E-mail: rsommer_at_uni-wuppertal.de

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Received on Tue Dec 12 2006 - 12:18:47 EST