Tuesday, August 04, 2009

CFP: "Victorian Maenads" (special issue of The Michaelian)

The Michaelian is an academic, non-profit, peer-reviewed online journal dedicated to the study of Michael Field (Katharine Bradley and Edith Cooper) and their circle. The journal is published by Steven Halliwell and The Rivendale Press as one of the OSCHOLARS group of journals under the general editorship of D. C. Rose.

The inaugural edition of "The Michaelian" can be viewed at http://www.oscholars.com.

The theme for the second issue (June 2010) is “Victorian Maenads.” In this issue, we seek to explore and contextualize late-Victorian writers' engagement with the classical past, specifically through the writings of Michael Field, but *also* in the writings and art of their friends and contemporaries and other women writers of the late-Victorian period. We encourage contributors to take an interdisciplinary approach to the theme.

Contributors may delve into the Fields’ dramatic and poetic canons, as well as their lifewritings. Additionally, papers may engage with the “Victorian Maenads” theme, more broadly addressing the work of other women writers, or female characters, subjects or lives. Contributors may address issues related to:

  • gender and Decadence/Aestheticism
  • women and higher education
  • women and travel
  • women and social disorder/rebellion
  • transgressive women
  • maenads as a figure of mobility/action
  • “The Woman Question”
  • appropriations of Greek and Roman figures such as Lucrece or other contemporary women writers and their use of the Greek and Roman past.

We also welcome articles that do not relate to the theme, but engage directly with the writings and lives of Michael Field and their circle. We welcome fictocritical responses, as well as book reviews and reports of events of interest to Michael Field scholars and those interested in late-Victorian literature and culture (i.e., announcements, exhibitions, conferences). Essays on teaching experiences related to the introduction of Michael Field and their canon to undergraduates are also of interest.

The journal seeks to unite advanced graduate students and scholars from many universities to create a unique forum for a wide-ranging discussion about all aspects of Michael Field scholarship, including literature and literary history, feminist and lesbian/queer perspectives, collaborative writing, life-writing, theatre history, publishing history and art history.

Please send all submissions electronically via email to Michelle Lee, michellestoddardlee@gmail.com by October 16.

Submissions should include the article in MS Word and a brief cv. While there is no set word limit, articles should ordinarily be about 5,000 words in length and double-spaced throughout. References should be parenthetical and follow the MLA style guide with endnotes rather than footnotes for additional information, and a Works Cited at the end.