Dear all,
I am writing to inform you that there is now an opening on my panel to the late-minute withdrawal of two participants. I would gladly welcome other two participants.
Grazie,
Anita
Call for Papers
‘Voglio morire’: Suicide in Italian Literature of the XIX and XX Centuries
42nd Annual Convention, Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA)
April 7-10, 2011
New Brunswick, NJ – Hyatt New Brunswick
Host Institution: Rutgers University
While suicide constitutes a very important theme for Italian literature, particularly during the XIX and XX centuries, it has unfortunately never been deeply studied. Many writers in fact committed suicide (e.g. Cesare Pavese) or at least attempted to do so (Sibilla Aleramo), and even more authors wrote about it, representing voluntary death in their works (Italo Svevo). In many cases, suicide is both a biographical and a literary subject, constituting a bridge between life and art. For this particular purpose, it is unimportant whether suicide is merely represented, or else attempted, or indeed represented and actually committed; the focus instead is on its meaning with respect to the writer’s body of work, and to the social and literary context. Furthermore, the importance of this theme is greatly enhanced by its intersection with other key issues: self-identity, gender, social context, etc.
Examples might address but are not limited to the following authors and/or questions:
- Suicide in Svevo, Pirandello, Primo Levi, Pavese, Guido Morselli, Aleramo, Amelia Rosselli
- Suicide in a single writer or book
- Suicide in relation with a specific historical period or a geographical area
- Suicide in relation with gender , the self identity, the social context
- The apocalyptic suicide of humanity
- Suicide in the contemporary society
Papers focused on XIX century will be considered for a publication.
Please send abstracts of 250-300 words (in English or Italian) to Anita Virga, University of Connecticut, anita.virga@uconn.edu
| 
