**** Apologies for multiple or cross-postings ****
Call for Papers
for a member-organized session to be convened at the Congress of the Social
Sciences and Humanities of Canada, 24 to 31 May 2000 in Edmonton, Alberta.
Second Novels: or, Deconstructing Canlit's Sophomore Jinx
Polemic as premise: There is in Canada, it seems, a long-standing cultural
practice of mythologizing our writers on the sole basis of first novels, on
the perceived "strengths" of books that appear, in the moment and through
the energies of our often self-serving cultural machinery, to signal the
emergence of our next literary icon. At times such early praise proves
prophetic. Far more often, though, such hyperventilating,
self-congratulatory proclamations (both critical and popular) prove to be
not only hyperbolic but woefully premature. This Call serves as an
invitation to (re)read the "achievements" (aesthetic, literary, cultural)
of Canadian novelists through the accomplishments (or lack thereof) of
their second novels. How do such works as _The Butterfly Plague_ (1969),
_Surfacing_ (1972), and _Blood Ties_ (1976), for instance, fit into the
oeuvres of Findley, Atwood, and Richards respectively? And how might one
place such apparently exhausting (in the broadest theoretical sense) second
novels as _Beautiful Losers_ (1966) and _Crackpot_ (1974)? And does anyone
ever read or teach _The Well_ (1958)?
Alternatively, the impulse might be to (re)consider such (mis)evaluations
as resonant cultural moments in their own right, revealing much about
contemporary Canadian anxieties, insecurities, and/or arrogance. What
roles do academics, reviewers, literary awards, and the arts media play in
this national pastime? Are "endorsements" from the big "G's" (Giller,
Governor-General's, the Globe, Gzowski) good for Canada's literary culture
or simply good for business? Does our country celebrate exciting new
novelists or simply savvy self-promoters?
Offers of twenty-minute papers dealing with single or multiple
texts/authors, with second-novel successes or (in)famous sophomore
failures, or with novels from any period of Canada's cultural history are
invited by 15 November 1999. Please submit three (3) copies of either a
full paper or 300-500 word proposal, a 100-word abstract, and 50-word
bio-bibliographical sketch to:
Klay Dyer
Department of English Language and Literature
Brock University
St. Catharines, Ontario
Canada L2S 3A1
Electronic mail: kdyer@spartan.ac.brocku.ca
Facsimile: (905) 934-3301
* Hard copy (with accompanying disk version), electronic (within body of
e-mail, please), or facsimile submissions are welcome. Any requests for
audiovisual equipment should be noted in the proposal package.
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