CFP: [20th] Science and Fiction Panel: The Legacy of Philip K. Dick

full name / name of organization: 
Greg Wright
contact email: 

CFP: “Science and Fiction” Panel: The Legacy of Philip K. Dick (03/31/08;
Midwest Modern Language Association, 11/13-11/16)

“Science and Fiction” Panel of the Midwest Modern Language Association:

Panel Title: The Legacy of Philip K. Dick

This panel will consider the impact of renowned science fiction writer
Philip K. Dick, both in terms of his novels and short stories and in
terms of the films adapted from his work. In what ways does Dick’s
fiction revisit and revise common conventions of both science and
fiction? How has his approach to genre forms and conventions altered the
evolution of science fiction? Abstracts for this panel should explore
either the texts by Philip K. Dick or those based on his work with the
same aims of critical redefintion that Dick’s fiction itself performs.

Some of the possible Philip K. Dick-related texts to consider include:

Novels such as: Ubik, The Man in the High Castle, Valis, Do Androids
Dream of Electric Sheep?, Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said, Confessions
of a Crap Artist

Movie adaptations based on Dick’s work, such as: Blade Runner, Total
Recall, Minority Report, Paycheck, A Scanner Darkly, Next

Other authors, filmmakers, or texts directly or indirectly influenced by
the work of Philip K. Dick

Some possible topics to consider include:

-the connections between Dick’s science fiction and questions of
philosophy, science, culture, class, race, and gender
-the relative capacity for cultural transformation through “high culture”
ideas in a “low culture” genre
-the critical function of synthesizing or questioning other genres with
science fiction
-the relationships between film adaptations and Dick’s source material

Please send 150-300 word abstracts to Greg Wright at gwright_at_kzoo.edu, or
mail to:

Greg Wright
English Department, 203 Humphrey House
Kalamazoo College
1200 Academy Street
Kalamazoo, MI 49006

E-mail submissions are preferred.

The deadline for abstracts is March 31, 2008.

The M/MLA conference will be held November 13-16, 2008, in Minneapolis,
MN, at the Marriott Minneapolis City Center. Please visit the M/MLA
website (http://www.uiowa.edu/~mmla/) for more information about the 2008
conference.

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Received on Sun Jan 27 2008 - 18:20:04 EST