Call
for Papers
Literature
and Social Emotions
University
of Bristol, United Kingdom
Friday 22nd June
2018
An
interdisciplinary symposium
supported
by the Leverhulme Trust
Work
on the cultural and historical dimensions of emotion in recent decades has argued that all emotions are, to an extent, socially constructed experiences: think of Sara Ahmed’s conceptualisation of the way emotions ‘stick’ to objects in a social context, for
example, William Reddy’s theory of normative emotional regimes, or Monique Scheer’s work on emotions as socially learnt practices. In this perspective, to talk about social emotions as a subcategory of emotion might seem tautological, redundant. Yet the term
remains of use in scholarship across a range of disciplines, functioning to tease apart emotional experiences with an intrinsic relationship to social appraisal, real or imagined, from so-called basic emotions like happiness or fear. Emotions considered intrinsically
social typically include shame, embarrassment, and envy: emotions which may seem non-prestigious, trivial, or in some cases even ‘ugly’ (Sianne Ngai) but which are prevalent and powerful in modern culture.
This
symposium seeks to further our understanding of social emotions – remaining attuned to the problems of the label - by
focusing on their rapports with literature. Jan Plamper and Sarah
McNamer, amongst others, have pointed out that
the history of emotions has much to be gained from closer contact with literature as a source. In addition to literary articulations of social emotions, however, this symposium is also interested in how the production and reception of literary works has often
been, and still is, inflected by social emotions like guilt or pride. How might this understanding of literary practice as an ‘archive of feeling’
(Ann Cvetkovich) impact
on the sociology of literature? Or the history of authorship, or reading?
To
stage a mutually beneficial encounter between emotion researchers and literary scholars, this symposium invites papers which explore the history and theory of social emotions (broadly construed) and / or literature as a site of social emotions. Papers can
draw on historical or contemporary contexts; perspectives from all areas of the arts, humanities, and social sciences are welcome. The working language of the conference will be English but global and comparative perspectives are warmly encouraged. Suggested
topics for discussion include, but are not limited to:
· The
history of social emotions, either as a subset or by way of one specific emotion (e.g. shame, shyness, sympathy)
· Theories
of social emotions from philosophy, sociology, psychology, psychiatry, psychoanalysis
· The
implications, uses, and limits of the ‘social emotions’ as a category
· Social
emotions and links to other emotions or affects
· Emotion
words across time and space
· The
political efficacy or non-efficacy of social emotions
· Social
emotions and the body, gender, and sexuality
· Literature
which thematises or narrativises social emotions
· The
aesthetics of social emotions
· Archives
of social emotions
· The
role of social emotions in literary production, e.g. shame, shyness, guilt, jealousy, or admiration as a function of literary production
· Reading
and social emotions, e.g. guilt or embarrassment as an effect of reading
· Reading
communities
· Literature
and empathy
· Literature
and self-consciousness
· Cognitive
literary studies and social emotions
· Literature
and sociability: social networks between writers, between readers, and between readers and writers, e.g. fan-mail
· The
social emotions of authorship and literary celebrity
· Social
media and social emotions
Dr. Philippa Lewis
Leverhulme Early Career Fellow / Research Staff Representative for Modern Languages
Department of French, University of Bristol
Room B3, 19 Woodland Road