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Subject: Percy-L: Literary, Religious, Scientific, and Philosophical Discussion on Walker Percy

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  • From: Karey Perkins <kareyperkins AT gmail.com>
  • To: "Percy-L: Literary, Religious, Scientific, and Philosophical Discussion" <percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [percy-l] Call for Papers on Walker Percy for SAMLA 95
  • Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2023 18:14:18 -0400

Hi Percy peeps!  

We are having our annual Walker Percy session(s) at this year’s South Atlantic Modern Language Association conference, November 9-11, 2023, in Atlanta, GA.  

If you have any ideas, thoughts, or insights on Percy that you want to share with the world (or, at least, the Percy world), that you’d like to develop into a 10-double-spaced-page (20-minute) paper presentation, related to conference theme of “(In)Security” (or NOT, could be related just to Percy in general—doesn’t have to be about the theme), then submit a 300-word abstract by July 28 to kareyperkins AT gmail.com. 

Here’s the official CFP; more info about conference itself as well as the conference theme (again, optional) is available at the conference website:

Walker Percy CFP for SAMLA 95

November 9-11, 2023, Atlanta, GA

(In)Security: The Future of Literature and Language Studies

Atlanta Marriott Buckhead Hotel and Conference Center

https://samla.memberclicks.net/

 

“Walker Percy and (In)Security”

 

Papers for this traditional session may focus on any aspect of Walker Percy’s life and works, either fiction or non-fiction.

 

Especially welcome are topics relevant to the SAMLA 95 conference theme: (In)Security.  Possible topics include but are not limited to:

·      How Percy’s apocalyptic novels (Love in the Ruins, The Thanatos Syndrome) and non-fiction (Review of A Canticle for Leibowitz, end of Lost in the Cosmos) reflect our collective future insecurities.  

·      What Percy’s portrayal of the political divide in America (Leftpapas and Knotheads, black vs. white, social and economic classes in conflict) reveals about today’s divisions that threaten to tear apart our country and democracy.  

·      How identity is related to insecurity: Psychiatry is a central element of every Percy novel, portraying many anxious psychological patients, insecure in their selves, identities, and roles in society.  Consider also that Percy often wrote that individual psychological ills are often produced as a coping mechanism for societal sickness.

·      What do Percy’s writings show about how technology and the unfettered pursuit of capitalism might challenge the idea of what it is to be a human being? Consider his use of tech such as lapsometers (seen as a cure for spiritual ills) or Americans’ role as primarily consumers in a capitalist world (replacing a well-developed inner life), or other aspects/topics in his fiction and nonfiction.

·      What is the future of Percy studies, considering Percy’s status as a regularly taught topic in English departments today seems precarious as well.  Do alterations to the literary canon and challenges to academic freedom threaten the place of a Percy scholar in academia today?  

 

Please send 300-word abstracts on these topics or ANY aspect of Percy’s fiction or non-fiction (not just limited to conference theme of “(In)Security”) by July 28, 2023, to Dr. Karey Perkins, South Carolina State University, to both kperkin1 AT scsu.edu and kareyperkins AT gmail.com.  Please also include a brief bio and any A/V requirements in your abstract.



Karey

Karey Perkins, M.A., M.A.T., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of English
Faculty Senate Secretary
296A Turner Hall, South Carolina State University
Orangeburg, SC 29117
kperkin1 AT scsu.edu | 803-536-7016
www.scsu.edu 
Member, Institute for Studies in Pragmaticism
Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX  79409-0002
kareperk AT ttu.edu | https://www.depts.ttu.edu/pragmaticism/















  • [percy-l] Call for Papers on Walker Percy for SAMLA 95, Karey Perkins, 06/19/2023

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