Consider submitting a proposal for a forthcoming special issue of *The
New Centennial Review* (Michigan State UP):
“The Travels of Naturalism and the Challenges of a World Literary History,”
the history of nineteenth-century naturalist fiction points to disorderly
patterns of circulation that suggest “multiple, overlapping histories,
together forming a heterogeneous history on the scale of the planet.” Using
the concept of “travel” as his point of reference, Hill sees naturalism as
a paradigm for thinking about transnational literary, cultural, and
economic transformations. This special issue aims to offer new perspectives
on American literary naturalism in the context of global transformations
from the nineteenth century to the present. Of particular interest are
re-readings of canonical texts as well as less frequently discussed authors
in comparative, transatlantic, postcolonial, and hemispheric approaches.
Especially welcome are theoretically-inflected essays that offer novel,
provocative definitions of the genre as it has developed from the mid/late
nineteenth century to the present.
Possible topics can include but are not limited to:
· American naturalism in translation
· The international reputation and reception of American naturalist
authors, poets, and dramatists, particularly in lesser known or less
frequently discussed cultural contexts (e.g. Asia, South America, Central
and Southern Europe, and the Middle East, among others)
· The social, economic, and political contribution of American
naturalism to (post) modernity
· The interaction of American naturalism and other genres (e.g.
realism, modernism, regionalism, journalism, melodrama, documentary, film,
travel narratives), especially in less frequently addressed sociocultural
contexts
· American naturalism and issues of transnational scope and interest
(e.g. empire, globalization, immigration, climate change, diasporic
studies, food studies, aging, among others)
· American naturalism and world literature: can we read American
naturalism in the context of or *as* “world literature”? Can we rethink
central thematic aspects and narrative patterns of American naturalism
(e.g. determinism, evolution, nature, commodity culture, gender/race/and
class) if we expand our range to different cultural, geographical, and
geopolitical contexts?
· Teaching American naturalism in non-American cultural and
geographical contexts
Please send 300-500 word proposals and short bios to Myrto Drizou, Boğaziçi
University (mdrizou@gmail.com) by October 30, 2018. Essays of 9000 words
(Chicago style, 15th edition) will be due by December 2019 for publication
in spring 2021. All inquiries are welcome.