The School of Languages, Literatures and Arts at the Queen's University
of Belfast are looking for participants for a film panel at the
conference "Clowns, Fools and
Picaros. Popular forms in Literature, Drama and Film" to be held in
Belfast, 4-6 September, 2003. See conference description below. Send
1-page abstracts by 15th December to Dr. Des O'Rawe, Film Studies,
School of Languages, Literatures and Arts, Queen's University of
Belfast, BT7 1NN. d.orawe@qub.ac.uk.
Clowns, Fools and Picaros
Popular Forms in Literature, Drama and Film
The School of Languages, Literatures and Arts at The Queen=92s=20
University of Belfast is organising an international conference on
clowns=20
to be held from 4-6 September 2003. The conference will be=20
multidisciplinary in scope and aims to bring together academics,=20
theorists and practitioners. It is anticipated that a selection of=20
proceedings will be published.=20
>From Simplicissimus and Don Quixote through to Oskar Matzerath,
from commedia dell=92arte, Shakespeare and Moli=E8re through to Brecht,=20
Beckett and Fo, from Chaplin and Valentin through to Fellini =96 clowns, =
fools, tricksters and rogues have featured consistently throughout the=20
history of literature, performance and film..=20
The conference invites 20 minute papers which explore the following=20
themes:
the aesthetic functions of the various masks of the clown, such as the=20
fool (e.g. Schweyk), the imbecile (August), the anarchic outsider (e.g.=20
Harlequin), the superior picaro (e.g. Simplicissimus), the melancholy=20
Pierrot (e.g. Baptiste), the fraudster (e.g. Felix Krull).
the clown is traditionally depicted as the eternal outsider: an artistic
expression of the brittle relationship between the individual and
society.=20
How universally applicable is this?=20
clown figures have featured prominently in periods of cultural upheaval.
The Harlequin of commedia dell=92arte has been said to reflect the =
plight=20
of the individual caught up in the transition between feudal and=20
bourgeois societies. Chaplin and Valentin were comically subject to the=20
deindividualising forces of modern technology. Who, therefore, are the=20
clowns and what constitutes the clownesque in the fragmented post-
industrial societies, and in the globalised world of today?
the clown=92s use of language: hybridisation and the potential for=20
dialogicity
dialogic significance of the split personality or double (e.g. Chaplin
and=20
Hynkel) or dualistic pairings (e.g. Harlequin and Brighella, Quixote and
Pansa, Lear and the Fool, Chaplin and the Kid)
theories of the clownesque: e.g. how widely applicable is Mikhail=20
Bakhtin=92s interpretation of laughter and the grotesque body in the
history=20
of clowning? What light can other theoretical frameworks shed on the=20
clown phenomenon?
the appropriation of clownesque motifs for specific political or=20
philosophical ends (e.g. Brecht or Beckett)=20
the phenomenon of the circus clown=20
other grotesque forms such as puppets
significance of clowning for actor training in Ireland
Practical performance projects also welcome
For further details, and to submit an abstract (by 15th December, 2002),
contact:
Dr. David Robb (e-mail: d.robb@qub.ac.uk)
German Studies
School of Languages, Literatures and Arts
The Queen=92s University of Belfast
Belfast BT7 1NN
It is intended that practical workshops and small scale performances=20
will complement the conference. For details contact:
David Grant (e-mail: d.grant@qub.ac.uk)
Drama Studies
School of Languages, Literatures and Arts
The Queen=92s University of Belfast
Belfast BT7 1NN
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