The Aesthetics of Social Problem Literature

41st Anniversary Convention, Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA)
April 7-11, 2010
Montreal, Quebec - Hilton Bonaventure

This panel explores the relationship between social-problem literature and aesthetics in the British nineteenth century. How do novels-with-a-purpose, industrial fiction, social-problem plays, and political poetry lay claim to or distance themselves from aesthetic value? What can we make of the aesthetic dimensions of the critical response to these texts? Both before and after the advent of the Aesthetic Movement, how do art and purpose cohere? Proposals examining specific novels, plays, and poems are welcome, as are those addressing broader genre issues. Please send 300-word abstracts to Elizabeth Starr, estarr@wsc.ma.edu.

Deadline: September 30, 2009

Please include with your abstract:

Name and Affiliation
Email address
Postal address
Telephone number
A/V requirements (if any; $10 handling fee)

The 41st Annual Convention will feature approximately 350 sessions, as well as dynamic speakers and cultural events. Details and the complete Call for Papers for the 2010 Convention will be posted in June: www.nemla.org.

Interested participants may submit abstracts to more than one NeMLA session; however panelists can only present one paper (panel or seminar). Convention participants may present a paper at a panel and also present at a creative session or participate in a roundtable.

Travel to Canada now requires a passport for U.S. citizens. Please get your passport application in early.