The Far Side of English:
New Gothic and Science-Fiction Monsters
University of Tampere, Finland, 3.-4.5.2016
Ever since Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the Gothic and Science Fiction have been moving in parallel ways – Brian Aldiss refers to the latter as characteristically cast in the Gothic or post-Gothic mode. Both the Gothic and Science Fiction are replete with allegories and metaphors about the human condition, particularly in topics that are considered taboo, such as ethnicity/“race”, the origin and eventual fate of life, or the human place in the cosmos. Both in the Gothic and in Science Fiction, to understand the monster lurking in the shadowy forest or the alien crawling on the space station, is to understand one’s self.
We invite English-language literature students and researchers at all levels to submit abstracts (~250 words) for presentations related to “The Far Side of English”, which will be held from 3.-4.5.2016 at the University of Tampere. Areas of research and fields of study can include (but are not limited to):
– Gothic/Science-Fiction “others”.
– Adaptations and allegories of classic and modern myths in a Gothic/Science-Fiction context.
– The future of the Gothic and Science Fiction.
– Hybridity, artificial intelligence, and conceptual monsters.
Please submit your abstracts via email to christos.angelis@uta.fi by 20.03.2016. Speakers will be notified of their acceptance by 25.03.2016.
Attendance at the conference is free of charge.
See also http://www.uta.fi/ltl/plural/konferenssit/farside.html