Satire Today: Transhistorical, Transcultural Dialogues
UK Network for Modern Fiction Conference
Marymount Manhattan College
New York City, June 12-13, 2008

Since the late twentieth century, there has been a resurgence of scholarly
interest in the theory and practice of satire. A number of theoreticians
have endeavored to re-conceptualize the very idea of the satirical, while
artists working in various genres and media have continued to revitalize
and reinvent the mode for a contemporary context. What new insights into
the concept of satire can be proposed for the twenty-first century?
   
The UK Network for Modern Fiction Conference is pleased to be working in
conjunction with Marymount Manhattan College, the hosts, to offer its first
North American event. The organizers invite papers (or agreed panels)
focusing on various areas including contemporary satirical texts that
reshape traditional conventions, as well as contemporary critical
approaches to earlier satirical writing (from the eighteenth century to the
present). The conference’s primary focus is on literary satire, but
interdisciplinary approaches and analyses of other media are most welcome.

Questions for consideration might include but are not limited to:

What are the conceptual boundaries of satire?
How have new forms of satire stretched or questioned those boundaries?
What is the relationship between satire and innovations in the field of
narrative structure?
How have contemporary satirists reworked and appropriated traditional
conventions?
How has the breakdown of distinctions between popular and high culture
influenced satirical production today?
How does satire aid our investigation of political discourses?
Does satirical production perpetuate the postmodernist dynamics of
subversion and complacency?
What are the traditional and current functions of satire’s self-reflectivity?
What is satire’s relationship to questions of national/transnational identity?
Is satire concerned with problems of civic responsibility?
In what ways does satire interrogate institutions and power structures
(political, academic, and economic)?
What are the intersections of satire with ethical and religious discourses?
What insights can be gained from examining the circulation and marketing of
satire?
What new areas of satirical practice are emerging today?
What are satire’s goals in the contemporary world?

Please submit 300-word proposals for 15-20 minute papers OR for
pre-organized panels on appropriate topics (subject to review by and
agreement of the organizers) stating name and affiliation to Magdalena
Maczynska (mmaczynska_at_mmm.edu) by December 15, 2007. Successful applicants
will be notified by January 15, 2008. Conference fee t.b.a.

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Received on Sun Oct 28 2007 - 13:48:55 EST