Literary forms like the poems, novels, and short stories are often understood to be stand-ins for political resistance in critical theoretical debates especially since the dominance of post-al theories within literature departments. For literary forms emerging in the peripheries of the literary world system yoked by the global literary marketplace, the signification of resistance acts as a marker of value. This is superimposed on the idea of literary forms emerging from the peripheral locales of the literary world system that are read as derivative and mimetic of literary forms emerging from the core of the same system. As such it not only reduces the aesthetic qualities of peripheral and semi-peripheral texts to their anthropological and historical authenticity, but also flattens out the idea of resistance itself. This panel will bring together scholars in various levels of academic engagement to think about the possibilities of revolution in literary forms emerging from peripheral locales as well as re-read literary forms as revolutionary documents of peripheral locales. Drawing on Antonio Gramsci’s idea of the “Southern Question” and mapping it onto literary and cultural forms, the aim of this panel will be to locate the possibilities of counter-intuitive solidarities and imagination of alternative geopolitical formations. Some of the questions that this panel will address but will not be limited to include –

· How can the periphery be mapped onto revolutionary literary forms or literary forms indicating a revolution?

· What are the revolutionary possibilities in locating peripheries within peripheries and peripheries within core of the literary world system?

· Why are certain ideas of revolution emerging from literary forms prioritized over other revolutionary forms of intervention?

· Is it possible to draw on the experiences of failed revolution in literature and culture to make it generative and constructive?

Interested presenters are requested to submit their abstract (250-300 words) and bio-note (50-100 words) to the NeMLA portal by September 30, 2024. Here is the link to the portal (https://cfplist.com/nemla/Home/CFP) and this particular session is listed under both World Literatures and Comparative Literature.