CFP: Banal Modernity (4/30/05; MSA, 11/3/05-11/6/05)

MSA Panel Proposal: Banal Modernity

Modernist Studies Association 7th Annual Conference
Nov. 3-6, 2005
Chicago, Illinois

One of the more influential discussions of modernity and
modernism, Marshall Berman’s All That Is Solid Melts Into Air,
suggests a definition of modernism as any response to the
changes brought by modernization. But what if modernity was
experienced as banal rather than turbulent (whether exciting
or disturbing)? Is it possible to remain unimpressed in the
face of modernity? Could such a response only be affected?
How do modernists or others represent boredom in the context
of modernity? Other topics might include:

--The relation between urbanity and banality.

--The relation between the city and the country. Is the city
an inherently turbulent place? In what ways might the
conception of an exciting or disturbing modernity relate to
dismissals of the rural as banal?

--The relation of boredom or the experience of banality to
particular classed positions, or to other subject positions
including, but not limited to, gender, race, and sexuality.
That is: when is modernity banal, and to whom?

--The use of banality in conceptualizing or evaluating
artistic forms in a modern context.

Please send a 300-500 word abstract to dtracy_at_uiuc.edu (either
in MS Word, or pasted into the email) by April 30.

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Received on Thu Apr 14 2005 - 16:56:43 EDT