KU Leuven, Bélgica. 8-10 de octubre de 2015. Envío de propuestas para el 15 de marzo.
In recent approaches to literary studies we notice a turning away from an (almost) exclusive attention to national literatures in favor of a variety of “transnational” approaches. One may here think of world literature and geocriticism, but also of the so-called “-phone” studies, i.e. anglophone, francophone, hispanophone, or lusophone, but increasingly also sinophone and other linguistically-inspired categories, often from a postcolonial perspective, in the case of literatures in European languages, but sometimes also from an “imperial” point of view, as has sometimes been argued with respect, precisely, to sinophone developments. But it is equally possible to consider not necessarily linguistically but rather culturally, historically, or geographically related areas such as “Europe,” the Americas (often now referred to as “hemispheric America”), the Caribbean or the Mediterranean, the Atlantic or the Pacific Rim, the Indian Ocean, or the Silk Road. There is room for both synchronic and diachronic reflections on any or all of these approaches.
The conference will bring together a number of leading international theoreticians, critics and literary historians of (a number of) the various developments sketched under the “theme of the conference”: David Damrosch (Harvard), Djelal Kadir (PennState), Longxi Zhang (Hongkong), Svend Erik Larsen (Aarhus), Hans Bertens (Utrecht, President ICLA), Ottmar Ette (Potsdam), César Domínguez (Santiago de Compostela), Jean Bessière (Sorbonne), Elleke Boehmer (Oxford), and several others have already confirmed their participation: However, we also want to offer Belgian and other European colleagues the opportunity to test their own insights, theories and proposals in an intensive exchange of views with these internationally recognized authorities. At the same time the international experts will be invited to not only consider their own specialty, but to at least partially adopt a meta-stance, reflecting on their own approach next to and in relation to the other approaches highlighted. Paper proposals (25 minutes) to Dagmar.Vandebosch@arts.kuleuven.be and/or theo.dhaen@arts.kuleuven.be, preferably as soon as possible but in any case at the latest by 15 March 2015.