CFP: CCLA Congress 2014 Special Session—Crisis, Comparative Literature, and the World
Comparative Literature has long been haunted by the idea of crisis, a condition that now affects not only the discipline but also the humanities as a whole and even the university. However, in the 1960s Frank Kermode reminded us that, while crisis has become one of the most common strategies for “making sense of our world,” it is “a way of thinking about one’s moment, and not inherent in the moment itself.” In light of Kermode’s insight, this panel at the 2014 annual meeting of the Canadian Comparative Literature Association (CCLA) invites proposals that explore the intersection of the idea of crisis in Comparative Literature and in the world, as reflected in representations of such cataclysmic events as 9/11, chemical warfare, the nuclear threat, environmental catastrophes, genocide, famine, and natural disasters.
Please submit 250-300 word abstracts for 20-minute presentations to Albert Braz (albert.braz@ualberta.ca) by January 5, 2014.
