Call for Proposals (Book): Persianate Literatures as World Literature

Call for Proposals

Persianate Literatures as World Literature

We are putting together a volume on Persianate Literatures as World Literature. The volume is intended for publication in the “Literatures as World Literature” series of Academic Bloomsbury Publishing (Series Editor: Thomas Oliver Beebee), estimated to be published in 2019.

The book will explore the connections between Persianate literary productions and those of the rest of the world; advance comparative studies of Persianate literatures; and/or reread Persianate literatures with respect to globalization, transnationalism, and world citizenry—all with the overarching aim of foregrounding the interdependencies, interrelations, connections, and flows that expand Persian literatures beyond their mere locality and showcase their possible connecting and influencing of other local and
translocal narratives. As such, the primary focus of Persianate Literatures as World Literature will be on rereading Persian literary texts and authors in their “worldly” dimensions, situating such readings within—and ideally contributing to—ongoing critical debates on “world literature.” With this all-embracing aim in mind, we would be happy to consider submissions focused on topics including, yet not limited to, the following: 

• Reading instances of Persian literature in order to contribute to ongoing debates in “world literature”
• Persian literature and globalization, transnationalism, and/or world citizenry; re-reading Persian literature in search of global perspectives; impediments to Persian literatures’ path to the global stage; problems of language and translation; the problematics of the periphery and the center in “world literature”
• Comparative studies of Persian literature situated within “world literature” debates; studying the processes, in Persian literature, of textual influence, transformation, and/or travel towards the worldly domain; connections between Persian literary production and that of the rest of the world
• Relations and communication amongst the Persian literary traditions and genres, and how such relations help produce new forms of knowledge to understand Persian literary traditions and societies, yet also world literature and the global phenomena in general
• Rereading the Persian literary, artistic, and philosophical traditions in search of alternatives to prevalent (“Western”) literary theory and literary modernisms; the potentials and pitfalls of indigenous epistemologies
• The cultural chauvinism of literary criticism in Persianate cultures; the decentering of national identity politics – particularly ethnocentric nationalism - in literature and criticism; critical perspectives on scholarly journals in literary criticism published in the Persian-speaking world; the prison house of “literary theory” application
• Digital humanities and Persian literatures: prospects, possibilities, and limitations

If you are interested in contributing a chapter to this project, please send your CV and a proposal of between 300 and 500 words, including a concise Working Bibliography, by June 20, 2018 to  mostafa.abedinifard@utoronto.ca, a.vafa@sheffield.ac.uk, and omid.azadi@shirazu.ac.ir We will notify authors of acceptance by July 5, 2018, and the authors will then have until 31 January 2019 to submit their chapters.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have further questions. We are looking forward to your contributions.

Sincerely,

Editors

Mostafa Abedinifard, University of Toronto

Amirhossein Vafa, Sheffield University

Omid Azadibougar, Shiraz University