CFP: New Readings of Philip Roth’s American Pastoral

New Readings of Philip Roth’s American Pastoral

Abstracts: May 15, 2011; Contributions: Aug 15, 2011

Proposals are invited for chapters examining Philip Roth’s American Pastoral for an edited volume to be published in France. Criticism on Philip Roth’s American Trilogy abounds in the United States, while it is only now that American Pastoral was included in the French Ministry’s syllabus for postgraduate education in English language and literature.

The editor seeks contributors who will examine American Pastoral from a variety of perspectives. Papers might address (but are not limited to) the following topics: the novel’s narrative construction, the place and role of Milton’s Paradise Lost and Tolstoy’s novella “The Death of Ivan Ilyich,” the role of Zuckerman as a narrator, identity politics, sexual politics, guilt and sexuality, historical context and literary text, the pastoral dream, irony, the Jewish American writer’s specific use of the English language. I hope the papers will open up new approaches to this Pulitzer-Prize winning novel, listed among the best works of American fiction of the twentieth century.

The selected articles for this book of essays will be published by Presses Universitaires du Mirail (PUM) and may not have been published elsewhere. The articles of no more than 6000 words (inclusive of endnotes) should be prepared according to the MLA style 3rd ed. (2008). The contributors are invited to provide a brief abstract (100 words) summarizing the article, and a brief biographical statement (50 words). Completed articles must be submitted by August 15, 2011 in order for publication to take place in November 2011.

Please send a 300-word abstract to Velichka Ivanova at velichka.ivanova [at] iufm.unistra.fr. The deadline for abstract submission is May 15, 2011. Selected contributors will be informed by May 25, 2011. Completed papers will be required by August 15, 2011.