Updated CFP: Transcultural Roth International Conference in Le Mans, France
The Philip Roth Society will be hosting an international conference at Le Mans University, France in association with The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens on April 7-8, 2027.
Viewing Roth through a transcultural lens, as developed by transcultural theorists, such as Wolfgang Welsch, Mikhail Epstein, Arianna Dagnino, Ellen Berry, Afef Benessaieh, since the 1990s, can complement Jewish American and national readings by highlighting cultural interpenetration rather than fixed cultural boundaries. Moreover, reading Roth at the intersection of transculturalism and other critical approaches—such as film studies, disability studies, gender and sexuality studies, trauma and memory studies, postsecularism, aging studies, translation, and international reception—can help bring together international scholarship on the global circulation of Roth’s literary oeuvre.
We invite contributions that examine how Roth’s narratives move from ethnicity to transculture, from ethnic essentialism to cultural fluidity, thereby revealing and encouraging the interpenetration of cultures. Intersectional perspectives are particularly welcome, especially those that combine transcultural studies with other critical frameworks while emphasizing processes of cultural negotiation, transformation, and fluidity. The conference aims to reassess Roth’s transcultural dimension by exploring his legacy as a writer whose work continues to circulate, resonate, and transform across cultural contexts.
We accept proposals in English or in French for panels (3-4 speakers) or individual 20-min papers.
300-word abstracts, accompanied by a 100-word biographical note, should be sent as email attachments to philiprothconf@gmail.com
All articles receiving positive reviews will be encouraged to submit for consideration in Philip Roth Studies or/and in Ex-centric Narratives: Journal of Anglophone Literature, Culture and Media. The editors also hope to prepare a proposal for an edited volume for submission to Bloomsbury Academic.
Abstract submissions deadline: 30 December, 2026.
Please see attached CFP for further details.
