Spring Cleaning:
Rediscovering and Revitalizing the Artifact
University of Calgary Free Exchange Graduate Conference
16-18 March 2007
Calgary, Alberta
For more information, please visit Free Exchange at www.english.ucalgary.ca

The Organ as Object / The Metonymy of Anatomy

Body parts are easier to remove than thoughts.
                                                Suzette Mayr, "Scalps"

This call is for papers that explore the representation of the organ in
prose, plays, or poetry. In Suzette Mayr's short story "Scalps," as the
narrator lies awake in bed envisioning her fiancé with another lover, she
removes her heart from her body and thinks to herself, "I'll have to put
that somewhere safe" (167). Similarly, in Jeanette Winterson's The
Passion, Villanelle tells Henri that her heart, a "valuable, fabulous
thing" (132), has long been kept by her ex-lover in a blue jar in her
closet. Henri thinks to himself, "Not possible" (133). But whether or not
a woman watching her heart turn grey outside of her body is possible,
whether or not unrequited love culminating in the heist of one's heart is
possible, these works force the reader to consider what or how the heart
signifies when removed from the body. This panel invites papers that
explore the nature and purpose of the human body's individual parts when
portrayed as representative objects or artifacts. How are organs or body
parts singled out and used by writers and theorists, and to what possible
ends?

Deadline for submissions: 2 February 2007
Please submit 250 word proposals (for papers approx. 15 minutes in length)
to panel chair Robyn Read at rjread_at_ucalgary.ca. Attachments should be in
Rich Text or Word format only, and please include your name, professional
affiliation, and contact information in the body of your email.

Works Cited
Mayr, Suzette. "Scalps." Boundless Alberta. Ed. Aritha van Herk. Edmonton:
NeWest,
        1993. 163-167.
Winterson, Jeanette. The Passion. 1987. Toronto: Vintage, 2000.

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Received on Sat Jan 06 2007 - 18:56:08 EST