Call For Papers: Dante’s Rhetoric: Politics, Reception, Material Culture
Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA) Annual Convention (Baltimore, 23-26 March 2017)
The rhetorical traditions of Dante’s time offered differing conceptions of literature: it was seen both as a means for achieving consensus within the human community and as a path toward spiritual renewal. This session aims at exploring Dante’s appropriation of these traditions; we seek to bring linguistic and stylistic analysis of Dante’s texts into conversation with more context-oriented and historicist approaches. Topics and methods may include, but are not limited to:
– Dante’s style, rhetorical devices, use of conventions;
– Influence of medieval rhetorical doctrine and practices, civil, religious, and scholastic;
– Rhetoric as a theme in Dante’s works; the place of rhetoric in Dante’s political vision;
– Dante’s relationship to the political rhetoric of his time (as embodied in diplomatic epistles, legal texts, etc.); how concrete political events leave traces in Dante’s works through rhetoric;
– Whether studies of Dante’s rhetoric can help determine his intended audience;
– How Dante’s rhetoric and the material circulation of his texts shaped each other;
– Dante’s visual rhetoric in word and image: Dante’s imagery and illustrations in manuscripts or printed editions.
Please submit a 300-word abstract for a 20-minute paper, along with your audio-visual needs, a short bio, affiliation, and contact information here. Deadline: 30 Sep. 2016. (Time Zone: -5 / EST).