Deliberately or not, every writer stages him- or herself, stylistically, by linguistic and encyclopaedic competence or beliefs, or by generic, thematic or editorial choices. The image that the writer constructs of him- or herself and the way this image is received by the reader is essential to the success and the reception of the text.
Researchers and doctoral students are hereby invited to propose papers to the second international seminar on Literary Discourse Analysis. Whether from the perspective of literary discourse analysis, argumentation theory or the sociology of literature, the papers can discuss older or modern texts of any genre, ranging from fiction, autobiography, diaries or letters to essays or criticism, and explore the phenomena of the authorial staging from different perspectives. They may also discuss the very notion of “writer”, which must not be taken for granted; categories such as “author” or “enunciator” must be taken into consideration, too. The papers can be given in either English or French
In the course of the last few years, literary discourse analysis has emerged as a promising field of research within literary studies, engaging individual researchers and research groups in a number of countries. This year’s seminar is organized by the network “Literature and discourse” in collaboration with Dominique Maingueneau, Professor at Université Paris XII, and the research group CEDITEC and Ruth Amossy, Professor at Tel Aviv University, and the research group ADARR. Dominique Maingueneau and Ruth Amossy have both contributed essentially way to the elaboration of appropriate notions and analytical approaches to literary texts within the frames of discourse theory. Professor Maingueneau has studied literature as a self-constituting discourse characterized by specific discursive invariants, and Professor Amossy has integrated perspectives from rhetoric and argumentation analysis into the analysis of literary discourse. While the approaches may differ within this field of research, the overall perspective of the theory of literary discourse analysis presupposes that literature is a discursive event inseparable form the practices and institutions in which the texts partake; thus they aim at a new and more inclusive approach to the study of literature.
We thank le Centre de cooperation franco-norvégienne en Sciences sociales for its contribution to the organisation of the seminar and The Department of Literature, Area Studies and European Languages at the University of Oslo for its financial support. The seminar will take place at FONDATION MAISON DES SCIENCES DE L’HOMME, 54, Boulevard Raspail à Paris 11 –13 December 2008.
The programme gives room for twelve papers of 30 minutes each. Please send an abstract (approx. 1000 characters, with space) to Inger Østenstad, i.b.
ostenstad@ilos.uio.no, before the 15 October in the language of your choice. It is also possible to participate in the seminar without presenting a paper.
We will contact the participants before 21 October 2008.
Seminar committee
Professor Dominique Maingueneau, University Paris 12
Professor Irene Iversen, University of Oslo
Associate Professor Pascale Delormas, University Paris 12
Associate Professor Anne Birgitte Rønning, University of Oslo