Life Writing as World Literature

CALL FOR PAPERS: 

LIFE WRITING AS WORLD LITERATURE (book)

Deadline for abstracts: July 1, 2022

Deadline for final essays: January 1, 2023

The series Literatures as World Literature by Bloomsbury Publishing aims to “take a novel approach to world literature by analyzing specific constellations — according to language, nation, form, or theme — of literary texts and authors in their own world-literary dimensions.” https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/series/literatures-as-world-literature/

The proposed volume will be dedicated to life writing. We use “life writing” as a broad term encompassing a wide variety of personal narratives. We also recognize the capaciousness of the term “world literature” and the accompanying challenges. By putting life writing and world literature into dialogue, we seek to explore their rich shared history, as well as new areas of research. 

Authors are encouraged to explore, among others

• the intersecting histories of the two fields

• debates in world literature concerning auto/biographical genres

• autobiographical texts outside the Western canons (East Asia, Latin America, Northern Africa, Middle East)

• autobiographical works as they move in translation through global contexts 

• autobiographical works as they move across time and media (remediation, intermediality, etc.)

• the role of materiality in life writing

• visual narratives, new media, affective networks, and the role of life writing in participatory democracy

• autobiographical texts in “world literature” courses and in cultural diplomacy

• the role of autobiographical texts in eco or medical humanities

• the homogenizing effects of autobiographical technology and data bias

Please submit abstracts of 350 words, along with a short bio, to the Editors: Helga Lenart-Cheng (hl4@stmarys-ca.edu) and Ioana Luca (ioana.luca@ntnu.edu.tw) by July 1, 2022.