Call for Papers for the Modern Language Association (MLA) Conference, Washington, DC, January 6-9, 2022

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ANS Panel at the Modern Language Association Conference: Literary Onomastics: Theory and Practice

January 6-9 2022, Washington, DC

Literary onomastics is a burgeoning subject, still in the process of establishing its status, with very few book-length studies examining the discipline in detail. Notable 21st-century examples include Leonard Ashley’s Names in Literature (2003), Alastair Fowler’s Literary Names: Personal Names in English Literature (2012), and Martyna Gibka’s Literary Onomastics: A Theory (2019). Champions of the discipline often argue that it provides an additional lens that complements extant approaches to the language of literature, rather than making any claims for general theories of literary names and naming. Papers accepted for this panel will explore literary onomastics in theory and practice. Examples of themes that can be addressed include literary names and stylistics; literary onomastics and literary theory; literary names and social or cultural theory; socio-onomastics and literature.

For more information about the MLA, check out the official website.

Proposal submission process:

  1. Abstracts proposals (350 words) should be sent as an email attachment (PDF format) to Dr Maggie Scott (m.r.scott@salford.ac.uk)
  2. Proposals should include “MLA 2022 proposal” in the subject line of the email
  3. All submissions must include an abstract, title, full name(s) of the author(s), the author(s) affiliation(s), and email address(s) in the body of the email and NOT with the abstract
  4. DEADLINE: Proposals must be received by 8pm GMT on 29 March 2021. Authors will be notified about the results of the blind review on or by 5 April 2021
  5. Contributors selected for the thematic panel must be members of both MLA and ANS in order to present their papers, and members of MLA by 7 April 2021
  6. For further information, please contact Dr Maggie Scott (m.r.scott@salford.ac.uk).

A downloadable version of the Call for Papers can be found here.

More information about ANS and MLA conferences is available on the Conferences page of this website.