Professional Notices

The Fairy Tale after Angela Carter

University of East Anglia, UK

April 22–25, 2009

The year 2009 will mark the thirtieth anniversary of the publication of Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber, a story collection that has had a profound and pervasive impact on our understanding of and engagement with the fairy tale. The Fairy Tale after Angela Carter will take the anniversary as the starting point for an assessment of the state of the fairy tale and of fairy-tale studies in the wake of The Bloody Chamber. It will take “after” in both senses of the word, to suggest influence—both direct and indirect—as well as chronology. As such, the primary focus will be the critical and creative legacy of Carter’s work as writer, critic, editor, and translator of fairy tales. Fairy-tale studies is an inherently interdisciplinary field, in which there is a mutually enriching relationship between literary-historical scholarship and various forms of creative practice. The aim of the conference will be to stage and explore this relationship, to assess the state of current critical and creative practice, and to pinpoint future directions for writing and research.

Selected conference papers will be published in a special issue of Marvels & Tales. Confirmed keynote speakers are: Jack Zipes (University of Minnesota), Marina Warner (University of Essex), Cristina Bacchilega (University of Hawai‘i), and Donald Haase (Wayne State University). Suggested paper topics include:

New cultural, political, and social histories of the fairy tale

Fairy-tale aesthetics after The Bloody Chamber

The theory and practice of fairy-tale fantasy in the wake of Angela Carter

The fairy tale and fiction after The Bloody Chamber

Identity politics and fairy-tale studies since the 1970s

The fairy tale after postmodernism

The fairy tale and contemporary opera (composers such as Heinz Holliger, Helmut Lachenmann, and John Woolrich)

The fairy tale and contemporary visual art (artists such as Paula Rego, Kiki Smith, Vanessa Jane Phaff, and Louise Bourgeois)

The fairy tale and contemporary children’s literature, including illustrated books

The fairy tale and contemporary cinema

The fairy tale and contemporary theater, dance, and performance

The fairy tale and new media

Orality, textuality, and virtual spaces

The fairy tale and translation

Please send abstracts (200 words, including title, plus brief biographical details) and ideas for panels tofairytale@uea.ac.uk. The deadline for submission of proposals is December 1, 2008. We also welcome suggestions for readings and related events. Further questions should be directed by e-mail to Stephen Benson (s.benson@uea.ac.uk). Conference website: http://www1.uea.ac.uk/cm/home/schools/hum/lit/eventsnews/fairytale . Conference organizers: Stephen Benson (University of East Anglia, UK) and Andrew Teverson (University of Kingston, UK).