Call for Papers: 8th Annual Graduate English Organization Conference
“Departures”
Department of English
University of Maryland, College Park
March 28, 2015
“Departures”
Department of English
University of Maryland, College Park
March 28, 2015
In "Poetry of Departures" (1976), Philip Larkin muses about throwing it all away—for Larkin, departing is an “audacious, purifying/Elemental move.” Yet contemplating leaving his life for another "Leaves me flushed and stirred," he writes. Larkin is trapped by notional perfection. Seduced by the thought of departing from the "perfect order" of his current life, the poet comes to realize that any deliberate action constitutes giving oneself over to order. Departure is utterly impossible. Departure is immanently desirable.
Broadly construed, “Departures” encompasses its own troubling: it is fundamentally dynamic, vectoral, and affective (“flushed and stirred”). The paradox of departing, ending and simultaneously beginning, encompasses both geographical and conceptual leavings. Whether intentional or accidental, artificial or organic, departure marks a shift in ways of seeing, thinking, and being.
We invite submissions that engage with all aspects of the title. In addition to critical presentations, creative work in Fiction, Poetry, Drama, Dance, Arts, and Film are welcome.
Topics of potential essays can include, but are not limited to:
Above all, we are looking for the most exciting graduate work in the DC area, the mid-Atlantic region, and beyond!
The conference committee invites proposals for fifteen-minute papers from a broad range of disciplines and theoretical backgrounds. Proposals on creative work must be a short sample from an original composition. Panel submissions (3-4 participants) are highly encouraged. Please limit individual abstracts to 300 words and panel abstracts to 500 words. Full papers may accompany abstracts. Please include your full name, email address, and three keywords at the end of the abstract to assist panel formation.
Abstracts are due December 8, 2014 and should be e-mailed to [email protected] .
Broadly construed, “Departures” encompasses its own troubling: it is fundamentally dynamic, vectoral, and affective (“flushed and stirred”). The paradox of departing, ending and simultaneously beginning, encompasses both geographical and conceptual leavings. Whether intentional or accidental, artificial or organic, departure marks a shift in ways of seeing, thinking, and being.
We invite submissions that engage with all aspects of the title. In addition to critical presentations, creative work in Fiction, Poetry, Drama, Dance, Arts, and Film are welcome.
Topics of potential essays can include, but are not limited to:
- Departures from spaces and places
- Transnational identities or literatures
- Travel narratives
- Displaced or dislocated peoples
- Departures in genre, forms, fields
- Breaking generic conventions
- Writing and research in a digital age
- Reconfiguring periodization
- Reclassifying the canon
- Departures from the normate
- Reconstructions of race, gender, or sexuality
- Queer and/or disability methodologies
- Departures from expectations
- Ruptures in history and time
- Alternative epistemologies
- Outlaw emotions, transgressive memories
- Innovative pedagogical approaches
Above all, we are looking for the most exciting graduate work in the DC area, the mid-Atlantic region, and beyond!
The conference committee invites proposals for fifteen-minute papers from a broad range of disciplines and theoretical backgrounds. Proposals on creative work must be a short sample from an original composition. Panel submissions (3-4 participants) are highly encouraged. Please limit individual abstracts to 300 words and panel abstracts to 500 words. Full papers may accompany abstracts. Please include your full name, email address, and three keywords at the end of the abstract to assist panel formation.
Abstracts are due December 8, 2014 and should be e-mailed to [email protected] .