The annual conference of the Modern Language Association will be held in Washington, DC on Jan. 6-9, 2022. The Nathaniel Hawthorne Society seeks proposals for the following panel:

Hawthorne at Play

We invite papers that consider “play” and “at play” in the most capacious sense, welcoming historical, formal, and theoretical readings of “Hawthorne at Play.” These might include the play of language in Hawthorne’s work (the pleasure of the text, jouissance, textual desire); intertextual play and play with precursors and historical sources; play with generic and readerly expectations; or representations and figures of play in Hawthorne’s writings and relevant historical contexts.  Papers might also engage various theories of play, affect, and aesthetics to illuminate Hawthorne’s work.  Might, for example, Sianne Ngai’s “aesthetic categories” of the zany, the cute, and the interesting apply to Hawthorne’s work?

Please send abstracts of approximately 250 words to Nancy Sweet nsweet@csus.edu by March 15, 2021.