CFP for NeMLA - Apocalyptic Projections

I think this might be interesting

CFP
NeMLA March 15-18, 2012, Rochester, NY, U.S.A.

Apocalyptic Projections in Sci-Fi and/or Fantasy Literature for 2012 and Beyond

This panel provides an opportunity to explore the ramifications of the 2012 doomsday prophesiers on cultural behavior as witnessed within the genre of science fiction literature and cinema. The term apocalyptic may include any means of total or near-total destruction, whether it is caused by humans, aliens or Nature. Papers analyzing the role apocalyptic sci-fi and/or fantasy have played and continue to play in literature, cinema, theater and other aspects of culture will be the main emphasis of this panel. Focus can be on apocalyptic visual arts and cinema, but written literature is also appropriate.
Please send e-mail abstracts of 250-300 words in MS Word to Annette M. Magid, SUNY Erie Community College .

Deadline: September 30, 2011
Please include with your abstract:
Name and Affiliation
Proposed title for your paper
E-mail address
Postal address
Telephone number
A/V requirements (if any; $10 handling fee with registration)


Visit the website at Http://www.nemla.org/convention/2012/

Stanford's Introduction to Artificial Intelligence Course

Okay, this is just too cool not to share. Standford is offering a free, internet-based course on Artificial Intelligence: http://www.ai-class.com/

Have a great summer everyone!

Conference: Visions of Humanity in Cyberculture, Cyberspace and Science Fiction

http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/critical-issues/cyber/visions-of-humanity/

This was a rather extraordinary conference in Oxford Dassi Elber and myself attended in July. Since all the papers presented will be eventually published as an e-book, I won't spend too much time describing our contributions. But the conference clearly attempted to do something else than merely bringing together a lot of hurried researchers, uninterested in anybody's talks but their own. The organisers (the project called InterDisciplinary Net) made sure that everybody stayed in the same place (beautiful Mansfield College in Oxford), ate the same meals (served in the Harry Potter-like setting of the college's dining hall), and talked about the same subjects. There were no parallel sessions, time limits were rigorously enforced, Q&A sessions were long enough to actually have interesting questions and detailed answers, and everybody was treated equally, whether a tenured professor or a graduate student. Since this conference is only a small part of the InterDisciplinary Net's project, I encourage everybody, and especially students, to check their website and to consider applying to one of their conferences. One thing is certain: I have been to very many conferences but seldom have I had this much fun!

An End of the Year Celebration - A quick review

On Saturday evening, The Mad Poets struck once again, this time celebrating the end of the academic year at the Temple Bar, Glilot.

There was plenty of beer, music and quirky amusement. The highlights of the event began with the screening of the movie "The Seven Corridors of TAU's English Dept.," an epic poem read by students and staff members.

After the screening we had a short and highly entertaining poetry reading, and this was followed by a wonderful acoustic performance from Dana Loterman (we managed to sneak a low-quality recording of her John Donne cover).

It was great to see such a high level of participation, both students and faculty
members, and it showed us that the Department of English and American Studies really does know how to let its hair down!

It has been an extremely busy year filled with excellent extra-mural activities and enlightening lectures. Thank you all for joining us in making the film and the party so successful, and a special thank you to Yafit, Omri and Gerda for organizing a fantastic evening!

THE END.

Until the fall.

History and Responsibility: Hebrew Literature and 1948

This is a conference currently taking place at Stanford under the auspices of the Taube Center for Jewish Studies. Since so many familiar faces are here (Mickey Gluzman, Anita Shapira, Dan Miron, Hannan Hever), I thought it would be interesting if I shared some of my impressions.

The level of discussion was very high (and often heated, as befits a controversial subject). The panelists were a mixture of literary scholars and historians, and it is this aspect which I found most stimulating. I think that interdisciplinary dialog is the way of the future in the humanities. So the debates of what actually happened in 1948 (the responsibility of the yishuv for the Naqba; the weight of the Holocaust; the culpability of the Palestinian leadership) meshed with the discussions of the poetics of trauma, Benjamin's messianic time, and Agnon's spatial imagination. If this meshing was a little rough at times, it was also exciting.

Strangely enough, what I found missing was politics. Surely as the Arab Spring (or is it already the heated summer?) is going on and as Syria is slaughtering its dissidents, you'd expect a little more of a global perspective than the neverending debate of who did what to whom 63 years ago.

"The Last Stanza"

My fellow students and faculty members,

I'm pleased to announce that StanzAviv - Israel's answer to the Bloomsbury Group - will be releasing their first poetry anthology in June. This collection features many current and former members of the TAU English department including Shawn Edrei, Uri Lifshitz, Avshalom Guissin, Charlotte Taylor and Eran Edry. All proceeds go to the African Refugee Development Center (ARDC).

StanzAviv will celebrate the release on the 27th of June with a launch party/poetry reading at the Zimmerman Bar:



So come on down, support your fellow students, and show your TAU spirit with the gift of capital! :)

Facebook page here.

StanzAviv - Poetry & Music Evening
7.45pm-10pm, Mon 27 June
@ Zimmerman Bar (2 Brenner St, off Allenby)
Book Launch of 'The Last Stanza' (הבית האחרון )
An anthology of poems from Tel Aviv
All sales from book go to ARDC

Science fiction origins at the British Library

In the hope that this may prove useful to some of you, there is an exhibit on the history of science fiction called Out Of This World going on until the end of September that sounds rather interesting.

For more details, see http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-05/23/british-library-sci-fi