Call for Papers: Special Issue, The Comparatist

Topic: Anger

General Editor: Zahi Zalloua (Whitman College)

We welcome contributions that examine the notion of anger in comparative studies and literary theory. What does anger signify today? Whose anger matters? Why are some bodies allowed to be angry—their anger is deemed appropriate, justified, and even dignified—while others, often racialized bodies, are constantly condemned for being so? What is the future of anger? Has it been freed from a politics of respectability? Is anger irremediably tied to a rhetoric of victimhood and/or identity politics? Under what circumstances can it be deployed for a universal politics? With an eye for its many permutations, this volume will consider anger’s reinvigorated existence and persistence in the contemporary world. Topics of interest could include:

Anger and racism

Anger and the philosophical tradition

Anger and its relation to hate/ressentiment

Bad affects

White anger

Queer anger

The politics of respectability

The rhetoric of blame

Audre Lorde and the politics of rage

The feminist killjoy

The Right to Anger

Anger’s negativity

Anti-colonial anger

Liberalism and anger-management

Interested contributors should submit a 1-page abstract by April 1, 2023 to zallouz@whitman.edu. Deadline for completed articles will be December 1, 2023.