Call for papers
The anniversary of the journal Primerjalna književnost will take place
next year; to celebrate this occasion we are inviting colleagues to
reflect on what has been happening with literature (as object of study)
and comparative literature (as scientific discipline) over the last
thirty years. To encourage a wide range of responses, some possible
issues are presented below, but essays dealing with other topics
relating to literature or comparative literature after 1978 are also
welcome.
1. Comparative literature, other sciences, knowledge and society
Comparative literature is traditionally open to concepts of different
disciplines (philosophy, linguistics, psychoanalysis, sociology,
history and so on). Interdisciplinary approaches have considerably
enriched our knowledge about literature, whereas transdisciplinarity
means a rather new challenge. Transdisciplinarity is grounded on the
assumption that knowledge is transgressive in its essence, and
therefore transcends the borders between disciplines as well as the
borders between science and society. Transdisciplinarity does not
abolish singular disciplines; on the contrary it aims for dialogue
between specialists and different kinds of knowledge, therefore also
between literary science and literature. It emphasizes the notion of
accountability to different users and the importance of teaching among
other things.
2. Changes in comparative literature
After years of mutual exclusion, two main approaches to literary
studies in the 20th century, textualism and historism, have reached the
point where they can work together. However, the social turn has marked
the recent past of literary science more than the linguistic turn.
Socio-political aspects of text (power, class, history, race, gender
and so on) have gained attention. When we speak about the development
of comparative literature, we can not ignore recurrences of past
models, for example Geistesgeschichte as one of them.
3. Changes in literature
The intertwining of historism and textualism takes place in a special
kind of postmodern novel, historiographic metafiction. One primary
postmodern achievement is the affirmation of genres and popular
culture, whereas the question whether postmodernism is the latest
literary movement or just another episode in literary history, remains
open. In the recent past – marked by economic and cultural
globalisation and corresponding localisation, in the post-socialist
states particularly a transition to democratic society – problems of
identity, individual as well as group, have become central in and to
literature. Another characteristic of the current situation is
literature’s changing relationship with the new media (hypertext and
interactive literature, post-dramatic theatre), opening up many new
vistas for comparative scholarship.
Guidelines for participation: an abstract (500-600 characters) written
in English or Slovene should be sent by October 15 to the editor’s
address ([log in to unmask]). You will be informed by November 15
whether you are invited to send your paper (20.000 characters with
spaces, i.e. 10 pages) with a deadline of March 1, 2007. The selected
papers will be published in the journal Primerjalna književnost in its
jubilee year 2007.
Darja Pavlič, Editor of Pkn
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