The University of Florida Comics Conference 2002: The Will Eisner
Seminar
The University of Florida's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and
the nascent Center for the Humanities and the Public Sphere, are pleased
to announce the 2002 UF Comics Conference,The Will Eisner Seminar. This
new conference, on the art and literature of the comics medium, will be
an annual event at the University of Florida. The inaugural topic, in
honor of Will Eisner, will be "The Graphic Novel: Form and Function."
Bringinging together artists and academics, the seminar will be held at
the University of Florida on Febuary 20th and 21st, 2002.
Participants for the Seminar are artists Will Eisner, Joe Sacco,
Eddie Campbell, Daniel Clowes, and Terry Zwigoff, along with comic
scholars Thomas Inge, Rusty Witek, and Donald Ault.
..........
Since the 1827 production of "Monsieur Vieux Bois" the graphic novel has
been perceived as a hybrid cultural form. With the juxtaposition of
words and pictures, the intersection of literature and art, the blending
of high satire and low caricature, the modern graphic novel has always
been an intermediary description, seen as either a valorization of
comics or as a bastardization of literature, or even both at once. As
the contemporary comics medium has moved from pamphlets and albums
towards longer, more sustained narratives, the graphic novel has opened
up a variety of new artistic pathways, in terms of both diegetic and
stylistic possibilities. Artists and writers have engaged and modified
serialization and sequentiality to suit new needs, new audiences, and
new modes of visual narrative.
This seminar will focus on the material history, contemporary
production, and critical reception of this diverse form, and allow
graphic novelists and academic critics to discuss what the graphic novel
is, what it can do, and where, as a form, it is heading. The seminar
hopes to engage with some of the critical and commercial problematics
the graphic novel produces for the language of comics, as well as
examine the relationship of graphic novels to other forms of art and
entertainment. Particular topics and concerns will include:
*Language(s) of visual narrative in the Graphic Novel
*Poetics, Semiotics, Play: theoretical approaches to Graphic Novels
*Graphic Novels as Journalism and as History
*Hollywood and the Graphic Novel
*Graphic Novels within the development of the comics medium
*Satire, Caricature, Critique: political aspects of the Graphic Novel
*Narrative and Style: textual production within the Graphic Novel
*Collaboration and Influence: Graphic Novels and plural authorship
Papers that address the theme of the seminar are welcome, but those
relating to any aspect of the graphic novel will also be considered for
panels.
Submitted papers should be no longer than 2500 words or an approximate
reading time of 25 minutes. Abstracts of up to 250 words are requested
for inclusion in the conference program and the forthcoming seminar
webpage. Published proceedings may also be issued in the near future.
Deadline for submissions is the 30th of January, 2002. We require that
you have abstracts submitted no later than this date in order to give us
time to review them and draft responses. Acceptance notifications will
be delivered no later than January 31st, 2002. Submissions are
acceptable by email, or by Postal Mail.
UF Comics Conference 2002: The Will Eisner Seminar
Department of English
PO Box 117310
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611-7310
Email submissions of abstracts, or questions about the conference, may
be sent to donault@english.ufl.edu [Dr. Donald Ault].
The Will Eisner Seminar is sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts and
Sciences at the University of Florida, along with the UF Department of
English, and the nascent Center for the Humanities and the Public
Sphere.
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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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