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CONCEPT NOTE:

‘Comparative Literature’, ‘culture’, ‘society’ – these terms have been used frequently in contemporary academic discourses that stem from the drive towards “interdisciplinarity” without addressing the tools to map the available reference points within a particular socio-cultural milieu. Our focus in this seminar is to examine the inter-relation of these concepts from the perspective of comparative studies in literature(s) and culture(s). The development of Comparative Literature in India and elsewhere as an academic discipline has been continuously shaped by certain socio-political events, like Bangabhanga, World War II, Cold War, (to name a few). These events are linked with socio-cultural phenomena like “multiculturalism” (Bernheimer, Comparative Literature in the Age of Multiculturalism), “globalization” (Saussy, Comparative Literature in the Age of Globalization), as well as disciplines/concepts like Cultural Studies, Translation Studies, World Literature and – perhaps the latest – Comparative Cultural Studies. Does Comparative Literature mean merely comparing two texts from two different socio-cultural milieu? What is the value of language as a sign system and as a creative tool, in such an endeavour? In a multilingual situation how can language as a major socio-cultural index (beyond oral/written as well) become a significant point of departure in understanding the negotiations mentioned above, is our primary concern.

The conference seeks to delve deep into this anxiety and explore the precise links – if any – between the practice of Comparative Literature and the location of the practitioner. Do the needs of the comparatist influence the means and methods and if so, how? As a practice, Comparative Literature opens itself to such internal questions, and we would like to explore the relations between the different ways of practice and their locations – comparing the comparativism that arises in different locations.

If comparative literature as a perspective allows itself to “change”, ‘comparativism as an ethics’ allows us to take into our pedagogy and our practice its commitment to understanding the other with the humility and the willingness to change in the face of difference. Difference in language to start with and then extending our “understanding” around, gender, caste, class, ethnicity, religion, location and many more. Standing at this historical conjuncture, we feel the need to bring this discussion to bear upon both disciplinary expectations and “interdisciplinarity”.

We invite focussed and analytical papers which would address these theoretical complexities and enrich our understanding of the points of intersections between Comparative Literature and culture/ society.

SUB-THEMES WILL INCLUDE:

Abstracts (300 words, maximum) of papers, related to the broad theme of the Conference, are invited by November 20, 2015. Authors should mention clearly their name and affiliation. Please note, we will be unable to consider abstracts received after the last date. The Broad Areas mentioned are only suggestive. Presentation time will be 15-20 minutes. Abstracts must be sent here: cclvbu@gmail.com.

Abstracts can be in Bangla, English, Hindi, Assamese, Odia, Marathi, Sanskrit, Tamil, Urdu, Santhali, Indo-Tibetan, Russian, Italian, French, German, Spanish, Japanese and Chinese. If selected, participants will have to translate their abstracts, and subsequently papers into English for circulation. All abstracts will be sent for blind peer-review and selected participants will receive an acceptance letter by December 10, 2015. In order to participate in the conference, selected candidates will have to send their complete papers by January 10, 2016.

Best Paper Award to Students at the Conference (TWO)

Since 2015, the Comparative Literature Association of India has decided to institute two prizes at its annual conferences, one for the best paper presented by an MA student from any literature discipline, and one for the best paper presented by a research student at the MPhil and PhD level in Comparative Literature. Participants under the age of 35, registered for MA, MPhil and PhD courses in Indian and foreign universities are eligible to compete, provided:

(1) They indicate their desire to compete

(2) Submit proof of studentship along with the abstract .

Once notified that their abstract has been selected for inclusion in the conference programme, MA, MPhil and PhD students wishing to compete must submit the complete paper within the date mentioned above. Six papers (three from each category) will be shortlisted for presentation at a special session of the conference. Selection of shortlisted candidates will be on the basis of blind review of papers received by an expert committee. Final selection of two best papers will be on the basis of the papers received followed by the presentation of the shortlisted papers at the special session.

Registration fees shall be applicable as follows:

Outcome of the Conference: An edited volume of research papers to be published by the Centre for Comparative Literature, Bhasa Bhavana, Visva- Bharati and subsequently released during 2017 CLAI Biennial Conference.
For any queries please write to us here cclvbu@gmail.com

CLAI Members please write to: Professor Chandra Mohan, General Secretary, Comparative Literature Association of India (CLAI), C-93 (GF) Inder Puri, New Delhi-110012 (email id: c.mohan.7@hotmail.comMobile: 09810683143

RECENT EVENT

CONCEPT NOTE:

A distinctly definable conglomeration of nations, broadly called South Asia, has emerged as a major site of critical inquiry in the recent past. It has engaged serious academic attention in the areas of society, polity, and economy; arts, culture, and philosophy, to name some of the more important ones. The individual identity of each nation within this geographical region is as remarkable as the collective identity of the nations put together in a larger frame of references. Considerable amounts of shared historical predicaments, common political cultures, approximating social formations, comparable cultural institutions, and nearly identical expressions in the domains of art, literature and philosophy render it into an eminently viable field of inquiry, which the current interest and the remarkable growth of scholarship in this area have amply shown. Furthermore, as South Asia has had a unique history of negotiating multiplicities and pluralities, it is on the one hand a significant site of difference for Europe to engage with, and on the other, a postcolonial imperative calling for interdisciplinary inquiries into a variety of markers that distinguish this region.

In order to develop a broader discourse on South Asia as a space of multiple configurations, the conference proposes to engage with issues relating to diverse aspects of culture, arts, and socio-political movements. These will include discussions on the evolution of South Asian nations through pre-colonial and colonial times, as also post-colonial and neo-colonial phases, configurations of tradition and ethnicity, religious and secular movements and movements of resistance and affirmation. Focusing on literary and cultural texts produced by nationalist and reformist movements, sufi and bhakti traditions, tribal, dalit and women’s interventions, to identify some of them, efforts will be made to trace the points of intersection between society and culture during the phases of their development. It may also be posited that since the exponential economic growth, technological advancements, and broadening political bases in the age of globalization have curiously impacted the domains of art, literature and culture in South Asia, these aspects may also be examined in a broader context. In addition, issues relating to ideological constructions and philosophical debates, growth of knowledge systems, as well as conditions contributing to the writing of personal narratives, literary texts, treatises, and such other subjects of contemporary relevance will be undertaken for closer examination. All these issues may be examined with reference to the tools and techniques of comparative studies. Keeping close to the areas mentioned above, Abstracts may be developed for submission on the following sub-themes:

SUB-THEMES:

Other Relevant Details

• • Abstracts of about 300 words in English in Times New Roman (12 point, single space), along with the presenter’s designation, affiliation, and email id, mentioned at the end of the Abstract, may be sent to : Professor K.G. Sharma, Director, Centre for Rajasthan Studies, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur 302004 (Email Id: rajstudycentre@gmail.com, Mobile: 09460124663)
  • Apart from English, papers may also be presented in Hindi, or Urdu which must be mentioned at the time of submission of Abstract.
  • All presentations must be completed within 15-20 minutes.
  • There will be a special plenary session on Methodology of Comparative Literature
  • ICLA Research Committee panels relating to Literary and Cultural Interrelationships Between India, its Neighboring Countries and the World. (Coordinator: Dr. Chandra Mohan) and the Literature, Religion and Ethics (Coordinator, Dr. Kitty Millet), will be made within the broad theme of the conference and abstracts / papers will be welcome.
  • Best Paper Award to Students at the Conference Beginning from 2015, the Comparative Literature Association of India will institute two prizes at its annual conferences, one for the best paper presented by an MA student from any literature discipline, and one for the best paper presented by a research student at the MPhil and PhD level in Comparative Literature. Participants under the age of 35, registered for MA, MPhil and PhD courses in Indian and foreign universities are eligible to compete, provided:
    (1) They indicate their desire to compete in the designated place in the conference registration form;
    (2) Submit proof of studentship along with the completed registration form and abstract. Once notified that their abstract has been selected for inclusion in the conference programme, MA, MPhil and PhD students wishing to compete must submit the complete paper two months before the conference date in order to be considered for the prize. Six papers (three from each category) will be shortlisted for presentation at a special session of the conference. Final selection will include both written paper and its presentation at the special session.
  • It is to be noted that the members who sent abstracts during last year, are requested to send their updated and revised abstracts again.
  • The members are requested to ensure that the papers relate to Comparative Literary Studies and to the theme of the Conference in particular.
  • Registration fees shall be applicable as follows:

Important Dates

Contacts

Download CLAI Conference Programme Schedule (PDF)

RECENT EVENT

XIth CLAI BIENNIAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE 2013
ON
The Journey of Comparative Literature: India and Beyond

DEPARTMENT OF COMPARATIVE LITERATURE
JADAVPUR UNIVERSITY
KOLKATA 700032, INDIA
www.complitju.org

JANUARY 16-18, 2013

CONCEPT NOTE:

The discipline of Comparative Literature in India is more than sixty-five years old in its institutional form and started with the establishment of India’s first Comparative Literature department at Jadavpur University, Kolkata. Over the decades, it has evolved into a vibrant, exciting and relevant discipline. It manifests resonances with the development of the discipline in other parts of the world while at the same time mapping its own distinct trajectory. The Conference seeks to take stock of pedagogical developments in Comparative Literature the world over and to map the Indian context in terms of the same. It also hopes to explore the changing contours of its relationship with other disciplines and share perspectives on the potential of Comparative Literature as an academic discipline.

In particular, we would like to focus on the state of Comparative Literature today. Among other things, we would like to explore how the discipline has responded to pressures of a globalised educational matrix, the competition among disciplines for resources and recognition and the pedagogical imperatives of the same. By doing so, we hope to arrive at a nuanced understanding of where our discipline is heading and also how far we are equipped to make necessary interventions in this journey.

We welcome well-researched and substantiated, analytical presentations on all aspects related to the development of Comparative Literature as well as to the scope of the discipline. Papers related to the history and methodology of Comparative Literature and concomitant debates are particularly encouraged. Papers involving the study of one or more authors without reference to the methods and/or history of Comparative Literature would not fit into the theme of this Conference.

SUB-THEMES:

The Conference will also include a workshop of the ICLA Research Committee on Mapping Multilingualism in World Literature on the theme “Figures of Transcontinental Multilingualism”.

Download CLAI Plenary Schedule(PDF)

Download CLAI Conference Programme Details(PDF)

Download Parallel Sessions(PDF)

RECENT EVENT

FIGURES OF TRANSCONTINENTAL MULTILINGUALISM

Workshop of the ICLA Research Committee “Mapping Multilingualism in World Literature“
Organized by Subha Chakraborty Dasgupta and K. Alfons Knauth

Venue: CLAI Conference 2013, Jadavpur University, Kolkata

This workshop explores the transcontinental dynamics of literary multilingualism, including translation, while giving special attention to their imaginary and ideological configurations from different continental and cultural perspectives.

A comprehensive figure is that of traditional translatio studii et imperii (transfer of culture and imperial hegemony) which originated in the Orient and was largely deployed in the Occident. Apart from its connection with imperialism and colonialism, it developed a set of mythic (Babel, Pentecost, Dionysos …), cosmic (astronomic, maritime, telluric …), cultural (ludic, erotic, gastronomic … ) and technical (map, prism, net …) patterns that were taken up and reshaped by postcolonial thought and imagination. Beside the disruptive, multidirectional and decentered view of intercultural movements, postcolonialism along with post/modernism contributed considerably to what may be termed the interlinguistic turn of contemporary discourse. One of its prominent rhetorical figures is the cross-cultural chiasmus of intertwined tongues, either in the form of intratextual hybridism or of intertextual translation, to and fro. Intercontinental multilingualism also manifests itself by means of a more discrete “imaginaire des langues“ (Édouard Glissant), the suggestive copresence of different tongues in an imagined globoglossia of world literature, on a both planetary and paritary basis.

Within and beyond traditional translatio studii will be considered the figure of East West Indian translingualism, starting with Christopher Columbus’ ambivalent mapping and naming of the New World which led to the ‚marvellous’ multiplication and metamorphosis of India into the Asian Indias Orientales and the American Indias Occidentales. The East West Indian configuration, following its original sense that refers to continents rather than to regions, evolved with the modern Asian-American migrations and cultural transfers since the 19th century not only to the Caribbean, but also to North and South America. Two Caribbean authors fitting this figure in different ways are V.S. Naipaul and Sam Selvon who even called himself “an East Indian Trinidadian West Indian”. Bharati Mukherjee may represent the intellectual migrant who is “wanting America“, while Aldous Huxley is an example of a British American who spiritually migrated from California to India and with his saying “I am OM“ created a sort of interlingual mantra for this cross-cultural space, in opposition to Western linguistic colonization of the East, as analyzed by Homi Bhabha. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak’s English translation of Mahasweta’s Three Stories / Imaginary Maps, including its Introduction, provides an example for translatory processes between the hybrid Bengali original and its Anglo-American addressee, drawing even a parallel between the Indian and the American natives.

Beside the Asian-American figure of literary translingualism other intercontinental configurations in the area of Afro-American, Afro-Asian, Australian, Eurasian and Oceanian literatures will be considered as well, and in addition the figurative representation of cosmopolitan polyglossy and of multilingual cyberspace.

FORTHCOMING EVENT

XXth ICLA Congress
PARIS
July 18-24, 2013
Université Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV)
Comparative Literature as a critical approach
http://icla-ailc-2013.paris-sorbonne.fr
(opening of the website : September 2011)

For ICLA members: Early-bird registration, before February 28, 2013: Regular registration, before May 30, 2013: On-site registration: Non-member registration: Student rates: Early-bird registration, before February 28, 2013: Regular registration, before May 30, 2013: On-site registration: Accompanying person: * fees in $ calculated on the 06/2011 rate.

Registrations will be made on the website and in euros (the exchange rate will be that of the day of the transaction). Amounts in dollars given here are merely indicative. The on­line registration will be available as of October 2012. It will close on May 30, 2013 at 6:00 pm GMT. All registrations made after this point will be considered on-site registrations.
ACCOMMODATIONS
On-line reservation will be available on the website. Hotel reservations can also be made directly. Examples of hotel rates will also be given on the website.
Partnerships (more to come): ENS-Lyon, Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), Université d’Artois, Université de Besançon, Université de Bordeaux 3, Université de Clermont-Ferrand 2, Université de Dijon, Université Stendhal-Grenoble 3, Université de Haute-Alsace, Université de Lille 3, Université de Limoges, Université de Lyon 3, Université Paris-Est-Créteil, Université de Paris-Ouest-Nanterre, Université Paris 3-Sorbonne nouvelle, Université Paris 8, Université de Pau, Université de Saint-Etienne, Université de Sarrebrück, Université de Strasbourg, Université de Valenciennes…

PAST EVENT

CALL FOR PAPERS
International conference on MINORITY DISCOURSES ACROSS CULTURES
Organised by the Central University of Rajasthan in collaboration with the Comparative Literature Association of India
Dates : 26-29 February, 2012

Venue: Central University of Rajasthan, Bandra Sindri, Near Kishangarh (Ajmer). It is about 80 km from Jaipur, on the highway

Thematic Statement :

There are minorities of every kind, religious, racial, economic, gender, and the powerless, not only within a nation but also in the international scenario. Power, at times, converts a sizeable population into a minority, a permanent opponent. Political discourses intervene with personal and emotional ones to shift the balance. Dalits, First nations, tribals, aboriginals, religious minorities such as Anglo-Indians, Parsis, Indian Muslims, and small pockets of diaspora all are political and literary minorities. Third world countries where the political power is controlled by big powers and other similar hegemonic structures lead to the creation of new minorities. The Conference would like to reflect upon the nature of power vis-a–vis the powerless, and explore narrative strategies which articulate minority histories, the politics of sameness and difference and the emergence of indigenous structures of knowledge.

Literary questions which stare us in the face are: How do we define minority discourse? What are its aesthetics? Has it created any new forms, dislocated existing ones, or absorbed native traditions of storytelling? Is it possible to develop new theoretical frameworks? Do we work with border theories or psychological ones of non-belonging, shifting subjectivities or look more closely at narratological inventions? How do we look at minority discourses in/and world literature? Here we need to look at publication, marketing, reading publics, and much more significantly equality. How and in what manner do minority discourses interact with mainstream cultures, theories and issues? There is the need to move outside English language literatures to consider minority literatures. Writers from Indian languages and European languages, especially if the particular work is also available in translation, maybe considered. The medium of presentation however will be English.

The following sub-themes have been identified for the conference:

Well-considered, analytical and comparative papers are invited on any one of the above sub-themes. There will be a special session on sub-continental writing with a focus on inter-relations as reflected in culture, literature and politics. Presentation time is limited to 20 minutes (2500 words or 8 double spaced typed pages). Abstracts of 250-300 words to reach the Conference Organizers latest by 30th November, 2011 at the address given below. Please remember to include your affiliation details, phone number and email ids. The conference will be organized at the permanent site of the University Campus, Central University of Rajasthan, Bandra Sindri, Near Kishangarh, Ajmer (Rajasthan). The conference will be organized at the permanent site of the University Campus Central University of Rajasthan, Bandra Sindri, Near Kishangarh, Ajmer (Raj.) .

Stay and hospitality during the conference days will be provided to the invited participants.
For any related information, you are welcome to contact:
General Secretary
Prof. Chandra Mohan, Comparative Literature Association of India, C-93 (GF), Inderpuri, New Delhi-110012, Tel. No. 09810683143 (mobile) , Email: c.mohan.7@hotmail.com

Conference Convener
Dr. Supriya Agarwal 2A- Indira Nagar Tonk Road Jaipur, Rajasthan Tel. No. 09829216363
Email: agarwalsupriya13@gmail.com; Email: englishdepartment.curaj@gmail.com

Co-Convener
Dr. Avinash Jodha , Tel No. 09414358853.
Email: avinashjodha@hotmail.com

Organizing Committee
Dr. Bhumika Sharma ,Tel. No. : 09166245919
Mr. Abhigyan Diwedi , Tel. No. : 08058982054

PAST EVENT

International seminar on TRANSLATION, IDEOLOGY AND POLITICS IN THE 21ST CENTURY

Organised by the School of Translation Studies and Training, Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), in collaboration with the Comparative Literature Association of India and the International Comparative Literature Association
Dates: 2-4 March, 2012

Venue: Indira Gandhi National Open University, Delhi

The School of Translation Studies and Training, Indira Gandhi National Open University is to organize a three day International Seminar on ‘Translation, Ideology and Politics in the 21st Century’ on March 2-4, 2012 in collaboration with Comparative Literature Association of India (CLAI) and International Comparative Literature Association (ICLA) The Seminar would consider various issues pertaining to emergence of translation as an independent discipline dealing with production and distribution of translation in different domains. Apart from being an instrument of acquisition, preservation, creation, dissemination and application of knowledge, translation is also an act of power therefore it has its politics and economics that condition various processes involved in translation and its reception with the change of location these processes and forces attain different forms. The seminar would consider all these and other related issues of ideology and politics and their theoretical formulations without oversighting the Indian context in particular.

Hospitality and Stay will be provided to the invited participants.

The interested participants are requested to submit abstracts of the proposed presentation in about 300 words by 30th October 2011. They can contact us for further details :

Past Event

Following Forkhead Paths: Discussions on the Narrative

The First Interactive Workshop on Narrative Studies

Centre of Advanced Study (Phase II)
Department of Comparative Literature
Jadavpur University
Kolkata

January 18, 2012

The Centre of Advanced Study (Phase II), Department of Comparative Literature, Jadavpur University will be organizing a one day National workshop on “Following Forkhead Paths: Discussions on the Narrative” on January 18, 2012.

The workshop would locate ‘narrative’ within a wider cultural framework, across spatial and temporal dimensions and ask: Where do narrative traditions come from? And what purpose do they serve?
The Workshop will focus on the Narrative as a form of ordering and cognition in any medium : language, visual media, performance or film. The questions that we would like to address are:

1. How do narrative traditions reconfigure experience, and establish/ rupture normative aspects of life worlds?
2. How do narrative traditions accommodate one another, what are the dynamics of accommodation and reception, what are the elements of a narrative tradition that constitute it as a separate repertoire or open it to interconnect it with other traditions?
3. What are the premises behind categorizations and modes of fabrication of a ‘text’?

The objective of the Workshop would be to interrogate the epistemological issues regarding narrative theory and traditions that would in turn, provide direction in the understanding of Narrative as a cognitive operation through comparative literature methodology. The workshop aims to invite interdisciplinary dialogues on the dynamic nature of the narrative and how different narrative traditions form their own kind of theory, highlighting certain aspects of their social construction at the expense of others and the negotiations involved in literary and cultural transactions. The larger agenda of the project, of which the workshop is a part, would look at the potential relationship between and futures for diverse narrative traditions.

A 200 word abstract (in Bangla or English) of the paper proposed for presentation must be sent together with the mail indicating interest in participating in the Workshop at narrativeworkshopju2012@gmail.com by 30th October 2011. Acceptance of papers will be communicated latest by 15th November 2011. Full text of the paper will be expected by 31st December, 2011. Selected papers would be published. The workshop encourages participants to seek travel and accommodation funds from their home institutions.

Contact Persons:

1. • Dr. Sudip Bhattacharya, Reader in English, Ramakrishna Mission Vidyamandira, Belur Math, Howrah (caespitose@yahoo.co.in)
   • Ms. Epsita Halder, Assistant Professor, Department of Comparative Literature, Jadavpur University, Kolkata (epsita.halder@gmail.com)
   • Dr. Debashree Dattaray, Assistant Professor, Department of Comparative Literature, Jadavpur University, Kolkata (debashreedattaray@gmail.com)

Past Publication

The Cambridge Companion to Comparative Literature and Comparative Cultural Studies
Ed. Steven Tötösy de Zepetnek and Tutun Mukherjee. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2012. Forthcoming.

Contents
Introduction to The Cambridge Companion to Comparative Literature and Comparative Cultural Studies
Steven Tötösy de Zepetnek and Tutun Mukherjee
Part One
Theories of Comparative Literature, World Literature, and Comparative Cultural Studies

The Comparative and Contextual Study of Literature and Culture in the Age of Globalization
Steven Tötösy de Zepetnek and Louise O. Vasvári
Meltzl de Lomnitz and Comparative Literature
David Marno
Comparative Cultural Studies and Pedagogy
Ronald Soetaert and Kris Rutten
Teaching World Literature
John Pizer
Grounds for Comparison
Natalie Melas
Comparative Cultural Studies and Cultural Anthropology
Rik Pinxten
Comparative Cultural Studies and the New Worldliteratur
Elke Sturm-Trigonakis
Globalization and World Literature
Haun Saussy
Comparative Literature and Culture and the Other Arts
Anke Finger
Gender and Genre in Comparative Literature and Comparative Cultural Studies
Ana Lozano de la Pola
Comparative Literature and Genre
Johan F. Hoorn
Comparative Literature and Translation Studies
Paolo Bartoloni
Time and Space in Comparative Literature
Tutun Mukherjee
Comparative Literature and Period Styles
Slobodan Sucur
Comparative Cultural Studies and the Study of Medieval Literature
Roberta Capelli
(Inter)mediality and the Study of Literature
Werner Wolf
Part Two
Comparative Literature and Comparative Cultural Studies in the World Today

Comparative and Postcolonial Literature in Africa
Kwaku Asante-Darko
Comparative Literature in Central Europe
Letitia Guran
Comparative Literature on Mainland China
Xiaolu Wang and Liu Yan
Comparative Literature in France
Anne Tomiche
Comparative Literature in Germany
Oliver Lubrich
Comparative Literature and Culture in India
Anand P. Patil
Comparative Literature in Italy
Mauro Pala
Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies in Spain and Portugal
María Teresa Vilariño Picos
Comparative Literature and Latin American Studies
Sophia A. McClennen
Comparative Literature in Russia
Vera Zubarev
Comparative Literary Studies in the USA
Gerald Gillespie

Part Three
Examples of Diaspora, Gender, Genre, Language, the Other Arts, Philosophy, and (Post)colonial Studies in Comparative Literature and Comparative Cultural Studies

Language in Modern African Drama
Isaiah Ilo
Sexual Identity, Translation, and the Case of Prime-Stevenson’s Texts
Margaret S. Breen
Global Writers and the Case of Joyce in India and Latin America
Bhavya Tiwari
Abject Spaces and the Hinterland in Bolaño’s Work
Stacey Balkan
Literature, Textual Production, and Reception
Swapan Majumdar
The Object of Art and Pamuk’s Masumiyet Müzesi (The Museum of Innocence)
S. Dilek Yalçın Çelik
Diaspora Writing and Gao’s Soul Mountain
Mabel Lee
Opera, Alterity, and Aesthetics in Herzog’s Work
Jacob I. Eidt
The Notion of Life in the Work of Agamben
Carlo Salzani
Painting and Representation in the Work of Balzac
Janet Moser

Part Four
Selected Bibliography of Books in Comparative Literature and Comparative Cultural Studies
Bibliography of Books in Comparative Literature and Comparative Cultural Studies
Steven Tötösy de Zepetnek

Index

Tenth CLAI Biennial International Conference

CALL FOR PAPERS
Tenth CLAI Biennial International Conference
to be organized under the auspices of
Central University of Gujarat, Sector-30, Gandhinagar, Gujarat
3 – 6 March, 2011
Central University of Gujarat and Comparative Literature Association of India
cordially invite you to an International Conference on
Social Imagination in Comparative Perspective:
Languages, Cultures and Literatures
Co-sponsored by
Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi,
Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore
Indian Council for Cultural Relations, New Delhi

The conference spread over to three and a half days (3-6 March 2011) aims to focus on the role and function of social imagination within a comparative framework. The creative act, in any medium, is performed and received within a specific historical location, but that milieu results from contact and exchange between diverse cultures. Major shifts in the domain of cultures are directed by the collective imagination of entire societies. This is true of transformation of genres, styles and also of traffic of ideas between cultures and societies. The idea of the literary is deeply implicated in extra-literary factors and need to be taken beyond the individualist perspectives of literary production. The dialogic nature of literature and culture derives from the participation of communities and their imaginative faculty. There has been greater awareness of indigenous communities and first nations and their cultural productions in recent decades. We are committed to exploring the mode in which social imagination informs cultural productions at various stages in the history. This will help us figure out the relations between the past and the present, the canonical and the non-canonical and the national and the trans-national. An inclusive idea of society can only be generated by a clear understanding of the other. Our attempt is also to recover such texts and traditions which will enable us generate a critique of exclusivist social and cultural practices and help us imagine new social harmonies. Our contention is that ‘social imagination’ cuts across fields of knowledge as diverse as social sciences, media studies, women’s studies and translation studies. This international conference aims to understand the working of social imagination from multiple perspectives to redefine its productive role in the service of a vibrant, just society. Such an exploration would contribute towards the vision of Comparative Literature as an interdisciplinary domain in a fast changing global context.

Sub-themes :
Changing Contexts of Comparative Literature; Comparative Literature in India: Beyond Canons and Conventions; Linguistic Interfaces and Literary Inter-relationships; Redefining ‘Culture’, Re-inventing ‘Literature’; Minor Languages and Mainstream Cultures; Gender and Literature; Caste/Race and Literature; Translation: Echoes and Equivalence; Translation: Aesthetics and Ethics; Travel Writing as Cultural Translation; Literacy and Literature; Literature and Orature; Literature and Public Sphere; Genres in Transition/Translation; Literature as History and History as Literature; Interface between Literature and Social Sciences; Literature as Resistance; Verbal Text into Visual Text: Problems and Possibilities; Migrations and Diasporas; Media, Mediation and Literature, Ecology and Literature.

Abstracts, approximately 300 words, be sent through email: claiconf2011@gmail.com or by post to Prof. E.V. Ramakrishnan, Conference Coordinator (address given below). Papers may be between 3000 to 4000 words. Later an edited volume based on the presentations made in the Conference will be brought out.

Email: claiconf2011@gmail.com

Phone: 079-23260209

Registration Fee:
:
:
:Rs. 1200 (outstation)
Rs. 600 (local)
Rs. 500 (research scholars / students)
Cdn $ 200 (international)

For any related information, you are welcome to contact:
Prof. Chandra Mohan, General Secretary, CLAI, C-93 (GF), Inder Puri, New Delhi-110012, Email: c.mohan.7@hotmail.com , Phone: 09810683143 (mobile)
Dr. Sayantan Dasgupta, Secretary, CLAI, Department of Comparative Literature, Jadavpur University, Kolkata-700033, Email: dasgupta.sayantan@gmail.com, phone: 09831191181 (mobile)

CALL FOR PAPERS
Saurashtra university, Rajkot (Gujarat)

Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies
in collaboration with
Comparative Literature Association of India, and
Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi

will hold an International Conference on the theme

Expanding Territories: Comparative Literature In The 21st Century

Dates : MARCH 29-31, 2010 (MON, TUES & WED)
Venue : Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies
Saurashtra University, Rajkot -360 005 (Gujarat)

Thematic Statement : Comparative Literature has come a long way since its emergence as a reaction against national literature in the declining decades of the 18thcentury, evolving amidst various challenges and crises in its brief history of the last two hundred years. In the second half of the 20th century, it tried to cope up with new realities, new territories, and disciplines that came into existence to study the new experiences. In the process, Comparative Literature strained towards interdisciplinarity, translation studies, cultural studies, multi-culturalism among others. In the 21st century, Comparative Literature has to respond and adapt itself to globalisation on the one hand, and localisation on the other. The clash of civilization and flattening of the world are not ideas but realities. The globe would shrink further and in the process many local languages, literatures and cultures might become history. In a situation such as this, only Comparative Literature can be a site or a methodology of confluence advocating the validity of the existence of others because the day the other ceases / is disallowed to exist would be the last day for Comparative Literature as well. As such, Comparative Literature has to take note of them and respond as the united nations of literatures, cultures, disciplines and knowledge systems of the world in the 21st century.

The sub-themes are Comparative Literature: Concepts, its Present Status and New Territories; Comparative Interdisciplinary Studies and Knowledge Systems; Comparative Literature and Literatures on the Margin; Comparative Literature and Translation Studies; Comparative Literature, Multiculturalism and Cultural, Folk and Oral Studies; Comparative Literature and Globalisation with Special Reference to the Future of Languages; Comparative Literature and Indian linguistic, literary and pedagogic realities; Comparative Literature and Area Studies & Comparative Literature and New Genres in an Age of Science and Technology.

Abstracts of proposed papers (of around 250 words) should reach by 15th February, 2010 to either Prof. Kamal Mehta, Head or Dr. Sanjay Mukherjee, Co-ordinators, Seminar Sessions Committee, Department of English and Comparative Literature, Saurashtra University, Rajkot- 360005 (Gujarat) preferably as soft copy mailed to:
khmehta111@yahoo.co.in | sanjaymukherjee18@hotmail.com or shonjoy_mukherjee@rediffmail.com. The Department shall get back to all scholars responding to this first letter with details about acceptance, registration, boarding details etc. soon.

Coordinators :

For any related information, you are welcome to contact:

Prof. Avadhesh Kumar Singh
Department of English and Comparative Literature, Saurashtra University, Rajkot (Gujarat), Email: avadhesh06@gmail.com , 09427223057 (mobile)

Dr. Chandra Mohan, General Secretary
Comparative Literature Association of India, C-93, G.F., Inderpuri, New Delhi-110012, Email: anukul7@vsnl.com , 09810683143 (mobile)

Dr. Sayantan Dasgupta, Secretary
Comparative Literature Association of India

Workshop on Pedagogical Challenges of Comparative Literature

A two-day workshop on Pedagogical Challenges of Comparative Literature as a Discipline will be organized at the Central University of Kerala, Kasaragod, on 25-26 March, 2010 with the objective to provide inputs for preparation of courses forthe Masters Programme in Comparative Literature being introduced at the university.

Ninth CLAI Biennial International Conference

The Ninth CLAI Biennial International Conference was held in Hyderabad from January 28 to 31, 2009. It was hosted jointly by the Centre for Comparative Literature, University of Hyderabad, and English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad. The conference was co-sponsored by Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore, and Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi.

Conference Coordinators: Professor Tutun Mukherjee and Professor Abhai Maurya

Theme: Diverse Harmonies: Literary and Cultural Confluences

Explanation: Civilisations impact each other. Those moments of contact can be either transitory or long-lasting; they can give rise to new forms and ideas or displace and/or transform old ones. This conference is planned as a fusion event to map and celebrate the meeting of literatures and cultures to foster better understanding of both the bonds that bind and the differences that must be respected. While the theme of the conference invites discussion of co-existent yet distinct literary and cultural trends, movements and histories, the notion of confluence hopes to complicate the workings of unilateral influence and power paradigms and engage with the study of relations, literary and cultural flows, and the exchange of ideas. The effort is not to forge any fictive unity among people, societies and nations, but to understand the thrilling harmony of diverse melodies that meeting of cultures can generate.

Sub-themes: