[Discussion] CFP: Ghosts, Gender, History (no deadline noted; ACLA, 3/23/06-3/26/06)

[gpultar@cstgroup.org]

From: Sladja Blazan <S.Blazan@gmx.de>

Paper proposals are invited for the following seminar at the 2006 American
Comparative Literature Association Annual Conference in Princeton, NJ:

"Ghosts, Gender, History"

Seminar Organizer: Sladja Blazan, Humboldt University (Berlin)

In most cultures the figure of the ghost stands for a forceful separation of
past and present. Some cultures integrate the ghost figure into the present in
order to provide a sense of continuity. In literature and film the ghost motif
has been directly associated with particular cultural meanings, but has also
been used as a plot element free of the confines of realism. The meaning of the
ghost is deferred (Derrida). This quality of the ghost, neither dead nor alive,
neither present nor absent, provided a forum for addressing feminist issues.
Some of the first ghost stories were written by women. Charlotte Perkins
Gilman's classic "The Yellow Walpaper" (1892) was only the best-known of an
enormous body of fiction of its type. Many examples address ethnic/race issues.
This seminar examines and asseses the various versions of the ghost motif in
literature as an opportunity to articulate identity questions, cultural fears,
and minority issues. We will focus on ghostly ambitions written by women
writers. The figure of the ghost crosses boundaries of language, nationality,
culture, class, race/ethnicity, gender and sexuality. At the same time it is the
Other within who speaks for all of them. How has this oppositional quality been
used and by whom? Papers on classic incarnations of ghost literature as well as
more recent sightings in fiction are welcome.

Abstracts should be 250 words, and submitted online at:
http://aslamp01.princeton.edu/%7Eoitdas/acla06/

The American Comparative Literature Association annual conference is organized
primarily into seminars (or "streams"), which consist either of twelve papers,
if they meet on all three days of the conference, or eight to nine papers, if
they meet on two days. Papers should be 15-20 minutes long-no longer-to allow
time for discussion. For further information about the conference, including the
format, please see:

http://webscript.princeton.edu/~acla06/site/

Please feel free to contact me with any questions, but all abstracts must be
submitted through the online form above.

Sladja Blazan
Humboldt University
Berlin
Germany

S.Blazan@gmx.de



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