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INSTITUTE OF MODERN LANGUAGES RESEARCH School of Advanced Study * University of London Thursday, 21 - Friday, 22 September 2017 Venue: University of London, Senate House, London WC1E 7HE Herta Müller's life and works exemplify some of the most fundamental themes and undercurrents of modern European history. From her Romanian-German upbringing, overshadowed by the Second World War and Stalin-era deportations, to her adult negotiation of the oppression of Romanian communism and the shock of arrival in 1980s West Berlin, Müller's trajectory reflects some of the major themes of the 20th century. Guilt, trauma, alienation, resistance, and flight permeate her work, which positions itself at the conjunction of multiple histories and responds to a tradition of literary representations of totalitarianism. Her novels, essays and collages concern themselves with the experience of common people, often at the margins of society or excluded from the narratives of political history, and promote awareness of the huge cost in terms of suffering and upheaval paid by them for the decisions made by their rulers. Müller's political activism also has a strong historical inflection: her appeals for greater humanity in addressing contemporary issues such as the refugee crisis reference historical events such as the flight of Jews and socialists from Germany in the 1930s as well as her own experience of exile. She uses her writing and high profile as an author and Nobel Prize winner to transgress against categorical thinking, hegemonic discourses and received wisdom and to agitate for ethical engagement with the experience of the Other. 2017 marks 30 years since Herta Müller fled Romania, yet her work on the damaging effects of exploitative regimes and the dehumanisation of man by man sadly remains as relevant as ever. This conference aims to bring together leading Müller scholars as well as new voices, and to facilitate a collective reassessment of her work and its significance in the light of 20th- and 21st-century history, as well as the now over 40 years of her career. Confirmed keynotes: Prof. Karin Bauer (McGill University), and Prof. Norbert Otto Eke (Universität Paderborn) Papers are invited of 20 minutes (in English, French or German) which consider Müller's life and works in relation to: - Memory - Trauma and political suffering - The legacies of totalitarianism - Refugee experience - Intertexts and memory culture - Identity and literature - Ethnicity and Gender - Political debates - Autofiktion and empathy - European history and minor literature - Marginalised experiences - Romanian-German literature - Poetics and Metaphor Conference languages: English, French, German. 300-word abstracts should be sent to [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> by 15 March 2017. Scholars wishing to submit a panel proposal of three 20-minute or four 15-minute papers are welcome to do so. Please provide full abstracts for each of the papers, along with an introductory explanation of the panel. Alternative formats will be considered and the organisers would like to extend an enthusiastic invitation to PG and ECR participants. Further information about any aspect of the call for papers should be addressed to the organisers: Dr Brigid Haines (Swansea University), Dr Michel Mallet (Université de Moncton) and Jenny Watson (Sheffield University) at the above email address. Further information, including the call for papers in French and German, is available at: http://www.sas.ac.uk/events/event/7840 Jane Lewin IMLR Trusts Administrator/Events Manager Institute of Modern Languages Research University of London School of Advanced Study Room 239, Senate House Malet Street, GB- London WC1E 7HU Telephone 0044 (0)20 7862 8966 Website http://modernlanguages.sas.ac.uk The University of London is an exempt charity in England and Wales. We have cut carbon emissions from University buildings by 32% and are committed to cutting emissions by 43% by 2020. Please think before you print.