Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0000996, Tue, 27 Feb 1996 13:33:09 -0800

Subject
Call for papers--*Lolita*: Ethics and Aesthetics (fwd)
Date
Body
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 26 Feb 1996 00:08:27 +0000
From: Edward Maloney <emaloney@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum <NABOKV-L@UCSBVM.UCSB.EDU>
Subject: Call for papers--*Lolita*: Ethics and Aesthetics

***Call for Papers***

*Lolita*: Ethics and Aesthetics
1996 M/MLA Conference
Minneapolis, Minnesota
November 7-9, 1996

Abstracts due: March 31st, 1996

Since it was first published, *Lolita* has provoked widely different
responses from both readers and scholars about the ethical
implications of the book. This is possibly due to Nabokov's own
attempts to direct our attention to his interest in "art for art's
sake" rather than to concerns about the moral or ethical choices
made in the novel--an obviously debatable point in itself. Recent
scholarship on *Lolita* has attempted to rethink the novel in terms
of issues related to gender, sexuality, child abuse and rape, and the
book's ability to remain outside ethical criticism is called into
question more and more each year. The purpose of this panel will be
to continue the discussion about the relationship between ethics and
aesthetics in *Lolita*: are they opposed to each other, independent
of each other, or inextricably connected to each other, and on what
grounds does one establish their relation? Possible paper topics for
the panel include, but are by no means limited to:

-- Ethics and aesthetics in the novel

-- Gender studies and *Lolita*

-- Teaching *Lolita*

-- Rereading the relationship between Humbert and Nabokov

-- Reader-response theory and *Lolita*

-- Critical theory and Nabokov

-- Humor and ethics

All panelists are expected to focus their some part of their paper on
*Lolita*, but proposals that address larger concerns about ethics and
aesthetics are also welcome.

Please send abstracts (500 words) or papers (4000-4500 words) by
March 31st to:

Edward Maloney
Department of English
Ohio State University
164 West 17th Avenue
Columbus, Ohio 43210
(614) 292-2061

emaloney@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (email submissions of abstracts are
welcome, but please send full paper by mail).