The Mythopoeic Society has opened the floor for new paper submissions for Mythcon 45, a conference on mythology, folklore, fantasy, and all things culturally created to be held August 8th through 11th. The theme for this conference is Where Fantasy Fits, an exploration of what new and old genres of myths and fantastic stories mean and how they affect their audiences. From the Mythopoeic Conference Society website:
Fantasy literature does not fit comfortably into any scheme. Both old and new, traditional and innovative, popular and elite, mainstream and esoteric, escapist and engaged, high-tech and anti-technology, fantasy defies definitions and transcends categories, dramatizing the incompleteness of our understanding of our own imaginations. At Mythcon 45 we will discuss the place of fantasy in our culture, our institutions, and our hearts.
Central to this theme will be questions of genre: What is fantasy? What are fairy stories? What constitutes the fantastic? What is fantasy versus magical realism? What is speculative fiction? How does Tolkien’s legendarium fit in with the mythic texts such as Beowulf or the Norse Eddas or his scholarship? How do Lewis’s Narnia books or his science fiction fit into the classic literary tradition? How do fantasists question our fundamental assumptions about literature and the world? We can discuss authors who explore different genres or modes of writing that do not lend themselves to easy categorization such as Neil Gaiman, Ursula K. Le Guin, Guy Gavriel Kay, Tim Powers, Terry Pratchett, and others who make us ponder what it means to fit into a particular style or format. We invite papers that broadly consider the nature and boundaries of fantasy and the relationship between fantasy and different literary and artistic forms—how fantasy fits or resists our attempts to classify and define it.
Papers and panels dealing with the conference themes (or other themes sparked in your brain by this topic) are encouraged. As always, we especially welcome proposals for papers and panels focusing on the work and interests of the Inklings (especially J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, and Charles Williams), of our Guests of Honor, and of other fantasy authors and themes. Papers and panels from a variety of critical perspectives and disciplines are welcome.
Individual papers will be scheduled for one hour to allow time for questions, but should be timed for oral presentation in 40 minutes maximum. Two presenters who wish to present shorter, related papers may also share a one-hour slot. Panels will be scheduled for 1.5-hour time slots and will normally include 3-5 presenters who speak briefly on the subject (usually 10-15 minutes), leaving substantial time for discussion with the audience.
If you're interested in submitting a paper for consideration or would like to participate in the event in some other way, check out the conference website and follow the guidelines listed there. The deadline for submitting papers is May 1st.
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