In a world where daily experience is increasingly shaped by interaction with technology, mobility and migration, and environmental
anxiety, the ways in which we view and conceptualize the world of childhood have shifted in response to these changed realities. Yet although childhood, depending on the cultural context, is becoming variously burdened with this century’s tech-savvy consumerism,
with a sense of environmental crisis and with the effects of conflict and migration, there are still many continuities with the childhood imagining and narratives of former generations. The editors of Forum for
Modern Language Studies invite submissions dealing with any topic pertaining to the theme of Literature and Childhood, within the broad field of FMLS’s normal remit (literature and culture in the languages covered by the journal). Topics may include, but are
not confined to:
- engagement with defining childhood through literature and film
- comparison of narratives of childhood across generations and eras
- ideologies and constructions of childhood in literature/film across periods, genres and contexts
- (re)readings of literary or filmic texts with childhood as central theme
- children as global, political or technological citizens in literature/film
- texts on childhood and migration
- the child as literary/filmic protagonist
- the child as narrator
- literary representation of childhood through linguistic differentiation
- childhood in autobiographical, autofictional and self-writing texts
- intertextual references to classics of children’s literature
- rewritings or adaptations of classics of children’s literature
- translation and reception of children’s literature
- the queer child in literature
- exploration of gender issues in childhood through literature/film
- generational conflicts in literature/film
- innocence and knowing in literature/films of childhood
- the child as mediator or go-between in literature/film
- figures of childhood: the wild child, the precocious child, the bully, the dreamer etc.
Submissions may address relevant aspects of the language, literature and culture of any of the subject areas covered
by the journal: Arabic, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Russian. The competition is open to all researchers, whether established or early career. Previous competitions have been won by scholars in both categories.
The winner will receive:
1. publication of the winning essay in the next appropriate volume of Forum for
Modern Language Studies, and
2. a prize of
£500
A panel of judges will read all entries, which will be assessed anonymously. At the judges’ discretion, a runner-up prize of
£200 may be awarded.
The Editors may commission for publication in Forum for
Modern Language Studies any entries that are highly commended by the judges.
Entries must be written in English, be between 6,000 and 10,000 words in length (including notes), should conform to MHRA style, and must be accompanied by an abstract
(approx. 150 words) summarising the principal arguments and making clear the relevance of the article to the competition topic.
The closing date for entries is Friday 26 April 2019.
Dr Davide Messina
Senior Lecturer,
Head of Italian
School of Literatures, Languages, & Cultures
University of Edinburgh
50 George Square,
room 3.27
Edinburgh EH8 9LH
Tel. +44 +131 6503643
