MCLC: Literary Reconfigurations of the Ancient--cfp

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Literary Reconfigurations of the Ancient–cfp
American Comparative Literature Association, Annual Conference
March 17-20, 2016
Harvard University
Literary Reconfigurations of the Ancient in East Asian Modernity
http://www.acla.org/seminar/literary-reconfigurations-ancient-east-asian-modernity
Organizer: Pu Wang, Brandeis University
Co-Organizer: Satoru Hashimoto, University of Maryland
Contact the Seminar Organizers
The imaginations of “antiquity” have constituted a rich topos in modern East Asian literature. As the translation of West-originated capitalist modernity caused deep conflicts with historicities of the region’s civilizational pasts, writers in East Asia reconfigured the ancient in ways that were highly idiosyncratic and fiercely contested. In particular, East Asia’s twentieth century was marked by radical modernization and even revolution. In those epochs, “the tradition of all dead generations weigh[ed] like a nightmare on the brains of the living,” just as Karl Marx remarked. Amidst the trends of anti-traditionalism, many important modern East Asian writers — such as Lu Xun, Mori Ogai, and Yi Kwangsu — engaged deeply and creatively with the ancient national histories and legacies in their writings. This seminar is intended to compare their various literary approaches to East Asian antiquity, and, furthermore, interrogate the experience of anachronism caught between the eternal return of the ancient and the impulse towards the absolute modern. Topics may include, but not limited to: 1, modernist representations or rewritings of ancient history; 2, the genres of historical fiction and historical dramas appropriated or translated from the West; 3, modern, vernacular translations of ancient texts; 4, related comparison between Chinese, Japanese, Korean historical literatures; 5, the relationship between literary representations of the ancient and the rise of modern historiography in East Asia; 6, theoretical issues of historical literature and related debates in East Asia; 7, the value of historical truth vs. the tendency of allegorization.
If you are interested in proposing a paper, please feel free to contact us at pwang at brandeis.edu and satoru07 at gmail.com
For submission details, see: http://www.acla.org/node/add/paper?seminar=5264
Deadline: September 23, 2015
by denton.2 at osu.edu on September 14, 2015
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