GSA 2023 Seminar: New Directions in Researching 19th-Century Women Writing, Montreal (03.03.2023)
Call for Seminar Applications
GSA Seminar “New Directions in Researching 19th-Century Women Writing”
Forty-Seventh Annual Conference, Oct. 5-8 2023, Montréal, Canada
Deadline: March 3, 2023
Conveners:
Andree Michaelis-König (Frankfurt/Oder, GER), Lorely French (Portland, OR), Jadwiga Kita-Huber (Krakow, PL)
Description:
Ever since Nicole Seifert’s critically acclaimed "Frauenliteratur. Abgewertet, vergessen, wiederentdeckt" appeared in 2021, negligence towards women authors has become a viral topic once again. The growing visibility of German women writers since 1800 has stimulated recent scholarly works (Wernli 2022; Hughes 2022; Krimmer/Nossett 2020; Rothenbuchner 2019; Popławska 2016; von Hammerstein 2013 et al.). However, scholarship struggles with at least two core issues: (1) it remains somehow at odds with critical theories related to gender studies in general, often advocating a return to an author-centered approach, potentially focusing on a gender binary, and struggling with methodological aspects; (2) while research shares a continuous effort to (re)discover female authors and forgotten works, it remains disparate and often unconnected. This seminar intends to foster an exchange on both. It is open for discussions on the multitude of directions and materials in 19th-Century German Women Studies today, including letters, literary assemblages, novels, poems, translations, and theater works. We invite scholars from all areas of the field to present their current projects and engage into a theoretical discussion on the methodological state of German Women Studies today.
Selected References
Hughes, Linda (2022): Victorian Women Writers and the Other Germany: Cross-Cultural Freedoms and Female Opportunities, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022.
Krimmer, Elisabeth, Lauren Nossett (ed.) (2020): Writing the Self, Creating Community: German Women Authors and the Literary Sphere, 1750–1850, Woodbridge 2020.
Popławska, Magdalena (2016): Bilder der einsamen Frau im Werk der Vormärzschriftstellerinnen, Dresden 2016.
Rothenbuchner, Alexandra (2019): „Denn was du denken kannst, das kannst du auch vollbringen“. Publizistisch tätige Frauen zwischen 1848 und der Jahrhundertwende am Beispiel von Betty Paoli, Saarbrücken 2019.
Wernli, Martina (Hg.) (2022): „jetzt kommen andre Zeiten angerückt“: Schriftstellerinnen der Romantik, Berlin, Heidelberg 2022.
Format:
Excerpts from Seifert’s Frauenliteratur (2021), the introduction by Fronius/Richards (2011), and a 1000-2000-word description of participants’ current research projects (including dissertations, journal articles, book chapters, and monographs) will be precirculated by September 2023. Sessions will include group analysis of primary sources, 10-minute project presentations, and general networking plans.
Projects that specifically address intersections of gender, ethnicity, race, disability, social class, and economic status in writings by 19th-century women are particularly welcome.
Application Process:
Please apply via the official GSA website. Starting February 10, 2023 the conference portal (https://www.thegsa.org/conference/current-conference) is open for seminar participant applications. Interested participants are asked to submit an abstract describing the nature of their contribution to the seminar (e. g. research abstract; 500 words max), as well as a short biography (300 words max). The application period will close on March 3, 2023. Accepted participants will be notified by mid-March.
If you have any further questions do not hesitate to contact us (frenchl@pacificu.edu or jadwiga.kita-huber@uj.edu.pl).