Call for Papers
VERSUS
Antagonism, Self-Criticism and Hostility in Literature and Art
Keynote Speakers:
Stanley Fish, Davidson-Kahn Distinguished University Professor and Professor of Law, Florida
Nathalie Hester, Associate Professor of Italian and French, University of Oregon
International University
The Department of German & Romance Languages & Literatures (GRLL)
September 16-17, 2016
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
For this interdisciplinary conference, the graduate students of GRLL at Hopkins invite proposals for papers
on contention in literature, whether between two authors, between authors and their editors and publishers,
between authors and their readers, between an author and him- or herself, or on contention within works
themselves. We are interested in presentations that grapple not just with the problematic character of a work
but also with the questions this raises for editors, scholars, consumers and other artists impacted by the
original offense. How does this type of critique shape these professional and personal relationships? How
do we, as readers and scholars, interpret authorial self-criticism and hostility toward others in literature?
And what are the specific literary and rhetorical techniques or genres of contention or of “versus”? We
welcome papers in the fields of German, French, Italian, and Spanish language and literature, as well as
English, History, Art History, Film Studies, and Comparative Literature.
Potential subjects include, but are not limited to:
● Self-censorship and auto-critique
● Deliberately antagonistic prose/poetry/manifestos
● Literature presenting or posing ethical problems
● Questions of authority in editorial history (i.e. publishing corrupted or aggressively
● Forgeries, piracies and pseudonymies
● Cryptographic, hostile or unpublishable literature
● Editorial manipulation and exploitation of authors and/or artists
Send a 250-word abstract for a 15 to 20-minute-long talk (in English) to
grllgradconference@gmail.com by April 1, 2016. Please include your title,
affiliation, and contact information.