LANGUAGE AND THE INEFFABLE: EXPRESSING THE INEXPRESSIBLE

8th Annual International Comparative Literature Conference Louisiana State University March 27-28, 2026 (Friday-Saturday) Virtual Format

Conference Theme

What happens when language encounters its own limits? This year's conference explores how writers, thinkers, and artists across cultures and centuries have grappled with expressing experiences that seem to transcend ordinary language—the mystical, the traumatic, the sublime, the deeply personal, and the utterly foreign.

From ancient mystical poetry that struggles to articulate divine union, to contemporary experimental writing that pushes against conventional narrative, to the challenge of translating untranslatable concepts across cultures, we invite participants to examine how human creativity responds when words fall short. How do different traditions develop languages for the unspeakable? What literary, philosophical, and artistic strategies emerge when ordinary expression proves inadequate?

Keynote Speaker

Dr. Cyril Uy II, Assistant Professor of Religion, James Madison University

Topics Include

Mystical and Spiritual Expression:

● Contemplative literature across religious traditions, poetry of divine union and transcendent experience, sacred texts and esoteric writing, comparative mysticism and cross-cultural spiritual language

Trauma and Testimony:

● Literature of survival and witness, memory and the limits of narrative, collective trauma and cultural expression, ethics of representing suffering

Experimental and Avant-Garde Forms:

● Visual poetry and concrete literature, stream of consciousness and interior experience, fragmentation and non-linear narrative, digital literature and multimedia expression

Translation and Cultural Transfer:

● Untranslatable concepts and cultural specificity, the translator as creative interpreter, loss and transformation in cross-cultural communication, indigenous knowledge systems and linguistic preservation

Philosophy and Theory:

● Phenomenology of experience and expression, deconstruction and the limits of meaning, embodied cognition and non-verbal knowing, consciousness studies and literary representation

Contemporary Challenges:

● AI and machine-generated language, social media and new forms of expression, mental health discourse and articulation, climate change and environmental crisis narratives

Submission Guidelines

Presentation Format: 15-20 minute presentations Abstract Length: 250 words maximum Languages: Presentations may be delivered in English, French, Spanish, or other languages (please indicate preference). Submission Deadline: December 1, 2025. Short biography including institutional affiliation and area of study. Submit abstracts to cpltfrenconf@lsu.edu.

WE ALSO ENCOURAGE AND WELCOME SUBMISSIONS ON:

Comparative and/or World Literature, Mysticism, and Spiritual Studies Translation Studies, Philosophy of Language Religious Studies Experimental Literature Digital Humanities Performance Studies Trauma Studies Psychology and Literature Philosophy Phenomenology Linguistics Creative Writing Ancient Studies Medieval Studies Asian Studies Islamic Studies Indigenous Studies Postcolonial Studies Gender Studies Cultural Studies Art History, Music, and Sound Studies Film Studies Anthropology Memory Studies Consciousness Studies Literary Theory