“Reader, I Met Him”: First Encounters in Fiction (NeMLA 2025)
Near the end of Jane Eyre, the title character famously says, “Reader, I married him.” It is a wedding her readers have expected and waited for, yet it comes after a rather inauspicious first meeting.
Fiction is full of first meetings. While a relationship’s apex or culmination might often be most memorable to readers, the initial encounter is also of special interest and significance to the story. Papers for this panel will explore fictional (or nonfictional) first meetings or initial encounters. Presenters may discuss a first meeting in light of the dynamics of the relationship’s development and/or ending, or presenters may choose to do a close reading that does not take into account the relationship’s future.
Studies of novels, short stories, poems, nonfictional works, and film are welcome. Papers may reflect on, but are not limited to, the following interpretations of the first encounter:
Beginnings of romantic relationships or friendships
The meet cute
Reunions
First transactions in shady dealings
Meeting new neighbors
Birth/adoption of a child
Bringing home a pet
First meetings with teachers, coaches, therapists, spiritual guides, etc.
Meeting a hero or a celebrity
Meeting an enemy, nemesis, or rival
Conversations with strangers in public (stations, public transport, libraries, bars, city parks, etc.)
Meeting people in a new setting (school, workplace, prison, etc.)
The first in-person meeting of a relationship of correspondence
Abstracts are accepted through September 30, 2024. Please submit a 300-word abstract by September 30 to NeMLA’s online portal: https://www.cfplist.com/nemla/Home/CFP
The session number is #21046.
The 56th annual NeMLA convention will take place March 6-9, 2025 in Philadelphia. For more information on the conference and to view NeMLA’s guidelines for abstracts, visit https://www.buffalo.edu/nemla/convention.html
Questions regarding the panel may be addressed to Lori Newcomb, LoNewco1@wsc.edu
https://www.cfplist.com/nemla/Home/CFP
Lori Newcomb