40th Anniversary Convention, Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA)
Feb. 26-March 1, 2009
Hyatt Regency - Boston, Massachusetts

Though often called realists, the Victorians didn't lack for theories of sleep, dreams, hypnosis, mesmerism, hysteria, memory, fantasy, and other unconscious phenomena. This panel invites papers that reflect on the Victorians' insights into the unconscious and its influence on their artistic expression. Especially welcome are papers that take into account questions of representation. Possible topics include: the role of dreams in literature; the role of fantasy in visual representation; histories of the unconscious; representations of the body and fetishism or symptom in literature, art, or nonfiction; the role of jokes, laughter, or group psychology; the uncanny, return of the repressed, or other unrepresentable objects of desire that haunt representation. Send abstracts (500-750 words) via email to: Alexander Bove, aabove@buffalo.edu.

Deadline: September 15, 2008