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Monthly Archives: October 2008

Call for Proposals
Fantastic Voyages, Monstrous Dreams, Wondrous Visions: Cinematic Folklore and Fairy Tale Film

Submissions are invited for an edited collection of essays on fairy tale film. Suitable topics include but are not limited to:
• Intersections between folklore, fantasy, and film theory
• Postmodern and psychoanalytic perspectives on cinematic folklore
• Metamorphosis, enchantment, monstrosity, and abjection in fairy tale film
• Transgender or transbiology in fairy tale film
• The rise in popularity of adult fairy tale films
• The convergence of science fiction and fairy tale fantasy film
• Ethnographic studies of fairy tale film viewers and audiences
• Fairy tale film narratives of Happily-ever-after, the American Dream, utopia, and other cultural discourses
• Discourses of Otherness, (post)coloniality, and Orientalism in fairy tale film
• Fairy tale film as cultural pedagogy, encoding issues of socialization, sexuality, gender, race, and class difference
• Analyses of particular works by fairy tale filmmakers from Georges Méliès and Walt Disney to Tim Burton and Stephen Spielberg
• Global migration of cinematic folklore, cross-cultural translations and transformations
• Genre and generational shifts and remixes in fairy tale film from melodrama and romantic comedy, to science fiction, horror, noir, and action adventure
• Fairy tale motifs in the visual culture of film shorts, TV advertising and music video
• Historic and contemporary perspectives on innovative cinematography and special effects in animated and live-action fairy tale film, from puppetry to Pixar
• Political economy/capitalist relations of production and direction of cinematic folklore
• Relationship of “classic” 19thC fairy tale illustration (from Arthur Rackham, Kay Nielsen, Walter Crane, Edmund Dulac, et al.) and the Disney animation image repertoire to the iconography of contemporary cinematic folklore

Final essays should range in length from 5,000 – 9,000 words. Previously published work, appropriately revised and/or updated, will be considered. Send 500-word proposals (or completed essays) and a brief c.v. electronically as email attachments to Sidney Eve Matrix (matrixs@queensu.ca) and Pauline Greenhill (p.greenhill@uwinnipeg.ca) by 1 January 2008.

The 30th International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts
Time and the Fantastic — Update

The 30th International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts will be held March 18-22, 2009, at the Orlando Airport Marriott in Orlando, Florida. The conference begins at 3 pm on Wednesday and ends at 1 am on Sunday upon the conclusion of the conference banquet. Malcolm J. Edwards and Brian Stableford write that “the metaphysics of time continues to intrigue writers inside and outside the genre” of the fantastic; thus, the focus of ICFA-30 is on the intriguing relationships between time and the fantastic. Papers are invited to explore this topic in science fiction, fantasy, horror, and other related modes of the fantastic. In addition, we especially look forward to papers on the work of our honored guests:

Guest of Honor: Guy Gavriel Kay, Aurora Award-winning, Caspar Award-winning, and Mythopoeic Fantasy Award-nominated author of the Fionavar Tapestry (The Summer Tree, The Wandering Fire, The Darkest Road), Tigana, A Song for Arbonne, and The Last Light of the Sun

Guest of Honor: Robert Charles Wilson, Hugo Award-winning author of Axis, Spin, The Chronoliths, Darwinia, Mysterium, and A Bridge of Years

Guest Scholar: Maria Nikolajeva, author of The Aesthetic Approach to Children’s Literature (Scarecrow), The Rhetoric of Children’s Literature (Scarecrow), and From Mythic to Linear: Time in Children’s Literature (Scarecrow)

As always, we also welcome proposals for individual papers and for academic sessions and panels on any aspect of the fantastic in any media. The deadline is October 31, 2008.

We encourage work from institutionally-affiliated scholars, independent scholars, international scholars who work in languages other than English, graduate students, and undergraduate students.

The Jamie Bishop Memorial Award for an Essay Not in English is open to all members of the IAFA. The IAFA Graduate Student Award is open to all graduate students presenting papers at the year’s conference. Details are available via Robin Reid, Second Vice-President (Robin_Reid@tamu-commerce.edu). Finally, the Dell Magazines Undergraduate Science Fiction Award will also be handed out at this year’s conference.

Visit http://www.iafa.org for more details, including the specific div. heads and their respective areas.

IAFA Division Heads

Fantastic Literature in English (FE)
Stefan Ekman
Lund University

Horror Literature (H)
Stephanie Moss
University of South Florida

International Fantastic Literatures (IF)
Dale Knickerbocker
East Carolina University

Science Fiction Literature and Theory(SF)
Sherryl Vint
Brock University

The Fantastic in Visual & Performing Arts (VPA)
Stefan Hall
Defiance College

Communities & Culture in the Fantastic (CC)
Barbara Lucas
Lakeland Community College

The Fantastic in Film and Media (FFM)
Susan A. George
UC-Davis

The Fantastic in Children’s & Young Adult Literature & Art (CYA)
Amie Rose Rotruck
Hollins University