Repetition with a difference?
The University of Toronto Dep’t of English Graduate Conference
May 9th – 10th, 2013
CFP Responses Due: March 1st, 2013
“Happiness is the longing for repetition.” – Milan Kundera
“Like warmed-up cabbage served at each repast, The Repetition kills the wretch at last.” – Juvenal
Last year we heard Barack Obama say “Yes, we can” for a second time, and saw Youtube viewers watch and re-watch Psy’s “Gangnam Style” for the billionth time (really!): we live surrounded by repetition. As scholars embedded in a culture obsessed with imitation, parody, and countless other forms of reacting, we ought to ask one another “what is the significance of repetition?” When is it a form of questioning or deconstruction, and when is it simply re(in)statement or obsession? We invite you to join us as we explore the ontological, political, ethical, and literary implications of repetition.
Subjects of interest include, but are not limited to:
- Poetics, Allusion, Illusion
- Sequels, Trilogies, Fan fiction
- Nostalgia, Memory, Flashbacks
- Psychoanalysis, Madness, Trauma, Dreams, the Unconscious
- Obsession, Compulsion, Criminality
- Family, Inheritance, Reproduction
- Performance, Gender, Sexuality
- Parody, Satire
- Genre Conventions, Genre Fiction, Archetypes
- Writing Back, Mimicry, Hybridity, Orality
- Formalism, Structure, Refrains, Schematic devices
- Visual Art, Photography, Iconoclasm, Pop Art
- Imprinting, Conceptual Art, Editions, Paratext, Digitization
- Adaptation, Translation
- Existentialism, Deconstructionism, Différance
- Doubling, Doppelgangers
- Labour, Boredom, Mass Production, Commodification
- Pedagogy, Rote Learning, Memorizationli>Journaling, Life Writing, Biography
This conference is interdisciplinary: We welcome submissions from a variety of fields. Send an abstract (of up to 250 words) for your 20-minute presentation to uoftgradcolloquium2013@gmail.com, with your name and institutional affiliation.
Responses are due by March 1st, 2013
Keynote Speaker To Be Announced