fanthropology CFP

[rm]

I want to draw everyone's attention to this CFP.

Not just because shit, I've got to come up with something, and so should a great many people I know, but because of the following quote, emphasis mine:

Love, desire, fannish obsession and emotional identification as modes of engaging with texts, characters and authors are often framed as illegitimate and transgressive: excessive, subjective, lacking in scholarly rigour. Yet such modes of relating to texts and pasts persist, across widely different historical periods and cultural contexts. Many classical and medieval authors recount embodied and highly emotional encounters with religious, fictional or historical characters, while modern and postmodern practices of reception and reading - from high art to the subcultural practices of media fandom - are characterized by desire in all its ambivalent complexity.

Today I feel like I exist in the world.

That said, someone needs to pitch something about Snapes on an Astral Plane:
http://www.journalfen.net/community/fandom_wank/1015949.html
http://www.journalfen.net/community/fandom_wank/1022112.html
http://www.journalfen.net/community/fandom_wank/1127219.html


I, myself, have another plan entirely.

Comments

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

*basks*

That... is... wow.

Existing is fun.

[sykii.livejournal.com]

I love it. Wish I were a fast writer.

[nehmet.livejournal.com]

Validation. We has it.

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

Ooooooo. That is a broad landscape to cover, and yet (having read a few of them thar medieval authors) makes so much sense.

I hope they also venture beyond the usual Western traditions, because I'd like to see how different facets of this complication of human desire come out of different cultures.

[logospilgrim.livejournal.com]

Thank you indeed for sharing that :-)

[gairid.livejournal.com]

Well, I'll be damned. Actual validation? Be still, my heart!

[sethg]

Excerpt from a letter by Machiavelli describing his life in exile: When evening comes, I return home [from work and from the local tavern] and go to my study. On the threshold, I strip naked, taking off my muddy, sweaty work day clothes, and put on the robes of court and palace, and, in this graver dress, I enter the courts of the ancients, and am welcomed by them, and there I taste the food that alone is mine, and for which I was born. And there I make bold to speak to them and ask the motives of their actions, and they, in their humanity, reply to me. And for the space of four hours I forget the world, remember no vexation, fear poverty no more, tremble no more at death; I pass indeed into their world.

[gallo-de-pelea.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the info! I've passed it on to an LJ friend.

[51stcenturyfox.livejournal.com]

Awesome. I think if people don't emotionally engage with a text, what is the point of fiction in the first place?

I read to be someone else for a while, personally. Guess that's the height of identifying with a character.

Icon for you. Snape's on a plane. ;)

*does fangirl squee for numerous reasons*

[ophymirage.livejournal.com]

I had the privilege of taking several classes from Carolyn Dinshaw (their keynote speaker) when I was at Berkeley. In fact, it's totally her fault that I ended up specializing in Chaucer. It was the way she read him out loud in class.

Embarrassing associated memory; I had just come out, and she was my first serious professor-crush.. went to office hours to get an explanation on Gawain and the castration theory she'd been lecturing about in class (undergrad in grad seminar is confused by Freudian analysis of texts), and don't remember a thing of what she told me. Suspect sat there and stared at her like besotted mooncalf.

Anyway, it surprises me not at all that Carolyn would a) be the keynote speaker and b) be interested in modern updates on text and desire; her discussions and provided readings on medieval women and the holy body (and images of Christ as mother) are among the most interesting classes I took as an undergrad. I'm really tempted to revisit some of that...

[oncomingscone.livejournal.com]

That is fabulous. Thank you for posting it. I could almost skip.

[nicoli-dominn.livejournal.com]

I've considered passing that quote onto people who once scorned me for writing fanfiction, just to say "Hah!"

Nothing more, really.

My parents used to ground me for writing fanfiction. They didn't mind if I wrote original fiction, but they thought that fanfiction was unproductive and a waste of time because the characters and concepts weren't mine, and they believed it wasn't "real" writing. If I'd had any brains back then, I'd have told them that some of the greatest literary/theatrical works in history were based on other people's stories. Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" is a classic and very obvious example. Countless variations and adaptations of more recent works like "My Fair Lady" and "Dangerous Liaisons" abound in Hollywood's repertoire. But because those projects actually make money, I guess that's okay. ::eye roll::

[nicoli-dominn.livejournal.com]

(Sorry, I meant to reply to the entry and just realized that I clicked the reply link on your post instead.)

[drinkingcocoa.livejournal.com]

Oooooooooh, yes. Thank you so much for pointing to this.

What mean you about Snapes on an Astral Plane? I've been thinking and writing meta (not academic, as I took the other turn at that crossroads many, many years ago) about readers' erotic love for Snape, in conflict with JKR's stated distaste for him, and am plotting to write more. I've been loving Snapey fanfic, of course, though (you're welcome, world!) not writing it. Please blab more off the top of your head, if you can! *all interested*

[luke-jaywalker.livejournal.com]

>> Icon for you. Snape's on a plane. ;)

**::GROAN::** ;)

[rm.livejournal.com]

Snapes on an Astral Plane is well-documented on Fandom Wank. The very short version is some women felt themselves to be in astral marriages to Snape, formed an online support group for said marraiges, then several of them decided one of them wasn't loyal enough to their lord and master and then kicked her out leading to wank about what constituted a valid astral marriage to Snape. People posted wedding vows, shrines, etc., One woman, talked about setting an empty place at the table for Snape and how her children felt abotu this.

[heron61.livejournal.com]

That is very cool. After reading some of this when I was studying classics, I'm pleased to see that people are becoming aware of how common and ancient all of these modes of working with media are.

[bodlon.livejournal.com]

Oh, this looks brilliant. I wish I had the time and brain to do something with it.

[luke-jaywalker.livejournal.com]

I would *love* to know what JKR would say about this, if she were aware of it...

[rm.livejournal.com]

Now in post.

[drinkingcocoa.livejournal.com]

....

Er....

....

Must close my mouth before I swallow a fly.

[rm.livejournal.com]

It's really sort of the greatest thing to happen on the Internet ever. Because it's so OMGWTFBBQ, but it's also endless entertaining and a good subject for a number of scholarly perspectives.

[stardragonca.livejournal.com]

Are we going to draw straws over who gets to tell her?

[lefaym.livejournal.com]

Argh, I so wish I could get to Toronto!

[rm.livejournal.com]

Is it in Toronto? Somehow I thought it was in Bristol.

[lefaym.livejournal.com]

You know, you're absolutely correct. The blog post where I originally saw the CFP mentioned the University of Toronto first (as it's jointly sponsored by both unis), so I just assumed it was there, and didn't notice the really obvious (in retrospect) bit where it states that it's in Bristol. :P

Still, my chances of getting to Bristol are about the same as my chances of getting to Toronto (though the UK location makes it all the more tempting -- I really could combine it with a pilgrimage to the tourist office).

[rm.livejournal.com]

It's funny, because we'll be in London and Cardiff (and possibly Bristol, as well as a few days in Ireland) in April for a conference Patty is speaking at. But hey, if I have to dig up the money to head over twice, I'm more than happy to.

[lefaym.livejournal.com]

Well, if I happen to find the money somehow before that time (unlikely, but who knows what could happen if I finish my thesis and find a job), I'll be there in a shot, especially since my partner and I have wanted to do a proper trip around the UK for years.

[malle-babbe.livejournal.com]

That... is odd. Your folks grounding you for writing fanfic, that is. Other kids are running around, getting into REAL trouble, and they were freaking out over fanfic? Now if you were writing fanfic whilst shooting smack, I'd understand...

Don't forget The Aeneid (Illiad fanfic), Paradise Lost (Bible fanfic), etc...

[nicoli-dominn.livejournal.com]

Sadly, The Aeneid and Paradise Lost would be a little over their heads. My parents are smart people in many ways, but not very literary. Better to use examples with which they're familiar.

But as far their being strict and unreasonable, as least I wasn't raised by the kind of religious people who think everything is a sin and should be punished. And to be fair, I'm crazy enough that almost anyone would think I'm on drugs, even though I've never touched anything but alcohol.

[malle-babbe.livejournal.com]

Re: Varying degrees of strictness. Good point, I could never understand neurotic fixations with perfection when "good" would get the job done with less effort.