Call for Papers: Nineteenth-century literary retellings of Spanish historical myths and legends (20-21 May 2016)

Proposals should be no longer than one page and can be sent to mitosgante2016@gmail.com by the 15th October.
Influenced by the Romantic tendency to uncover traditional regional and national cultures, Spanish writers started to take an interest in myths and legends from Spanish history. Over the course of the nineteenth century archetypal characters and historical legends inspired numerous novels, short stories and theatrical works. Famous examples include Telesforo Trueba y Cosio's The Castilian or Francisco Martínez de la Rosa's Aben Humeya. Spanish historical myths also interested other European writers, such as Walter Scott's The Vision of Don Roderick or Austrian Franz Grillparzer's Die Jüdin von Toledo.
 
The purpose of this conference is to explore the different versions of these myths, as well as the uses to which they were put in the nineteenth century. What vision of the past do Spanish and European writers portray in these works? How are narrative schemes and aesthetic movements projected onto Spanish history? In what way are historical myths put to use in processes of identity construction (national, regional & local) and to explore new social roles (for example, 'The Angel in the House')? How were these myths employed ideologically and socially in political discourse?
 
We invite proposals for papers connected to the following general themes:
 
  1. Adaptations of Spanish historical myths in nineteenth-century literature: the influence of the century's aesthetic movements on the interpretation of the  myth.
  2. Historical myths and the construction of collective memory, both at national and regional levels.
  3. Versions of the same myth in different genres and contexts.
  4. Gendered representations of historical myths (e.g. adaptation of the historical female character to new codes of the bourgeois woman).
  5. Re-readings of Spanish national myths in other European cultures.
  6. Retellings of national myths by Spanish writers in exile. Political criticism and construction of historical memory from a position of exile.
  7. The role of the literary culture of the liberal and afrancesado exiles in the reconstruction of the Spanish historical imagination.
  8. The use of the historical myth in political discourse.
  9. The representation of religion in the myths and its relationship with anticlericalism and the debates on religious tolerance.
  10. Visual representations of historical myths and legends.
 
This list is not intended to limit the possible topics. We are also open to other proposals that are related to the general theme of the conference. Proposals should be no longer than one page and can be sent to by the 15th October.

 

Call for Papers in Spanish: see attachment

Meer info: http://www.letterkunde.ugent.be/actueel/373
bijlages