Biography

Call for Articles. "Autobiography and Memoir." Journal of Modern Literature Special issue. The editors invite theoretical, historical, and critical essays that address particular instances or generic issues of memoir/autobiography. Suggested topics include the relationship between memoir/autobiography and truth or authenticity; how the narrated self is inflected by race, ethnicity, class, gender, or sexuality; the relationship between autobiography and performance, and between personal and cultural memory; recovery memoirs, and their reception; generic differences among accounts of personal experience; or the autobiographical use of media other than writing. Send abstracts and essays either as hard copies to Ellen Rose, Journal of Modern Literature, 921 Anderson Hall, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19122; or as Microsoft Word email attachments to erose@temple.edu. Deadline: for 250 to 500 word abstracts, Sept. 2003; for completed essays, Jan. 2004.

Call for Papers. "Confessions." Laboratoire d'Étude et de Recherche du Monde Anglophone (L.E.R.M.A.), Université de Provence (Aix-Marseille I). 11-13 Mar. 2004. In the wake of Peter Brooks's Troubling Confessions: Speaking Guilt in Law and Literature (U of Chicago P, 2000), this conference will examine the notion of confession in the Anglophone world across cultures, nationalities, and disciplines. Brooks sheds a light from different angles on confessional discourse and its fundamental role in our culture of confession, forgiveness, and therapy. From the general acceptance of tell-all confessional literature to the professionalization of the modern form of confession known as psychoanalysis, this conference will examine the ambiguous status of confession, its closely linked power relations, and associated notions of suspicion, uncertainty, and ambivalence. To start with, the mnemonic protocol of the confessor—Quis, quid, ubi, quibus auxiliis, cur, quomodo, quando (Who, what, where, who are the accomplices, why, how, when)—could serve as a guideline for this conference. Contributors are invited to think about the problem of confession and avowal through different perspectives, including institutions and confessions, religion and confession, politics and confession, cinema and confession, confessional literature, psychoanalytical culture and confession, confession and the media, and so on. Contributors working in the American field, should submit title, abstract, and short c.v. to Sylvie Mathé at mathe@newsup.univ-mrs.fr; those focusing on British and Commonwealth issues, contact Gilles Teulié, teulie7@club-internet.fr. Deadline: 30 Sept. 2003. [End Page 395]

Call for Articles. "Disability and/in Prose." Prose StudiesSpecial Issue. Guest editor Brenda Brueggemann seeks historical, theoretical, and critical work around disability and/in non-fictional prose of all periods. While Prose Studies publishes studies of such recognized genres as autobiography, biography, the sermon, the essay, the letter, the journal, and so on, it also aims to promote the study of non-fictional prose as an important component in the profession's ongoing re-configuration of the categories and canons of literature. Interdisciplinary studies, articles on non-canonical texts, and essays on the theory and practice of discourse are also welcome. Please send inquiries or complete 15-25 page (double-spaced) papers to Brenda Brueggemann, Ohio State University, at brueggemann.1@osu.edu. Deadline: 30 Sept. 2003.

Call for Papers. "Constructing Urban Memories: The Role of Oral Testimony." Seventh European Urban History Association Conference. Athens-Piraeus. 27-30 Oct. 2004. A major session will be devoted to oral histories of the city, and the organizers invite paper proposals on issues such as the role of oral testimony in challenging or revealing urban myths‚ the construction of cognitive maps of the city, personal and communal responses to managed urban change (such as slum clearance schemes or neighborhood regeneration programs), the impact of new migration on perceptions of the city and interpretations of its past history, and methodological issues in the collection and interpretation of oral testimony for urban historical research. Proposals from younger scholars are particularly welcome, and for doctoral candidates, some funding is available to cover the registration fee for the conference. Send a one-page proposal to the session organizers: Richard Rodger and Cynthia Brown, East Midlands Oral History Archive, Centre for Urban History, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK; 00 44 116 252 5065; emoha@le...