The Wire: A Site for the MLA Commons Community
Thursday, 7 January, 8:45 p.m.–10 p.m., Brazos, JW Marriott We are thrilled to announce that the first ever Commons literary trivia quiz (complete with cash bar and prizes) will take place at the 2016 convention and include such topics as literary neologisms, fictional first lines, and translations and adaptations. (We suggest you…
Please consider submitting a proposal for the following special session at the 2016 MLA Convention in Austin, TX. We are especially interested in proposals from graduate students preparing for the job market, or currently on the job market. This roundtable will consider how discipline-specific “lore” continually lures graduate students, contingent…
Efforts to construct the historiography of HIV/AIDS simultaneously mutate our own perceptions. This panel seeks papers that discuss how archiving the HIV epidemic shapes our relationships to the disease. Please send 300-word abstracts by 13 March 2015; Kenneth Pinion (ktpinion@ncsu.edu). Paper topics might include: the collection, preservation, and discovery of…
This panel explores the state of contemporary LGBT literature and the value of a LGBT literary canon. Calling for papers that ask: what is LGBT literature now? Abstracts by 15 March 2015; Shanté Paradigm Smalls (smallss@stjohns.edu) and Ramzi Fawaz (fawaz@wisc.edu).
Sentiment, affection, passion, feelings… emotions: in literature, philosophy, religion, the arts, medicine. How were emotions rendered public through writings? How were displays of public emotions portrayed? Are emotions and writings about them gendered? We welcome papers that address these questions and others exploring the role of writings on emotions in the Italian…
The OEB Society invites papers discussing Butler’s impact on her reading public: book clubs, literary societies, social justice movements, etc. 250 word abstracts/short bios by 15 March 2015; Tarshia Stanley (tstanley@spelman.edu)
Who had/has access to the Troubadours? What troubadour works rethink public life? What happens to Occitan works when they travel? This panel seeks to explore Occitan works in the wider world and the wider world as fashioned by the Troubadours, considering notions such as open secrets and private publics. Proposals:…
Session type: Special Session Title of session: Conjuring Multi-Ethnic Futures Submission requirements: Abstract of about 250 words. Deadline for submissions: 20 March 2015 Description: Utopia? How should nations want their human societies to look in 150 years? Color, gender, heritage differences, sure. Religious too? Visual…
ABCs, dictionaries, spellers, synonymies, thesauruses: what is the life of a word book? What stories do word books tell? Please submit 250 word abstracts by 15 March 2015; Meredith Martin (mm4@princeton.edu).
Papers exploring literary, cultural, or pedagogical approaches to food (or lack of food) in fiction and memoir. 300 word proposals by 15 March 2015; Stacey Lee Donohue (sdonohue@cocc.edu).