The Emily Dickinson International Society seeks submissions to two panels at the annual American Literature Association Conference (ALA), which will be held at The Westin Copley Place, Boston on May 25-28, 2023

Call for Papers

Panel 1: Dickinson, the Dead Queen, and the Queen of the Dead

Samuel Bowles described his friend Emily Dickinson as a queen. He even addressed her as “Queen recluse.” Of course, Dickinson lived and wrote during the reign of Queen Victoria. How did Dickinson herself conceptualize or address the notion of queendom? At the close of the second Elizabethan age, does reading Dickinson’s poems help us rethink the ideology of monarchy? How does death fit in? How do sex and gender change concepts of sovereignty? The panel seeks papers that explore Dickinson’s writing about the Dead Queen / the Queen of the Dead, or theorize Dickinson’s approach towards the idea of royalty, culturally or politically, biologically or symbolically. We also invite projects that examine Dickinson and the crown (or its demise) through the lens of class, race, or gender, media studies, post-colonial studies, or psychoanalysis, spiritually, economically, environmentally, or otherwise. Presentations might consider how recent theories of philosophies, technologies, sociologies or ecologies might refresh our ways of reading Dickinson and the Queen in her time or in ours. Papers might also consider how to read Dickinson in relation to contemporary events, transcultural or interdisciplinary approaches and discourses, or how reading Dickinson’s works might assist our understanding of queendom as a multifaceted concept in new ways.

Panel 2: Open Topic

We invite proposals for papers or roundtables on any aspect of Dickinson studies. We particularly invite new directions in research and scholarship. We hope to pull together a panel that will provide insight into new dimensions in Dickinson studies.

Please submit a brief proposal (300 word abstract and 100 word bio) by January 10th, 2023 to Renée Bergland (renee.bergland@GMAIL.COM) and Li-hsin Hsu (johsu@mail2.nccu.tw).