(Updated) CFP: Russian literature since 1991

[Oliver Ready]

Call for Papers

DECADENCE OR RENAISSANCE? RUSSIAN LITERATURE SINCE 1991

A three-day international conference at St Antony’s College, Oxford
University, 24-26 September 2012

Keynote speakers:
Mark Lipovetsky (University of Colorado, Boulder)
Irina Prokhorova, head of New Literary Observer
Mikhail Shishkin, novelist

What have been the main achievements in Russian prose and poetry of
the past twenty years, both inside and outside the ‘motherland’? And
what have been the most interesting and innovative tendencies in
literature of this period?
Beyond a handful of familiar names, new Russian writers remain
little-known and little-read, both within Slavic studies and among the
general public. ‘Decadence or Renaissance?’ is intended to advance
knowledge and understanding of Russian literature of the post-Soviet
period among scholars, publishers and translators.
We especially welcome proposals for papers that map neglected aspects
of Russian fiction and poetry of the last twenty years, whether
individual works or writers, themes or techniques. Equally welcome are
considerations of the evolution of the ‘literary process’ in the past
two decades: topics may include, for example, the role of critics and
publishers; the shifting status of ‘elite’ and ‘mass’ literature; and
the role of the literary journals, the Internet and commercial venues
in the development of new writing. We also invite papers that consider
how and to what extent Russian literature since 1991 has been
represented in English translation.
**
We look forward to receiving your proposals. Abstracts of 300-400
words should be submitted to oliver.ready at sant.ox.ac.uk and
nina.kruglikova at gmail.com by Friday, 18 May. Please send any enquiries
about the conference to the same addresses. The language of the
conference will be English, and papers should last no longer than 20
minutes.
Pending the outcome of funding applications, we hope to be able to
cover the cost of speakers’ accommodation and meals, and to offer a
few travel bursaries to selected postgraduate speakers.
It is hoped that the best papers to emerge from the conference will be
collected in a volume of articles edited by Oliver Ready.
**
About the keynote speakers:
Mark Lipovetsky’s books include Russian Postmodernist Fiction:
Dialogue with chaos (1999) and Paralogii: Transformatsii
(post)modernistskogo diskursa v russkoi kul’ture 1920-2000 godov
(2008).
Irina Prokhorova, literary critic and cultural historian (PhD), is
head of the New Literary Observer (Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie)
magazine and publishing house, and a laureate of the Andrei Belyi
prize for literature (2006).
Mikhail Shishkin’s novels include Vzyatie Izmaila (Russian Booker
Prize, 2000), Venerin volos (National Bestseller Prize, 2005), and
Pis’movnik (Big Book Prize, 2011).
**
Conference convener: Oliver Ready (Oxford)
Administrator: Nina Kruglikova (Oxford)

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