Call for Papers: American Literature Association Conference 2025


CFP: American Literature Association 36th Annual Conference
May 21-24, 2025, The Westin Copley Place
10 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02116

The Louisa May Alcott Society invites proposals for two panels at the upcoming ALA conference in Boston.

A Rose among the Thistles:
A Sesquicentennial Consideration of Louisa May Alcott's Eight Cousins

        Published in 1875, Louisa May Alcott’s Eight Cousins traced the shenanigans of eight cousins, two orphans, a seasoned sea captain or two, meddling aunties, domestic lessons, gender equality, pierced ears, and a little professional animosity (see “optical illusions”). There were fireworks. There were warehouses filled with treasures from the East. There were camping trips and skating lessons and charades. There were commentaries on health, fashion, and temperance. There were kittens.
Possible approaches to this novel might consider its serialization history, its response to Alcott’s reviewers and critics, its illustrations, its Orientalism, its inspiration of a kerfuffle between Alcott and Henry James, its many reform issues, its allusions, its ideologies, its many editions (including its many illustrators), its understanding of the essentials of child-rearing and/or education, its musical themes, and its reception.
        We welcome scholarship on these or other issues associated with Eight Cousins, including teaching perspectives. Please send 300-word abstracts by email to Anne Phillips <annek@ksu.edu> and Roberta Seelinger Trites <seeling@ilstu.edu>. The deadline for proposals is Wednesday, 15 January, 2025. 

21st-Century Alcott

To celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the Louisa May Alcott Society, this panel offers presenters an opportunity to reflect on developments in Alcott studies and the Alcott community in the 21st century. This roundtable invites short (8-10 minutes) papers, reflections, and provocations on important developments of the last twenty years or so.

Topics may include the following:

Trends in scholarship in Alcott studies
Important works or lenses that have shaped the field
The role of the Alcott Society or author societies more generally 
Big anniversaries (like the 150th anniversary of Little Women)
Alcott in popular culture
Alcott in the academy
Adaptations, editions, and scholarly collections
Historical and cultural developments in the society and the field
Alcott (studies) and the public humanities
The Alcott Society and community
Questions and dilemmas in Alcott studies
Calls to action for future work

Please send one-page abstracts to Marlowe Daly-Galeano at hmdalygaleano@lcsc.edu by Wednesday, 15 January, 2025.




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