Colloque : « Mad, Bad, and Dangerous Texts: Controversies in Reading, Writing, Editing, and Printing » (U. de Toronto)

Un appel à communications a été lancé pour le colloque « Mad, Bad, and Dangerous Texts: Controversies in Reading, Writing, Editing, and Printing », qui aura lieu à l’Université de Toronto le 23 mars 2019. Les propositions de communication sont à envoyer avant le 14 décembre 2018.

Vous trouverez ci-dessous l'appel de textes complet (en anglais seulement) :

Mad, Bad, and Dangerous Texts:

Controversies in Reading, Writing, Editing, and Printing

“Go, my book, and help destroy the world as it is.” Russell Banks, Continental Drift

In addition to conveying controversial ideas, books themselves have both committed and inspired mad, bad, and dangerous behaviour. The production and consumption of printed matter can be subversive, destructive, or downright criminal. Studying books as material objects reveals controversies that are fascinating in their own right, regardless of the subject matter between their covers.

The theme of this year’s Book History and Print Culture Graduate Student Colloquium is “Mad, Bad, and Dangerous Texts: Controversies in Reading, Writing, Editing, and Printing.” We invite applications from graduate students, independent scholars, and emerging academics working in any discipline, time period, and geographical region. We hope to explore the ways that print objects have been used to elude and redefine notions of legitimacy. We welcome very broad interpretations of the idea of “danger,” as well as discussions of non-book materials, such as manuscripts, maps, film, or digital documents, that adopt a book history or bibliographic approach.

Possible approaches and topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Boundary pushing: dangerous maps, contraband sheet music, unauthorised translations, and indecent illustrations.
• Underground printing and the black market book trade
• Criminals of the book world: thieves, forgers, fences, smugglers, and pirates
• Exploitative, abusive, & fraught relationships between authors, editors, etc.
• Books that are sites for theft, libel, smuggling, and other crimes
• Marginalia, dog earring, and other “crimes” against books
• Toxic, diseased, and destructive books
• “Mad” books: counterintuitive book design
• The material uses of books that inspired criminal acts
• The bodily sacrifices of livestock to produce book materials
• Censorship: persecuted printers, exiled authors, banned books, & outlawed audiences
• Prescriptive definitions of audiences
• Propaganda and the use of print to exert state control
• Distribution, consumption, and collection as means of defiance or protest
• Books as prized, collectible, contested, contraband, or dangerous items

The Colloquium will take place at Massey Collge in the University of Toronto on March 23, 2019. We are delighted to present a keynote presentation by David Fernández (Rare Book Librarian, Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library) about depictions of monsters in early modern books.

Submission Instructions:

For individual paper proposals, please submit a single document containing the following elements:

1. Abstract (150–200 words)
2. Biographical statement for the presenter (100–150 words) including name, institutional affiliation (if applicable), and email address

For panel proposals, please submit a single document containing the following elements:

1. Brief overview of the proposed panel theme
2. Abstract for each panel presenter (150–200 words)
3. Biographical statement of each presenter (100–150 words)

Deadline for paper and panel proposals is December 14th, 2018.

To submit an abstract or for further inquiries, please contact the colloquium organizers at: bhpccolloquium@gmail.com

For updates, please visit our website at https://bhpccolloquium2019.wordpress.com/