CFP: The Animals in This Country

[Kathy Chung]

Hi all,

I'm passing on a cfp from a friend.  Plain text version enclosed
below.  MSWord document version attached.

Cheers, --- Kathy.


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THE ANIMALS IN THIS COUNTRY:
A CANADIAN LITERATURE SYMPOSIUM

University of Ottawa, May 6-8, 2005


 From Charles G.D. Roberts to Yann Martel, from Grey Owl through Marian
Engel, Timothy Findley, and Eden Robinson, animals have figured prominently
in Canadian writing. This symposium invites consideration of the diverse
range of meanings associated with them and of the many connections that
Canadian writers have imagined between animals and ourselves. Proposals are
invited that explore how and what animals have meant in all genres and
periods of Canadian writing; they may focus on an individual text, on a
genre of animal writing, or on a broad theoretical or representational issue.


Questions to be considered might include but are not limited to the following:

*       What do representations of animals-living or dead, wild or
domesticated, idealized, ironized, or "realistically" portrayed-tell us
about contemporary and historical understandings of nature, of Canadian
society, of personal, communal, regional, or national identity?

*       How do animals function in stories of self or nation?

*       What representational possibilities and limitations are associated
with the various genres writers have used to depict animals?

*       How have feminist, anti-racist, eco-critical, and Aboriginal
writers depicted animal figures?

*       What role do animals play in literature concerned with the spiritual?

*       Are comparisons with other national literatures fruitful to
highlight the distinctiveness of Canadian traditions?

*       To what extent does authenticity remain an issue, or is it possible
to write anything but allegory when it comes to animals?

*       To what extent have writers at various times succeeded in crossing
the species divide; can we talk about "giving voice" to animals without
sentimentality or anthropomorphism?

*       How can contemporary theory be used to investigate animal
representation?

"       Is now the time to speak of the postmodern or the cyborg animal,
and what are the implications of such terms?


Please send a 300-500 word proposal (hard copies in triplicate) and a
50-word bio-blurb by 31 AUGUST 2004 to:

Professor Janice Fiamengo, Symposium Chair
Department of English, University of Ottawa
70 Laurier Avenue East, Ottawa, ON
Canada   K1N 6N5
Fax: (613) 562-5990 Email: fiamengo at uottawa.ca
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