CFP: Canadian Society for the Study of Comics 2014 / conference, Toronto (Feb. 10; May 9-11)

Call for Papers:

Canadian Society for

the Study of Comics 2014

May 9-11, 2014

The annual conference of the Canadian Society for the Study of Comics invites proposals for papers on any and all aspects of comics, graphic narrative, picture books, and textual-visual arts. Special panels are also planned on comics and education and on comics by women. The conference will be held in collaboration with the Toronto Comics Arts Festival, a major international exhibition of independent comics artists and small publishers partnered with the Toronto Reference Library, May 9-11, 2014. Proposals from academics and independent scholars in all fields are welcome.

Please submit a proposed paper title and 200 word abstract, along with a brief 30-50 word biography and contact information, to gw12@queensu.ca by February 10, 2014.

Appel à communications :
Société canadienne pour

l’étude de la bande dessinée 2014

La conférence annuelle de la Société canadienne pour l’étude de la bande dessinée invite les candidats à soumettre des propositions qui portent sur n’importe quel aspect de la bande dessinée, du récit graphique, du livre d’images et des arts visuels textuels. Des panels spéciaux sont également prévus sur la bande dessinée et l’éducation ainsi que sur la BD au féminin. La conférence se tiendra en collaboration avec le Festival des arts de la bande dessinée de Toronto, une importante exposition internationale à laquelle participeront des artistes indépendants de la bande dessinée ainsi que de petits éditeurs en partenariat avec la Bibliothèque de référence de Toronto (Toronto Reference Library), du 9 au 11 mai 2014. Des propositions d’universitaires et de chercheurs indépendants dans tous les domaines sont les bienvenues.

Veuillez, s’il vous plaît, soumettre un titre proposé pour la communication et un résumé de 200 mots, accompagnés d’une courte biographie de 30 à 50 mots et vos coordonnées au plus tard le 10 février 2014, à l’adresse suivante : gw12@queensu.ca.

New Narrative IV: Image and Spectacle (March 15; May 4-6)

New Narrative IV: Image and Spectacle

University of Toronto 4-6 May 2011

Keynote speaker: Diane Obomsawin (author of Kaspar)

Human beings make display worlds to others in performances that engage and generate images. The spectacle of performance leads to many kinds of reflection—from performativity to epistemology, from theories of history to literary and aesthetic theory, from cultural criticism to palaeography. It extends ultimately to examining the role of reflection (speculation) and criticism of images and their worlds.

We are again soliciting papers on a wide range of issues that fall generally under the rubric of “image and spectacle.” The focus of the New Narrative has been graphic novels, comic art, and related visual media; but we also welcome papers from a variety of fields: English, Philosophy, History, Art, Film, Cultural Studies, and Political Science (among others). Essays may engage the following (incomplete) list:

• representation and photography
• web design and on-line comix
• historical repertoires of images
• Guy Debord and the spectacle
• images in archives
• political manipulations of images
• the speculative and the spectacular
• bande dessinée & European comix
• illustrations in (literary) novels
• illustrated and multi-media works

Proposals should be 400-500 words and must clearly indicate significance, the line of argument, principal texts considered, and relation to existing scholarship (or originality). One email copy of the proposal, and a 50 word bio note must be included, as an attachment in MS Word (in .doc or .rtf, not .docx).

Deadline for proposals is 15 March 2011 (responses by 31 March 2011)

Questions? Submissions? Email me!
Dr Andrew Lesk, Department of English, University of Toronto
E-mail: andrew.lesk@utoronto.ca

A full colour version of this CFP will be posted soon.

Feel free to distribute widely.

Prior year conferences are at http://andrewlesk.com/conferences.html

(The Toronto Comics Arts Festival takes place on May 7 and 8. See http://Torontocomics.com)

R.I.P. Martin Vaughn-James

Sad news for fans of avant-garde comics: Martin Vaughn-James, author of the enigmatic album The Cage, passed away on July 3. See Tom Spurgeon's obituary for Vaughn-James at ComicsReporter.com, as well as this brief story at ActuaBD. (And thanks to afNews where I first learned this sobering news.)

If you're not familiar with The Cage, here are a couple of images to give you a feel for it. It's sort of a trip inside an apparently abandoned building, with no people anywhere to be seen. Even with the accompanying "explanatory" text, The Cage doesn't exactly present any sort of traditional narrative. It's also not a tour or even a travelogue. The Cage is, simply (or better, complexly) The Cage.


At the 2002 Popular Culture Association conference in Toronto, the Comic Art & Comics Area was honored to present a lecture by noted comics critic and scholar Thierry Groensteen on The Cage. By happy coincidence, not only had Vaughn-James produced The Cage while living in Toronto, but Prof. Groensteen himself had recently published a study of book, La construction de "La Cage." I was the Chair of the CA&C Area for 2002, and when I received Thierry's abstract, I knew that this presentation deserved a special session all its own. We had an overflow crowd for the talk, and I believe Thierry made a lot of converts that day.
Sadly, The Cage hasn't been available in English since its original publication in 1975, but it is in the collections of several libraries. It is also back in print in French, from the Belgian publisher Les Impressions Nouvelles. Even if you can't read French, it's an amazing, mind-blowing work. I can't recommend The Cage highly enough - it's near the top of my "Why Isn't This Book Available in English???" list.

Update: Forgot about image credits! Self-portrait and images from La Cage @ 2009 Martin Vaughn-James, sourced from Les Impressions Nouvelles web pages. Comic Art & Comics flyer @ 2002, 2009 Gene Kannenberg, Jr. and the Comic Art & Comics area of the Popular Culture Association.