CFP: PAMLA 2022

Spaces of Memory and Geographies of the Fantastic and the Quotidian

(Special session)

Location:

Los Angeles, California at the UCLA Luskin Conference Center and Hotel

Time: November 11-13, 2022

Abstract Submission Deadline:

May 15, 2022.

Presiding officer: 

Mavis Tseng

Associate Professor,

Director of the Language Center

Taipei Medical University

mavistseng@tmu.edu.tw

The special session “Spaces of Memory and Geographies of the Fantastic and the Quotidian" in the 2022 PAMLA (Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association) conference will be held in Los Angeles, California at the UCLA Luskin Conference Center and Hotel, Friday, November 11 through Sunday, November 13, 2022.

This session examines the relationship between space and memory, geographies of memory, and the spatiality of history. The ancient Greek poet Simonides’ “memory palaces” emphasizes the significance of following spatial cues; Giulio Camillo’s famous “Theatre of memory” materializes human memory within an architectural framework; Walter Benjamin’s library, filled with the books he collected, is a space of memory. Wislawa Szymborska imagines memory as a theatre that she can “leave and reenter.” Here “spaces of memory” can refer to real or surreal (or hyperreal), exterior or interior, physical or digital, ordinary or fantastic spaces. Proust’s madeleine episode proves that memory could be easily evoked or mediated in apparently ordinary places; memories also inspire the creation of bizarre and fantastic spaces in our cultural imagination. In The Apple+ new sci-fi series Severance, the characters’ memory of work and memory of life can be split, and there is a mysterious elevator that switches the characters’ memory. In this world, what the characters remember at the moment depends entirely on which space they physically inhabit.

We invite papers that address the dynamic relationship between space and memory and its representation in contemporary literature, TV series, and film. This session explores the fundamental notions and offers new perspectives on the theme of space of memory in memory studies, literary criticism, film studies, and cultural studies. Submissions that engage with the 2022 PAMLA Conference Theme, "Geographies of the Fantastic and the Quotidian," are particularly welcome.

The deadline to submit presentation proposal abstracts is May 15, 2022.

Please submit your paper title, an approximately 50 word abstract, an approximately 250-400-word description through the PAMLA website: 

https://pamla.ballastacademic.com/Home/S/18503

Please read PAMLA policies and procedures for presenters:

https://www.pamla.org/conference/policies-and-procedures/

If you have any questions about this approved special session, please contact Prof. Mavis Tseng at mavistseng@tmu.edu.tw.