Northeast Victorian Studies Association 2000 Conference
CFP: VICTORIAN BREAKDOWNS
26th Annual Meeting:
April 14-16, 2000
CUNY Graduate School,
New York, NY
What happened when Victorian things broke down? Or when Victorians
broke things down - analyzing, taxonomizing, categorizing - in order to
master complex phenomena? When and how did these Victorian attempts to
break down reality break down? When did Victorian breakdowns lead to
breakthroughs - by whom, and for whose benefit?
At its 26th annual conference, NVSA will consider the crucial mental and
institutional breakings-down of reality by which the Victorians organized
their world, and the many forms of malfunctioning that may have forced or
encouraged them to rethink their paradigms. How do paradoxes and
complexities of "breakdown" - both the term and the concept - help us map
the constitutive fault lines of Victorian society? We welcome proposals
for papers examining specific instances of Victorian breakdown - as
conceptualization, calamity, exigency, and/or opportunity.
Possible topics include (but are not limited to):
* mechanical breakdowns, accidents, misfires.
* "nervous breakdown," hysteria, psychic or emotional breakdown, crises of
faith, "brain fever," "moral insanity," etc.
* institutional or financial collapses (bankruptcies, stock crashes, etc.)
and their repercussions.
* the breakdown (or break-up) of relationships, families, partnerships
(divorces, abandonments, fallings-out, etc.).
* physical breakdown: broken bones, injured bodies, fatigue, exhaustion.
* "breaking down the will": education, discipline, punishment.
* dead ends and failed experiments: in science and technology, religion and
philosophy, art and literature, politics and society.
* classification systems and their discontents: taxonomies, statistical
analysis, the emergence and delineation of disciplines.
* entropy.
* boundaries, material and ideological; border conflicts and disputes;
negotiated and liminal identities.
* the breakdown of old customs, hierarchies, privileges, ways of life, ways
of thinking.
* degeneration (of mind, body, species, race).
* fragments and fragmented experience; truncated texts, unfinished projects.
* periodization: the various forms of "past and present," their promises and
problems.
* conceptual breakdowns (in both senses).
Paper proposals (no more than two double-spaced pages) by Oct. 15, 1999, to:
Professor Robert Jacklosky,
Department of English
College of Mount Saint Vincent
6301 Riverdale Avenue
Riverdale, New York 10471-1093.
Fax (attn: Rbt. Jacklosky): 718-405-3747
Phone: 718-405-3301.
Email: rjacklos@cmsv.edu
Please do not send complete papers. Please do not include your name on your
proposal; we review proposals anonymously. Please do include your name,
institutional and email addresses, and proposal title in the cover letter
that accompanies the proposal.
Finished papers should take 15-minutes (20 minutes maximum) so as to
provide ample time for discussion following each panel.
INVITATION TO ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION
In an attempt to allow more participation in the program, we are
continuing the popular roundtable discussions on pedagogy that we initiated
three years ago. This year we'd like to focus the discussion on
PERIODIZATION and the way that we approach or avoid the notion of the
Victorian "period" and Victorian sub periods (Hungry Forties, Early, Mid-
and Late, etc.) in our classrooms. If you'd like to make a presentation,
please send a note to Professor Paula Krebs, Department of English, Wheaton
College, Norton, Mass. 02766 (fax: (508) 286-8263; email:
pkrebs@wheatonma.edu) describing briefly (no more than one double-spaced
page) the aspects of pedagogy you'd like to share. Keep in mind that being
a presenter means creating an atmosphere for stimulating discussion rather
than presenting a paper.
The Coral Lansbury Travel Grant ($100.00) and George Ford Travel Grant
($100.00) given in memory of key founding members of NVSA, are awarded
annually to the graduate student, adjunct instructor, or independent
scholar who must travel the greatest distance to give a paper at our
conference. Apply by indicating that you wish to be considered in the cover
letter to your proposal. Mention, also, if you have other sources of funding.
If you have any questions about the conference please contact Prof. Rob
Jacklosky (rjacklos@cmsv.edu).
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From the Literary Calls for Papers Mailing List
CFP@english.upenn.edu
Full Information at
http://www.english.upenn.edu/CFP/
or write Erika Lin: elin@english.upenn.edu
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