Open Topic: James Fenimore Cooper, an American Novelist

The James Fenimore Cooper Society invites proposals for papers that explore James Fenimore Cooper as a novelist of national narratives, whose interests and innovations to the novel in terms of form and content achieved both literary and commercial success as well as leave an indelible mark on both American and Transatlantic writing across a broad spectrum of literary, cultural, and historical perspectives. This is an open topic panel – all proposals welcomed.

Chair: TBA

 Papers should be a maximum of 15-20 minutes (6-8 pages) in length. Brief discussion will follow the presentations. Presenters need not be members of the James Fenimore Cooper Society, though we certainly hope they will choose to join. Please note that per ALA guidelines, no one may present more than one paper at the conference.

Please submit a 250-word abstract and a brief cv (2-3 pages) to Luis A. Iglesias (luis.iglesias@usm.edu)  by January 24, 2024. Please indicate whether the paper may be published in the James Fenimore Cooper Society Journal. Also in your proposal indicate any audio-visual requirements or needs. All proposals should be both pasted into the text of the email and included as attachments (word files or pdfs preferred). For additional information, please visit the James Fenimore Cooper Society webpage for resources and visual archives as well as the membership application: (https://jfcoopersociety.org/)

 Papers presented at the conference will, with their authors' permission, be published in the James Fenimore Cooper Society Journal and made available online at the Cooper Society website. Papers may be mildly revised later for publication.

Contact Information

Luis A. Iglesias, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, English

Vice President, James Fenimore Cooper Society

University of Southern Mississippi

118 College Drive, #5037

Hattiesburg, MS  39406

Contact Email: Luis.Iglesias@usm.edu