New Voices Conference 2013

Featured Theme:  Monsters, Villains & Aberrations: A Conference of Dark Proportions 

In a time when Villainous fantasy creatures abound in popular media, it is becoming increasingly important to explore the reasons our culture is so drawn to these characters and tropes. This is especially true since we also live in a time in which we seem surrounded by much  more mundane, but nonetheless shocking instances of villainy, monstrosity, and aberration. Terrorists, mass-murdering dictators, and serial killers parade hourly across our television screens. some new "Frankenfood" appears on our supermarket shelves each week. Cable reality shows chronicle with sensationalist zeal the lives of those who are in some way physically and/or mentally different from "normal" society. Yet our obsession with the deviant and the monstrous is really nothing new. From Enkidu in the ancient Sumerian epic of Gilgamesh to Frankenstein's monster and Dracula in the nineteenth century, human cultures across time and across the globe have always been fascinated with representing that which frightens, appalls, and defies our definitions of what's normal.

This conference invites scholars form all over the world to contribute research on the 'dark side' oft he humanities, while not necessarily limiting themselves to the baddies of contemporary popular culture. 

January 17, 18, & 19

Georgia State University Union

Submissions are welcome from all disciplines.

Suggested Topics include:

* Explorations of monstrosity/villainy/deviance in the Gothic or other genres

* Scientific monstrosity (e.g., genetic manipulation; falsely-perceived monstrosity)

* Historiographical explorations of villainy, or villains

* Rhetorical examinations of non-literary texts

* Bodies, inscripted, misappropriated, or transmogrified

* Psychological or behavioral aberrations

* Creative writing: Visions of the monstrous, or villainous

* Environmental  or theoretical mutations. 

****Deadline for Submission**** November 30, 2012 Registration Fee:  $10 P 

lease contact New Voices if you have any questions regarding your submission. newvoices11@gmail.com*

***Submission Instructions for Paper and Panel Proposals**** 1. For individual papers, please submit an abstract (250 words maximum) along with your name, phone number, and email address. a. Creative Writing submissions please include an abstract plus a 1-2 page excerpt. 2. For panels, please submit a. A proposal abstract for the panel (400 words maximum) b. A brief description of each individual panelist's paper (250 word maximum) 3. If your presentation requires any visual media, please let us know (projector, DVD, sound, etc.) 4.

Please submit email proposals as Microsoft Word attachment (.doc or .docx), and include the phrase "New Voices abstract submission" in the subject line. You may submit documents by: Email:

newvoices11@gmail.comOR Postal Mail:  GEA, Attn: Valerie Robin Department of English Georgia State University PO Box 3970 Atlanta, GA 30302-3970 "Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss it, you will land among the stars." - Les Brown