CFP: The Idea of North (American Comparative Literature Association), Univ. of Toronto, Apr 2013

CFP: The Idea of North

The Idea of North
American Comparative Literature Association, University of Toronto,
April 4-7, 2013
Seminar Organizer: Brent Wetters (Brown University)
Deadline for submissions: November 1, 2012
Website: http://www.acla.org/acla2013/the-idea-of-north/

In 1967, Glenn Gould produced a radio documentary, The Idea of North –
a one-hour program of interviews exploring practical and philosophical
views of the Canadian north.  Describing the significance of the
north, Gould wrote, "Something really does happen to most people who
go north – they become at least aware of the creative opportunity
which the physical fact of the country represents and – quite often, I
think come to measure their own work and life against that staggering
creative possibility: they become, in effect, philosophers." In the
subsequent years, the question of the north has become ever more
urgent, as it has become the site where the world’s changing climate
is felt most acutely.  As ice melts, new contested spaces are opened
for exploration, travel, and research. Gould’s Idea of North is also
situated on its own contested terrain. It is, as Gould’s says, a
"documentary which views itself as a drama," but it is also music.
This seminar aims to bring together a variety of approaches and
disciplines that each seeks to understand the north in its own way.

Topics might include:

- Glenn Gould’s Idea of North
- Literary evocations of the north (i.e. Frankenstein, Robert Service,
Mandelstam, Auden, Nabokov, Pullman)
- Utopian fantasies of the north (i.e. Hitler’s polar obsession)
- Contested borders of the arctic
- Musical representations of the north
- The north as it relates to Heidegger, Agamben, and “the open.”

To submit a proposal, please visit http://acla.org/submit/index.php,
enter your paper proposal, and select "The Idea of North" from the
drop-down menu. Please contact Brent Wetters directly
(bwetters at medusarecords.org) for more information or to informally
discuss proposals prior to submission.