CFP "The Boundaries of European National Literatures"
Patriots often express pride in national literature, claiming great works of art, or great novelists, as national icons. Literary figures may also imagine themselves promoting or embodying a national tradition. Whether novelists proclaim themselves national or are so proclaimed by others, however, the nation always has some boundary: as Benedict Anderson memorably put it, the nation is “inherently limited.” Even literatures whose boundaries are defined by a national language may have fuzzy boundaries, since the relationship of the national language to “dialectal” literature may be unclear. This conference explores the limits of the national language, either through an individual author, a literary circle or literary tradition, or in the minds of literary patriots.
Send an abstract by 15 July to: Alexander Maxwell: alexander.maxwell@vuw.ac.nz
The conference will take place at the Kelburn Campus of Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand. The conference has no registration fee, and will be open to the public.
Alexander Maxwell
Victoria University of Wellington - History