EXTENDED DEADLINE: CRITICAL INSIGHTS: LITERATURE OF FEAR AND 'PARANOIA'

Kimberly Drake Announcement
Subject Fields
Film and Film History, Literature, Psychology, Popular Culture Studies

EXTENDED DEADLINE:  Call for Abstracts for CRITICAL INSIGHTS: LITERATURE OF FEAR AND PARANOIA, a collection of scholarly essays (under contract with Grey House Publishing/EBSCO)

Kimberly Drake, the editor of the proposed book Critical Insights: Literature of Fear and Paranoia, a collection of scholarly essays (under contract with Grey House Publishing/EBSCO), seeks contributions on literature and film/television dealing with fear, terror, “paranoia,” and surveillance. I’m looking for essays on the most canonical texts (fiction, plays, and films) associated with this topic, but also texts that are less canonical and/or from outside of the West. The book will be composed of 14 original essays written for an audience of advanced high school and undergraduate college students; essays should be argumentative and critical while still being accessible to this audience. These 14 chapters will include 10 literary criticism chapters (5000 words each) and 4 chapters focusing on particular aspects of the theme, including a “critical lens” chapter, a chapter on the cultural/historical context of one text, a chapter comparing 2-3 texts, and a “critical reception” chapter (4000-5000 words each). Authors I’m hoping to cover in the volume include Pynchon, Kafka, Poe, Burroughs, Heller, Mailer, Dostoyevsky, Freud, DeLillo, Orwell, Ellison, Melville, Faulkner, Gilman, Stendhal, and O’Connor; also considering essays on Wright’s Native Son, Coetzee’s Disgrace, Ibsen’s The Master Builder, James’ “Turn of the Screw,” Jackson’s “Lottery,” LeGuin’s Omelas, Capote’s In Cold Blood, Marquez’ “Chronicle of a Death Foretold,” and Hitchcock’s films (especially Vertigo or Rebecca). I’m also hoping for one or more essays drawing on disability theory and/or demonstrating an awareness of disability politics around the term “paranoia” and Freud’s work on the topic. CONTRIBUTORS TO THE VOLUME WILL BE PAID BY GREY HOUSE PRESS!

To propose a chapter, please send a 300 to 500-word abstract (or more than one abstract) and a cv ASAP, or by MAY 2, 2016. (If that deadline doesn’t work for you but you are interested in contributing, please email me to discuss an extended deadline—I know how the end of the semester can be.) Once I have confirmed your submission, I can give you information about deadlines and procedures, but the volume is scheduled to be published during the fall of 2016, so deadlines will be coming up soon.

Contact Information

Kimberly Drake, editor

Associate Professor and Director of Writing, Scripps College

 

Contact Email
kdrake@scrippscollege.edu