MELOW
(The Society for the Study of the
Multi-Ethnic Literatures of the World)
CONFERENCE CALL
18th INTERNATIONAL MELOW
CONFERENCE
To be held at Jamia Milia Islamia,
Delhi, 15-17 March 2019
Theme: Sunny Pleasure Domes and Caves of
Ice: Utopias and Dystopias in World Literature
Utopias
are always in fashion, says Barbara Goodwin, as they hold up a mirror to the
fears and aspirations of the times in which they are written. Or, as Jurgen
Habermas says, since the early nineteenth century Utopia has become a polemical
concept that everyone uses against everyone else. Ernst Bloch, on the other hand, is convinced
that theorizing and articulating Utopias is an indispensable part of our
critical cultural heritage. Literature being the expression of the innermost
thoughts of human beings, for good or bad, better or worse, gives form and
shape to suppressed desires, hidden phobias and fears, wishful thinking, and other
emotions, transient, dormant or volatile. Literary activity has also been
regarded as a form of escape to a Never-Never Land, and Erewhon or Utopia, an
Eden or Paradise of sorts where nothing can go wrong. At the other end of the
spectrum, contrasting with the desired wish-landscape, is the reverse, the
anti-Utopia or Dystopia, reminiscent of Dante’s Inferno, or Milton’s Hell, far
from the light of goodness, where evil reigns supreme.
As
we go through literary history we note that the idea of Utopia and Dystopia
inevitably changes with time. With the spread of education and learning, as the
frontiers of knowledge are pushed back, the concept of the ideal haven of peace
and happiness undergoes a change. If the earliest known work in this category
is Plato’s Republic, with time
literature has thrown up Utopias that are very different from the Platonic
ideal. In the sixteenth century Thomas More described a fictional island as Utopia.
This was followed by several attempts at portraying imaginary Utopias and
contrasting Dystopias. Examples may be cited from different cultures across the
globe. In China, for instance, there exists the idea of Datong which translates
as Utopia, and in medieval Europe the tradition of Cockayne, the land of
plenty. In the Spanish tradition we have El Dorado. Francis Bacon’s New Atlantis, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, George Orwell’s 1984 are just a few well-known examples in
this genre. The advance in science and technology has contributed significantly
to different kinds of Utopias and Dystopias, shifting the focus to a
trans-human or post-human world ruled by machines. There are feminist,
religious, ecological, or political Utopias. Each has its own pros and cons. In
recent years there is Suzanne Collins’s The
Hunger Games which stands out as a dystopian text.
What
is the significance of these Shangri Las of literature and how do they portray
man’s search for “lost horizons”? How and why does this yearning for an ideal
place elsewhere change with the times? With the so-called march of
civilization, as we move towards greater “development,” what are the fears and
phobias that that compel writers to create nightmare landscapes and anti-utopias
where pandemonium rules?
The 18th International
MELOW Conference, to be held at Jamia Milia, Delhi, from 15 to 17 March 2019, will debate on these and related issues. Abstracts
of approx 200 words may be sent by 15
Sept 2018 to melusmelow@gmail.com dealing with (but not restricted to) the following
broad themes:
A: Theoretical
considerations. The changing concept of Utopia through the ages. Utopias
and anti-utopias in different cultures. Kinds of Utopias. Theories of Karl Mannheim, Melvin Lasky, Ernst Bloch, George Kateb
and others.
B: The
medieval idea of an ideal world (or its opposite): Images of the prelapsarian
and postlapsarian worlds. Dante, Cervantes, Milton.
C: Widening of horizons: Geographical
discoveries, newly-found lands of promise and hope. Variations of
(Im)perfection: The abode of Yahoos and Houyhnhnms, island literature, utopias
in performance.
D: Poetic Utopias and anti-Utopias: The
Romantic Imagination and the Victorian disillusionment. Civitas Dei: Urban
Utopias, or cities that symbolize perfection. Indian notions of Utopia. Indian
notions of Utopia: Ram Rajya and Gandhian views.
E: The American Dream and the
concept of the new Adam. The American Nightmare.
F: The Modern/Postmodern
Age and its discontents.
The aftermath of technological development: the impact of technology on
the concept of the ideal. Technological dystopias. Science fiction. Select
authors including: Ursula Le Guin, Ernest Callenbach, Yevgeny Zamyatin, William
Morris, Thomas Campanella, Tao Hua Yuan, Florence Dixie, HG Wells, Ray
Bradbury, George Orwell, Margaret Atwood, etc.
G: Cinematic representations of horror
and hope.
H: Ecological Utopias. Feminist Utopias/Dystopias.
Your abstract should be sent in the
TEXT BOX of the email (not as attachment). The following information, in the
given format, should be sent along with the abstract:
PANEL HEAD under which abstract
may be considered (A, B, C, D … H, as given above):
|
MELUS/MELOW conferences attended earlier (in which year and where)
|
Are you currently a member of MELOW? Or do you need a fresh / renewed
membership? Please specify.
|
Competing for ISM Award*: YES or NO
|
Name of Delegate
Official designation
Email id
Title of Abstract
|
ABSTRACT [Text] 200 words approx.
|
· The subject
line of your message should read thus:
ABSTRACT 2019: [YOUR NAME] and [If competing for
the ISM Award, state if you are an Indian citizen below 40]*
Deadline for receipt of abstracts is 15 September 2018
All abstracts will be peer-reviewed before they are
accepted. Do not send full papers. Once acceptance letters are sent,
full papers (approx 3,000 words) will be invited only from participants (under
40 years of age) competing for the Isaac Sequeira Memorial Award. The rest need
to bring their complete papers along at the time of the conference.
* ISAAC SEQUEIRA MEMORIAL
AWARD:
In
the memory of our patron, Prof Isaac Sequeira, MELOW annually awards a prize
for the best paper presented at its conference. The award will comprise a
certificate and a cash prize of Rs. 5,000.
The competition is open to Indian
citizens who are members of MELOW. The competing participant / delegate should be less than forty years of age at the time of the conference. The abstract should be submitted by the
stipulated deadline. If it is selected for the ‘long list’ the complete paper
will be invited by a given deadline and assessed and shortlisted before it is
presented at the conference.
Office Bearers of
MELOW:
President: Prof Anil Raina (Chandigarh)
Vice-President: Dr Vijay Sharma (Delhi)
Secretary: Prof Manju Jaidka (Chandigarh)
Jt. Secretary: Prof Manpreet Kaur (Delhi)
Treasurer: Parminder Singh (Chandigarh)
Executive Members:
Prof Sushila Singh (Varanasi)
Prof Dipankar Purkayastha (Silchar)
Prof
Debarati Bandopadhyay (Santiniketan)
Prof
Ravichandran (Kanpur)
Dr Roshan Sharma (Dharamshala)
Dr Seema Bhupendra (Udaipur)
Dr Neela Sarkar (Kolkata)
Dr Jyoti Mishra (Chattisgarh)
Dr Vandhana Sharma (Jammu)
Dr Suneeta Patnayak (Chandigarh)
Dr Radha Gautam (Surat)
Dr Neepa Sarkar (Bangalore)
Local Organizing Committee (Jamia Milia
Islamia):
Prof
Nishat Zaidi
Prof
Mukesh Ranjan
Dr
Shimi Doley
Dr
Adeel Mehdi
Dr
Asmat Jahan
