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Professor Andrea Kaston Tange is
chairing the permanent session on travel writing at the MMLA conference (this
year to be held in Milwaukee, Nov 7-10; conference
theme Art & Artifice). She would love to encourage the submission of 19th
c. papers to the panel: "The Arts of Travel."
One might consider traveling well to be
an art in and of itself. While there is a lot of logistical planning,
organizational skill, and practical preparation that must go into a trip, the
art of traveling well--one might argue--is the ability to adapt, even to
thrive, when the planning fails. This panel invites papers that consider
traveling from perspectives that move beyond the merely practical. Does the art
of traveling vary by location? By time period? By cultural perspective? What
kinds of arts and artifacts are encountered by travelers, and what qualities
are necessary to appreciate them? Is it possible to understand
"foreign" arts as a traveler, or must one remain forever distanced
from art objects that are produced by a culture that is not one's own? What
might be the definition of an "artificial" traveler or an "artificial"
destination or an "artificial" artwork? What are the implications of
seeing a replica in a museum, for example, instead of the "real
thing"? Why do so many people consider it an artificial or inauthentic
experience to go on a packaged tour, but not so if they strike out on their own
with a guidebook and itinerary? This panel welcomes papers on any time period
and any travel destination, so long as they frame the process or product of
travel through the lens of art and/or artifice.
Inquiries and proposals should be
directed to Professor Andrea Kaston Tange <akastont@emich.edu>.
Please send 500-word proposals by May 31, 2013.
(Please indicate your name, institutional affiliation, and rank somewhere on
the proposal or in your email.)
