McGill University, Montreal
March 22-23, 2003
Blood Lust, Blood Loss: Representations of Struggle and Desire
Both paper and panel proposals are being solicited for McGill University’s 9th
Annual International Graduate Symposium on Language and Literature, to be held
on March 22-23, 2003.
>From the Medieval lust of Lancelot and Guinevere that brought down Arthur’s
kingdom, to representations of blood as contagion in AIDS literature, the
interconnected relationship between struggle and desire has captivated the
literary imagination for centuries.
The tension between struggle and desire often leaves textual meaning and
coherence in limbo, while at other times, this tension is dissolved by
authorial omniscience. In Timothy Findley’s _The Wars_, for instance, erotic
freakishness and scenes of bloodshed compete for the reader’s attention, while
in Richard Wright’s _Native Son_, interracial lust is capitally punished. Our
symposium will peruse a host of topics as we explore how blood lust and blood
loss are inscribed in literary texts, films, and other forms of creative
expression.
We hope to cover a broad spectrum of literary periods, genres, figures and
themes. Some of the questions that may be asked include the following: Do
representations of the body dissolve the boundaries between struggle and
desire? What happens when the body is no longer present—does lust or loss gain
more power as a literary signifier? Are representations of struggle and desire
historically contingent? Is it ever possible to escape the body, or is “blood
lust” or “blood loss” a means of escaping categories of desire?
Panels and papers may consider, but are by no means limited to, the following
topics:
-violent responses to literature/literary responses to violence
-representations of the struggle to create
-the idea of tainted blood in relation to lust
-blood as an ethnic signifier
-menstruation, childbearing, and childbirth
-representations of the struggle in literature as political dialogue
-war, terrorism, crowds, and riots
-narratology and representation
-the succubus in modernist literature/ representations of the hyper-sexualized
female or male
-primitivism, tribalism, and ritual in postmodern literature/cinema
-literary representations of doctors and healing
The deadline for a 250 word panel proposal is December 15th. 300 word paper
abstracts are due February 1st. Please forward them to:
(Stephanie King) sking10@po-box.mcgill.ca
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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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