The Institute of Macedonian Literature and the Macedonian Comparative Literature Association are pleased to announce the Fourth International Congress of the

RÉSEAU EUROPÉEN D'ÉTUDES LITTÉRAIRES COMPARÉES /

EUROPEAN NETWORK FOR COMPARATIVE LITERARY STUDIES

(REELC/ENCLS)

LITERARY DISLOCATIONS

September 1-3, 2011, Skopje-Ohrid, Republic of Macedonia

The Organising Committee of the Conference is composed of Sonja Stojmenska-Elzeser (Coordinator), Vladimir Martinovski (Coordinator), Loreta Georgievska-Jakovleva (Director of Institute of Macedonian Literature), Natasa Avramovska, Jasmina Mojsieva-Guseva, Anastasija Gjurcinova, Lidija Kapusevska-Drakulevska, Ana Martinoska and Goce Smilevski (Members) and Nele Bemong (Belgium), Marko Juvan (Slovenia), Brigitte Le Juez (Ireland), Roumiana Stantcheva (Bulgaria)

The conference concept: LITERARY DISLOCATIONS

Recently, the predominance of the spatiality as a dimension of the human world has become evident in the humanities. Ever since the influential works written by Michel Foucault, Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, Edward Soja, Homi Bhabha and many others, comparative literature, too, has become fully aware that location is a very complex notion, which combines many different aspects and approaches to the human existence and creativity. If we consider this fact in relation to current relevance of concepts, such as movement, motion, transfer, and transformation of identities, we can speak about a range of different dislocations that are inherent to the culture. Geopoetics and geocriticism can provide important methodological tools for discussions related to such movements in the frames of literature. Moreover postcolonial criticism, feminist theory, cultural geography and other cultural approaches can also significantly contribute to highlighting other relevant aspects connected to the problem of removing, changing, crossing boundaries, transferring. This dynamic is absolutely relevant for comparative literary studies as well.

This conference aims to examine the multiplicity of literary and cultural representations and other phenomena that implicate spatiality, movement and unstable locations which are considered as points of dynamic processes. Dislocation emerges as a notion that traverses various disciplines and different textual and artistic practices and at the same time it amplifies its relevance in the exploration of the current cultural production. The conference papers can analyze the theoretical implications of dislocation or they can focus on dislocation as referential content (the dislocation of travel, migration and exile, urbanization etc.).

Many issues are expected to be discussed, such as: How are dislocations represented, produced or defined in literature and other media? Are there any media or genre-specific concepts of transgressive spaces? Which are other literary functions of the topos beside its primary function as a container for the plot? How is it possible to use the notions of space and spatial practices as analytic tools in and across disciplines? In which way is identification related to dislocation? How can geography and history, language and cartography help us to better understand literary creations and cultural contexts?

Possible topics may include but are not limited to:

1.  Spatio-temporal dislocation aesthetic strategies and expressions of dislocation

poetics of exile, nomadism, travelogue, migratory identities and topographies, articulations of not-being in place, dislocation of literary genres, imaginary landscapes, flaneurism, dislocation of the authorial voice, mobility and projected spaces (utopia, dystopia, limbo, paradise, hell), space metaphores and mapping, alternative maps

2.  (Dis)locations as cultural phenomena

cultural geography, tourism, ecotourism, urban dislocations, diaspora cultural dislocation, intercultural communication, changing identities, transformation of identities, (hybridization, creolization and metissage), liminality, border studies, migrations, global/local/glocal, third space, transcending the boundaries of public and private space

3.  Linguistic and semiotic transfers as dislocations

translation studies, plurilinguistic phenomena, dislocation of texts, rewriting, translation as trade and exchange between cultures, displayed texts, interlinguistic quotations

Note: As part of the Congress some special activities will take place: a special roundtable on ‘Cultural Saints of Europe’ which is connected to a current project in comparative literature, meetings of the REELC/ENCLS members and other cultural events (further details will be posted on the website of REELC/ENCLS).

Conference official languages and papers

Official working languages of the conference are English and French.

(Only in special cases Macedonian language can be accepted, but translation into English or French must be provided by the speaker).

Upon arrival, all the participants will receive a booklet of abstracts in the official languages.

The length of the presentations is limited to max. 15 minutes.

Venue and accommodation

The conference will take place on Thursday-Saturday, 1-3 of September 2011. The opening ceremony will take place at the University Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Skopje on 1st of September. The following working sessions will take place on 2nd and 3rd of September at the Congress Centre in Ohrid. The transportation from Skopje to Ohrid and back will be arranged by the organizers.

The registration fee is 50 EUR or equivalent in Denars payable upon arrival in cash (at the registration of the conference). The fee includes cocktails during the conference and organized transportation Skopje-Ohrid-Skopje.

Participants of the conference book and pay for their hotel accommodations themselves. The organizing committee will release a list with addresses and prices of available hotels by 15th of November 2011.

Two sightseeing tours will be organised, one of Skopje and one of Ohrid. These will be free of charge, but participants will need to confirm their interest for either one or both of them.

Schedule:

By 15th of October 2010 (deadline for paper proposals): Please fill in the registration form with your info, the title of your paper and the abstract, and send to

Contact persons: Sonja Stojmenska-Elzeser (), Vladimir Martinovski () and Ana Martinoska ().

By 15th of November 2010: The Organising Committee will inform you by e-mail whether your paper has been included in the conference program. You will also receive practical information on the hotel accommodations, transfer from the airport and the sightseeing tours.

Publication of papers

A peer-reviewed selection of papers will be published in separate printed edition, sponsored by the Institute of Macedonian Literature, by the end of 2012. The deadline for submission of the papers (max. 30,000 characters with spaces) is by 15th of November 2011.