CFP: Comparative Literature: Agency in/and/via Literature (8/4/05; 10/21/05-10/22/05)

AGENCY
in/and/via
LITERATURE
A conference at UC Berkeley, 10/21-22
Hosted by the Department of Comparative Literature
Featuring Keynote Speaker Rei Terada
(English & Comp Lit, UC Irvine)

But first! A call for your papers:

The crisis, we think, has long since been declared. Critical theory, deconstruction, and the
manifold critique of ideology, meant the lucid undoing of any complacent faith in human reason,
progress, language, or consequence.

In the wake of theories that question the very possibility of right action, "agency" has become
both a catchword and an idea we can no longer take for granted. Although "agency" seems a
contemporary term, the idea's antecedents share an expectation that human works and actions
somehow engage social realities.

We are seeking to understand the limits and possibilities of "agency" as manifest in literature
and criticism.

We are calling for papers from graduate students, faculty, and unaffiliated scholars addressing,
among others, these questions:

• Where do we locate agency in the interaction of reader, writer, text, and critic in literature?

• Why use agency as a point of literary inquiry? What are the consequences of not doing so? Might
the discussion of agency in academia promote--or perhaps mask--ethical projects?

• Does simply posing the question of "agency" presuppose a necessary interaction between literary
and social/political questions? Can, do, or should we assume the existence of agency and its
relevance to the study of literature?

• What are our contemporary notions of agency and their alleged contraries? How do they link to
questions posed in other periods?

• If literature is deemed an aesthetic project, how does this status inflect our concept? Is
aesthetics subordinate to the question of agency, or indispensable to it? How is agency treated
differently in other disciplines?

In the spirit of dialogic liveliness, we plan to make some modifications to the traditional
conference format. Fun may occur. Snacks are a certainty. We look forward to meeting you and your
work.
Please send an abstract of about 500 words by August 4, 2005 to agency_at_berkeley.edu.

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Received on Wed Apr 20 2005 - 08:43:01 EDT