UPDATE: Charismatic Leaders: Framing the Dictator in Latin American Fiction and Film (6/30/01; PCA/ACA, 10/18/01-10/20/01)

From: Joanne Gass (jgass@fullerton.edu)
Date: Mon Jun 04 2001 - 17:43:18 EDT

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    CFP: UPDATE: CHARISMATIC LEADERS IN LITERATURE AND FILM Area, Mexico Mtg of
    PCA. Deadline extended!! (6/30, 2001; 10/17-21, 2001)

    AREA CALL FOR PAPERS and PANELS: Mexico Meeting of the Popular Culture
    Association in Conjunction with the 5th Annual Congress, UDLA
    October 17-21, 2001

    Searching for papers and panels that relate to the depiction of the
    charismatic leader and/or dictator in literature and film.

    Mario Vargas Llosa has said of his most recent novel, La fiesta del chivo:
    “Not even democracy is immune from the stench of dictatorship because the
    true tradition in government is despotism. Democracy is the exception.
    Dictatorships are supported by the most destructive instincts. The only
    thing that protects society against dictatorship is a democratic culture.”

    Novelists, dramatists and filmmakers alike ‘frame’ the dictator so as to
    expose the “true tradition of government [which] is despotism” at the same
    time as they undermine it in the quest to create a “democratic culture”;
    however, if Vargas Llosa is right, they also may very well be unable to rid
    their work of that stench, and the promotion of democracy would seem to lead
    to the dark return of despotism.

    The focus of panels in this area asks participants to demonstrate how novels
    and films, and maybe even dramatic works, which were created to heal,
    distance, process, or condemn dictatorship, cannot escape the stench of
    dictatorship, cannot escape promoting dictatorship in spite of themselves.

    Papers and panel proposals are invited which address this issue and other
    issues raised by Latin American novelists and filmmakers who take as their
    topics the person of the dictator. We already have papers on fictional and
    filmic representations of Pinochet, Eva Peron, Trujillo, and Marti. The
    topic is far from exhausted.
    Puebla and Cholula have wonderful attractions to compliment the conference
    at the University of the Americas. Also, the conference includes welcome
    reception, dinner, and end of conference party, all of which offer wonderful
    opportunities to meet colleagues and exchange ideas. This is a great
    conference; papers are provocative; shopping is wonderful, if you love
    Talavera pottery, especially; and the area is rich with conquest and
    pre-conquest history.
    Contact Area Chair:
    Joanne Gass
    jgass@fullerton.edu

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