Hi,

Please could I offer clarification on the recently posted call for
contributions (copy below), since I've had a few queries from list
members on this (particularly from Rashmi -- sorry, my emails to
you keep bouncing back). Basically, the message is that we are
interested in contributions relating to any national cinema (the
quotation at the top of the flyer isn't meant to imply an exclusively
US focus).

Many thanks,

Dave



    Call for Contributions

    Moving Pictures/Stopping Places:
    Hotels & Motels on Film

    “One of the major changes in the cinema and in real
    American life has been the shift from the train and the
    hotel to the car and the motel, from a nation confidently
    progressing together on a preordained track to an anxious
    collection of isolated individuals frantically free to make
    individual journeys in any direction. A hotel is a society in
    miniature; a house is a symbol of family and continuity; the
    motel has become a metaphor for angst and alienation.”
    (Philip French)

    David B. Clarke & Valerie Crawford Pfannhauser are
    planning an edited volume on the theme of cinematic
    hotels & motels. We are aiming to put together a proposal
    to submit to our preferred publisher by mid June, 2003 &
    are currently seeking expressions of interest. We are
    looking to receive short (c. 200 word) abstracts from
    interested parties by late May, 2003. We intend to
    produce a multi-disciplinary volume with ample illustration,
    along the lines of _The Cinematic City_ (Routledge,
    1997).

    Without aiming to be prescriptive, the kind of themes we
    anticipate covering include:

    *the thematic/visual/symbolically significance of
    hotels/motels in film; hotels/motels & film genre;
    hotels/motels as a part of the cityscape; hotels/motels &
    film production

    *the emotional/affective/ideological valency of
    hotels/motels in film; physical, geographical, psychological,
    spiritual & metaphorical mobility in relation to modernity
    & postmodernity; freedom, escape, anonymity, restraint;
    futuristic & nostalgic visions; utopia & dystopia

    *the hotel/motel as a point of departure; as part of a
    journey, a transitory or ephemeral space; as a terminus; as
    a frontier space; as a metaphoric foil to the status or state
    of mind of the characters; as places of transition,
    transgression, & discovery, often sexual or sexualized

    *the leading role played by hotels/motels; the functionality
    of space in cinematic narratives (e.g. the hotel lobby);
    changes in the symbolism of hotels/motels (from the luxury
    hotel to the cheap motel)

    *similarities & differences to the role of hotels/motels in
    other art forms & media

    Interested parties should send a 200-word abstract either
    by mail (to D. B. Clarke, School of Geography,
    University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK) or email (to
    [log in to unmask]) by 31 May, 2003. We will
    aim to confirm the final list of contributors by mid June,
    2003.

    Please feel free to circulate this e-mail