University of St. Thomas

The UST graduate English program will hold its annual conference for graduate students on FRIDAY, APRIL 27, 2012, 12:30-8 P.M. in the new Anderson Student Center.  While papers addressing any aspect of literature and culture will be considered, the graduate program particularly welcomes proposals for papers exploring the topic of "Writing as a Public Act."
 
As an election year is before us, the idea of how writing is used in the public forum comes to the forefront, and with it a set of more particular questions of how the activity or the vocation of writing as a creative or artistic endeavor might be understood in this context.  For instance:
 
How can we distinguish between the “public” and the “political” dimensions of  a literary text, or of the activity of attempting to bring such a text into being and to share it with readers? 
 
How do writers influence political rhetoric?  How do they raise consciousness about central social concerns?  What is the role, historically and today, of protest poetry, postcolonial narratives, satires and cultural critiques?  Does writing polemically or advocating for social justice strip literary art of its artistry? 
 
Many writers of the past and today see their role as advocating for certain viewpoints within their art; others think that art must somehow remain “universal” or depoliticized; how are we to understand / balance / adjudicate among the claims of the ethical, the rhetorical, and the aesthetic in our consideration of the literary or cultural text?
 
We invite writers to submit papers that focus on these themes in their broad contexts.  What are the theoretical challenges of reading texts that deal with these concerns? We encourage analysis of literary, cultural, cinematic texts that explore themes concerning "writing as a public act" in their political, psychological, social, economic, or philosophical contexts.
 
E-mail two-page (maximum) proposals for individual presentations or for panels of three to Catherine Craft-Fairchild (c9craftfairc@stthomas.edu) by Monday, 3 April 2012.

Final papers should take 15 minutes (20 minutes maximum) to present.