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From: mhron <[log in to unmask]>

Panel Proposal for AAASS 34th National Convention
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 21-24 November 2002

"Czeching it Out" After 89: Literary "Outlooks"

This panel seeks to explore the changes in post-communist Czech Republic
as reflected in literature. What metamorphoses has the Czech outlook
experienced since 1989 and what socio-cultural constants have remained the
same? How is this apparent in literary works? Can one say that nothing
notable has been written in the Czech Republic since 89 or that Czech
dissident classics have been transformed into American pulp fiction? How
is Czech literature looking outwards in its expression and how is it
"outing" itself as Czech?

The "outlooks" in our title imply movements beyond -- beyond borders,
beyond aesthetic expression, beyond "isms" such as feminism, capitalism,
nationalism or multiculturalism... How is Czech literature "outdoing"
itself in style, form and genre? How does it reflect Czechs' relationship
to the outside (such as to Europe, the East or to a global world order) or
to its outsiders (its Slovak, German, or Austrian neighbours, for
example)? And especially, what of those out of Czech mainstream culture --
returning emigrants, women, ethnic or sexual minorities -- how is their
writing "out of bounds"?

Though the scope of this panel is primarily literature, papers from other
fields (such as politics, history, anthropology, art and design, film,
architecture, cultural studies etc.) are warmly welcomed as long as they
interrelate with literary concerns in some way.

Please send 250-300 word abstracts, along with a brief CV, by DECEMBER
1st, 2001 to:

Madelaine Hron
Dept. of Comparative Literature
2015 Tisch Hall
Ann Arbor MI, 48109-1003, USA

Preferably Email [log in to unmask]