Call for Papers
"Textuality and Canon Formation in the Renaissance"
A Panel at SAMLA Convention
November 9-11, 2007, in Atlanta, GA
Textual and Bibliographical Studies Session

Papers are invited that explore the impact of textual and bibliographic practice on the emergence of a prominent corpus of English literary texts in the early modern period. Inquiries might include the relationship between manuscript and print; editorial decisions and textual presentation; the influence of reading communities; generic transformations and displacements; the convergence of English literature and nationalism; the politics of anthologizing; and so on. This panel will explore the textual means by which certain texts rise to prominence: What gets privileged, and how? Who makes these decisions in the period? Alternatively, what slips away (or is made to slip away), and why? How can textual and bibliographical studies reveal the mechanisms that determine reading preferences both then and now? Papers welcomed that focus on single authors, specific genres, or individual works, as well as those that adopt a more general approach.

By April 15, 2007, please send 250-500 word abstracts to Tricia A. McElroy, University of Alabama, via email (tmcelroy@bama.ua.edu) or by post (Department of English, Box 870244, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0244).