`Evolving Scottish Literature': Scottish Studies Seminar at ESSE 2004
Conference
Call for papers
We are planning a session on Scottish Literature at the next (seventh)
conference of the European Society for the Study of English (ESSE),
taking place at Zaragoza, 7-12 September 2004, and hereby invite
interested speakers to contact us. We expect to have space for three 2-
hour seminar slots at the conference. To invite proposals for papers, we
have set out 4 notional topics below, which may be adapted if
proposed papers suggest other areas of interest. In other words, the
topics below should be read as relatively flexible reference points for
individual papers. We welcome papers dealing with all periods and
discourses in Scottish literature.
The format of seminars at the ESSE conference is as follows:
once a list of speakers has been drawn up on the basis of individual
proposals in response to the present call for papers, speakers submit
their paper (max. 4-5 pages of printed text) in electronic format a few
months before the conference. We as seminar organisers will then
distribute these among all speakers contributing to the Scottish Studies
seminar as well as to those who are attending the conference and have
indicated they wish to attend the Scottish Studies seminar. At the
seminar itself, speakers provide a brief (5-10 minutes) summary of their
paper, after which the remaining 20-25 minutes of that individual paper's
allotted time-slot will be spent on discussion. (For those who are
unfamiliar with these biennial ESSE conferences, please consult the
conference website at http://www.essenglish.org/zara-apc.html or the
ESSE site at http://www.essenglish.org/home.html.)
Please send your proposal for a paper (100 words max) by e-mail / print-
out / fax to either of the addresses below (we would prefer e-mail, and if
at all possible to both our e-mail addresses). We need your 100-word
proposals by 1st December 2003, and the full version of your paper by 1
July 2004, in order for us to circulate it to other speakers and to those
who have indicated they wish to attend the session.
Scottish Studies seminar proposal for Zaragoza 2004: topic description.
Overall seminar title: Evolving Scottish Literature
Building on previous ESSE seminars, the proposed seminar for Zaragoza
focuses on the continued re-evaluation of Scottish literature both in
Scotland and abroad, and considers the interaction of Scottish studies
with other literatures, cultures and with a range of critical-theoretical
discourses. We welcome papers dealing with all periods and discourses
in Scottish literature. The four strands we intend papers to cover are:
Scotland beyond Scotland (Scottish studies in an international context,
seen from both within and without); Scotland and the Canon; Identity
and Scotland (covering national, political, cultural and individual
identities); and Theorising Scottish Literature (how theoretically
informed reading strategies may provide new perspectives on past or
present Scottish texts).
Given the above seminar description, we propose the following four
loosely defined topics for individual sessions:
Scotland beyond Scotland
Scotland and the Canon
Identity and Scotland
Theorising Scottish Literature
Scotland beyond Scotland
This session will consider Scottish studies in an international context,
which might include discussion of Scottish literary texts which are
strongly influenced by other cultures, texts which see Scotland from
outside Scotland - even if written withIN Scotland - and Scottish
literature when studied outside Scotland. What different perspectives
do we gain when we consider Scotland from outside, and how might this
allow us to reassess our perceptions of what Scottish literature is?
Scotland and the Canon
This session topic partly emerges from the one above. Heated debates
on whether there is a need for a canon have been discussed in many
national literatures. Does Scotland have a canon? Does it indeed need or
want one? What literary texts speak to the issue of the relationship
between Gaelic, Scots and English writing? Are there clear cases of
presently non-canonical texts that should be added to the canon
(especially if they radically revise our perceptions of what are or should
be the criteria for any such canon in the first place, if any?).
Identity and Scotland
This session will consider different definitions of identity in
Scotland: national, political and individual identity. What does it
mean to talk about Scottish national identity, particularly in the
context of literature? Do Scottish writers want to be seen as
representatives of Scotland? Is Scottish literature too often
discussed in terms of identity politics? Is the production of cultural
stereotypes a Scottish remedy to the complexities of change? Does
Scottish writing offer a specific perspective on the notion of the fiction
of identity and selfhood? Travel-writing might be one particular genre
that addresses the latter issue.
Theorising Scottish Literature
Partly overlapping with the session above, this session will investigate
how, if at all, theoretically informed reading strategies may open up, and
provide perspectives on, past or present Scottish texts for their readers.
How do concepts of post-modernity contribute to this discussion?
What are the opportunities provided by linguistic theory in this
respect? Does Scottish literature offer alternative critical paradigms to,
or new perspectives on, existing critical theories (for example, regarding
the relationship between texts and paratexts; the contribution of the
supernatural; the role of specifically gender-identified writers or
protagonists)? It is intended that papers in this session balance (an
analysis of) the application of critical discourses with sustained and
specific references to literary texts, rather than focus on purely
theoretical discussion.
Please send your proposals for paper(s) to
Kirsten Stirling
Section d'anglais
BFSH2
Université de Lausanne
CH-1015 Lausanne
Switzerland
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
fax: +41 21 692 29 35
Theo van Heijnsbergen
Department of Scottish Literature
University of Glasgow
Glasgow G12 8QQ
Scotland
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
fax: + 44 141 330 2431
Dr Kirsten Stirling
Section d'anglais
University of Lausanne
Switzerland
tel. + 41 (0)21/692.29.96
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