CALL FOR PAPERS
The Animals in this Country: A Canadian Literature Symposium
University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada
May 6-8, 2005
From Charles G.D. Roberts to Yann Martel, from Grey Owl through Marian
Engel, Timothy Findley, and Eden Robinson, animals have figured
prominently in Canadian writing. This symposium invites consideration
of the diverse range of meanings associated with them and of the many
connections that Canadian writers have imagined between animals and
ourselves. Proposals are invited that explore how and what animals have
meant in all genres and periods of Canadian writing; they may focus on
an individual text, on a genre of animal writing, or on a broad
theoretical or representation issue.
Questions to be considered might include but are not limited to the
following:
- What do representations of animals -- living or dead, wild or
domesticated, idealized, ironized, or "realistically" portrayed -- tell
us about contemporary and historical understandings of nature, of
Canadian society, of personal, communal, regional, or national identity?
- How do animals function in stories of self or nation?
- What representation possibilities and limitations are associated with
the various genres writers have used to depict animals?
- How have feminist, anti-racist, eco-critical, and Aboriginal writers
depicted animal figures?
- What role do animals play in literature concerned with the spiritual?
- Are comparisons with other national literatures fruitful to highlight
the distinctiveness of Canadian traditions?
- To what extent does authenticity remain an issue, or is it possible to
write anything but allegory when it comes to animals?
- To what extent have writers at various times succeeded in crossing the
species divide; can we talk about "giving voice" to animals without
sentimentality or anthropomorphism?
- How can contemporary theory be used to investigate animal
representations?
- Is now the time to speak of the postmodern or the cyborg animal, and
what are the implications of such terms?
Please send a 300-500 word proposal (hard copies in triplicate) and a
50-word bio-blurb to:
Professor Janice Fiamengo, Symposium Chair
Department of English, University of Ottawa
70 Laurier Avenue East, Ottawa, ON
Canada K1N 6N5
Fax: (613) 562-5990 Email: fiamengo@uottawa.ca
Deadline for proposals: 31 August 2004
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