Call For Papers

Early Modern Culture 1450 – 1850

(and sometimes beyond)

The Fifteenth Annual Meeting of the

Group for Early Modern Cultural Studies

GEMCS “APPETITE, DESIRE, AND GARGANTUAN PLEASURES” November 20–23, 2008 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

IMAGE CREDIT: Flemish engraving, “CRAPULA ET LASCIVIA” (Drunkeness and Wantoness), by Johanes Sadeler I (1550-1600) after a work by Martin de Vos (ca. 1532-1603). Published in Illustrierte Sittengeschichte, Edward Fuchs, Albert Langen , Munich, 1909. From the Special Collections of Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia.

GEMCS was formed in 1993 to promote the study of culture from the Renaissance to the mid-nineteenth century (and sometimes later), in its various forms and across disciplinary boundaries. We are comprised of people working in a wide range of disciplines, including but not limited to literature, history, art history, music, and film, and we welcome a wide variety of disciplinary approaches, in an attempt to promote and provide a forum for the exchange of ideas among junior as well as more senior scholars.

This year's conference theme is “Appetite, Desire, and Gargantuan Pleasures.” We seek proposals dealing with material, ideological, social, economic, aesthetic, sexual, philosophical, artistic, political, racial, and gendered manifestations of appetite, desire, and pleasure. We are particularly interested in work that not only demonstrates the existence of such manifestations, but examines how they were expressed culturally and reveals how cross-disciplinary investigations can elicit a range of provisional and thought-provoking answers to questions of historical context and historiographical authenticity. (As always, however, GEMCS is interested in all aspects of early modern culture.)

Possible topics might include:

Ø “Prodigy Houses”	Ø “The Swallowing Womb Redux”
Ø “Pleasure Gardens”	Ø “Copia: An Appetite for Words”
Ø “Verbal Violence: Immolation Through Words”	Ø “The Amazon: Image of Fear and Desire”
Ø “ ‘It’s Fundament-al’: The Aesthetic Pleasures of Torture Ø “Reading/Studying/Knowledge” Ø “Bodily Pain: Sadism and Masochism” Ø “Pleasures of Making Money/Capitalist Fantasies” Ø “The Court Masque as Spectacle of Spending” Ø “Early Modern Feasting”	Ø “Royal Fetishes” Ø “Early Modern Perambulations” Ø “Dance as Courtship” Ø “Gin Culture” Ø “Cabinets of Curiosity” Ø “Mapping Expansion: Collecting Colonies as a National Hobby”

We strongly encourage proposals for pre-constituted panels or workshops of no fewer than four and no more than five participants, and in order to allow the greatest possible amount of discussion, will ask that presenters in these panels limit their comments to ten minutes each.

One-page abstracts for individual papers must include presenter’s name, complete mailing address, institutional affiliation, and email address; proposals for panels must identify a designated panel chair and include one-paragraph abstracts for each presenter, as well as his or her name, complete mailing address, institutional affiliation, and email address. Panels of four or five participants will be given preference. Participants will be notified of their acceptance to the conference by email.

Address all email submissions

by July 11, 2008 to:

Deborah Montuori – DJMont@ship.edu

*** Check the GEMCS website for conference information and updates.***

GEMCS complies with ADA guidelines, and interpreters can be provided upon request.