On this page, we announce conferences that did not announce a CFP or whose deadlines have passed, yet we believe will be of interest to our audience, many of whom might like to attend. These conferences and symposia are held all over the globe, and perhaps one of them is taking place on your continent or even in your country.
Canada. International Symposium. “Sexuality, Eroticism, and Gender in Austrian Literature and Culture.” Annual Conference of the Modern Austrian Literature and Culture Association, April 13-15, 2007, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.
In the early 20th century, Austria and her metropolis Vienna were a major hub of artistic and cultural activity in Central Europe, where also a diversity of influential discourses on sexuality, eroticism and gender contended and flourished. This is evident in the portrayal of problematic sexual relationships in early Austrian modernism, e.g. in the literary works of Arthur Schnitzler and Peter Altenberg, Karl Kraus's Sittlichkeit und Kriminalit or Otto Weininger's Geschlecht und Charakter, in the popular novels of Josefine Mutzenbacher, in the beginnings of academic sexology (Sigmund Freud and others), in the activities of Rosa Mayreder and the early women's movement, in the eroticism of the art works of Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele, or in photography. Early stages of this interest in sexuality as a cultural topic are already noticeable in the second half of the 19th century—for example in the works of Leopold von Sacher-Masoch—as they were anteceded by the erotic culture of Josephinism in the late 18th century.
After the historical disruptions of 1934-45, however, the themes of sexuality, eroticism, and gender resurface in the literature and culture of the Second Republic: e.g. in the "happenings" of Viennese Aktionismus, the OrgienMysterienTheater of Hermann Nitsch, the video works of Valie Export, in the Austrian films of Franz Novotny and Michael Haneke, within Austrian literature e.g. in the eroticism of Heimito von Doderer und Albert Drach, in the feminist discourse from Ingeborg Bachmann to Elfriede Jelinek, in the beginnings of an autobiographically based queer writing (e.g. Josef Winkler), etc.
The conference will offer a varied selection and analysis of the discourses of sexuality, eroticism, and gender in Austrian literature and culture, providing a view of cross-currents and interconnecting traditions, and interdisciplinary approaches to literature from colleagues in related fields such as (art) history, philosophy, media, theatre, film and cultural studies, etc. Accompanying the conference, April 22-25, 2007, there will be a poster display illustrating interesting/exciting courses, course units, multi-media projects, and student projects pertaining to Austrian Studies.
For more info: www.malca.org or www.mlcs.ca