International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts

“Fantastika” – a term appropriated from a range of Slavonic languages by John Clute – embraces the genres of fantasy, science fiction, and horror, but can also include alternative histories, gothic, steampunk, young adult dystopian fiction, or any other radically imaginative narrative space. The goal of Fantastika Journal is to bring together academics and researchers who share an interest in this diverse range of fields with the aim of opening up new dialogues, productive controversies and collaborations. We invite discussion of all mediums and disciplines which concern the Fantastika genres.

The first issue aims to explore and evaluate current research into Fantastika. As well as cataloguing and challenging established critical stances and recent developments, we are looking for approaches which embrace the self-reflexivity latent in the study of speculative and fantastical texts. It is our position that to ask questions about and within Fantastika studies is also to ask ‘what is Fantastika?’ – that to read or identify Fantastika as Fantastika is to probe and strengthen our own hermeneutics. Research topics and questions which relate to our theme include, but are not limited to, the following:

– Parameters: the relation between genres and fields. What constitutes genre, and what is its relation to Fantastika? How significant are ideas of genre to Fantastika?
– Critical categories and taxonomies. What is the value of constructing new terminologies to encapsulate given affects, fields, intersections or modes? What is the relative worth of an umbrella term or category as opposed to a discrete one, and vice-versa?
– Fantastika and history. What is the relationship between attempts at definition, hermeneutics or critical reading and the fluctuating field of history? How can historical contexts and studies constitute a lens through which new critical methods and perspectives become available?
– Liminality and ‘ownership’. Why do distinct fields of study attempt to incorporate or ‘possess’ certain texts, authors and subgenres under their banners? What is the significance of fields of study which could be considered modes rather than genres? How does reading a text within or against a generic or modal definition change, enhance, or determine the reading? What is the relationship between the umbrella term and the specific texts that might be studied under it, especially when considering close textual analysis?
– Developments and trajectories. What is (or could be) the meaning of Fantastika – both as a set of literatures and discourses and as a collective categorisation – in academia today? What are the most important trends and developments in the study of Fantastika and how do they relate to the shifting position of academia in the 21st century?

We invite articles of 5,000 – 7,000 length. Please submit articles in doc or docx format to editors@fantastikajournal.com by 15th September 2016 along with a 300 word abstract and short bionote in separate documents. Articles should be in accordance the MLA Style Manual. Submissions should be made under the subject line “First Special Edition.” Please note that all articles published with Fantastika Journal will undergo peer-review before publication.

http://www.fantastikajournal.com/1st-special-edition-issue.html