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October 29, 2007
Call for Proposals for Upcoming Anthology
Call for Proposals
Fantastic Voyages, Monstrous Dreams, Wondrous Visions:
Cinematic Folklore and Fairy Tale Film
Submissions are invited for an edited collection of essays on fairy tale film. Suitable topics include but are not limited to:
• Intersections between folklore, fantasy, and film theory
• Postmodern and psychoanalytic perspectives on cinematic folklore
• Metamorphosis, enchantment, monstrosity, and abjection in fairy tale film
• Transgender or transbiology in fairy tale film
• The rise in popularity of adult fairy tale films
• The convergence of science fiction and fairy tale fantasy film
• Ethnographic studies of fairy tale film viewers and audiences
• Fairy tale film narratives of Happily-ever-after, the American Dream, utopia, and other cultural discourses
• Discourses of Otherness, (post)coloniality, and Orientalism in fairy tale film
• Fairy tale film as cultural pedagogy, encoding issues of socialization, sexuality, gender, race, and class difference
• Analyses of particular works by fairy tale filmmakers from Georges Méliès and Walt Disney to Tim Burton and Stephen Spielberg
• Global migration of cinematic folklore, cross-cultural translations and transformations
• Genre and generational shifts and remixes in fairy tale film from melodrama and romantic comedy, to science fiction, horror, noir, and action adventure
• Fairy tale motifs in the visual culture of film shorts, TV advertising and music video
• Historic and contemporary perspectives on innovative cinematography and special effects in animated and live-action fairy tale film, from puppetry to Pixar
• Political economy/capitalist relations of production and direction of cinematic folklore
• Relationship of “classic” 19thC fairy tale illustration (from Arthur Rackham, Kay Nielsen, Walter Crane, Edmund Dulac, et al.) and the Disney animation image repertoire to the iconography of contemporary cinematic folklore
Final essays should range in length from 5,000 - 9,000 words. Previously published work, appropriately revised and/or updated, will be considered. Send 500-word proposals (or completed essays) and a brief c.v. electronically as email attachments to Sidney Eve Matrix (matrixs@queensu.ca) and Pauline Greenhill (p.greenhill@uwinnipeg.ca) by 1 January 2008.
Posted by GrahamMurphy at 08:07 PM | Comments (0)
October 27, 2007
FE Division Head
On behalf of the Executive Board of IAFA, I would like to announce that we have decided upon a replacement for Chuck Nelson, who will be stepping down as FE Division Head following the conference in March 2008. The new Division Head for Fantastic Literatures in English will be Stefan Ekman of Lund University, Sweden.
Stefan is a longstanding member of IAFA, who has been attending the conference for many years. In addition to presenting papers on Tolkien, de Lint, Gaiman, Vess, and others, he has ably chaired sessions and moderated panels. He has also contributed to the association in other ways, formerly as the Student Caucus Representative and most recently as the web designer for IAFA's new website. He has worked closely with Chuck over the years, and we expect that the transition will go very smoothly.
The board was extremely pleased with the response to the call for candidates for the position; eight people expressed interest in the job, and the board had a very difficult time making a decision from amongst so many qualified candidates. We thank all of the candidates and hope that all will find other ways in which to continue to contribute to the success of the conference and of the association.
Chrissie Mains
1VP, IAFA
Posted by ChrissieMains at 11:02 AM | Comments (0)
October 22, 2007
The Fantastic and MLA
For those of you attending MLA in '07, this might be of interest:
Modern Language Association -- national conference in Chicago, December 2007
Panel number and title: #458. Science Fiction in the “Third” World
Saturday, 29 December, 10:15–11:30 a.m., Michigan B, Sheraton Chicago Hotels and Towers
Program arranged by the Discussion Group on Science Fiction and Utopian and Fantastic Literature
Presiding: Rachel Haywood Ferreira, Iowa State Univ.
1. “A Fence against the Other: Utopian and Science Fiction in West Africa,” Tiziana Morosetti, Univ. of Bologna
2. “Gender Anarchy and Gender Anarchism: A Look Back at the Argentine Future with Ana María Shua and Angélica Gorodischer,” Patrick O’Connor, Oberlin Coll.
3. “Keri Hulme’s Utopian Remythification in The Bone People,” Sharon R. Wilson, Univ. of Northern Colorado
Posted by GrahamMurphy at 03:25 PM | Comments (0)
October 12, 2007
Doris Lessing Wins Nobel Prize
The International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts (IAFA) is delighted that Doris Lessing, Guest of Honor at the 1989 International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts and longtime IAFA friend, has been awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize for Literature. Writing on her Children of Violence series, The Guardian states on its website : "By combining literary science fiction with a stringent, pioneering brand of feminism, Lessing gave a glimpse of the qualities for which she was to become famous.” As an author of the fantastic and only the 11th woman to win the award in Nobel's 106-year history, nothing can take the bloom off of this honour. Congratulations on this well-deserved award!
Posted by GrahamMurphy at 11:15 AM | Comments (0)
WorldCon 2009
Congratulations to Montréal for winning the 2009 WorldCon bid [and I'm particularly thrilled as it's only a few hours drive away for me :-)]. Anticipation, the 67th World Science Fiction Convention, Montréal, Québec, will be held Thursday 6 August - Monday 10 August, 2009 at Palais des congrès de Montréal. The attendees include:
Neil Gaiman - Guest of Honour
Elisabeth Vonarburg - Invitée d'honneur
Taral Wayne - Fan Guest of Honour
David Hartwell - Editor Guest of Honour
Tom Doherty - Publisher Guest of Honour
Julie Czerneda - Master of Ceremonies
More information can be found at the Anticipation website.
Devention 3, the 66th World Science Fiction Convention, will be held in Denver, Colorado, from Wednesday 6 August - Sunday 10 August, 2008.
Posted by GrahamMurphy at 06:46 AM | Comments (0)