In this special issue, we address the question how fantastic genres address conceptions of age, ageing and the lifecourse. We employ genre loosely in the form of speculative modes of the fantastic that enable readings of alternative worlds and times. This allows us to consider texts which may be variously categorised as fantasy, gothic, science fiction and dystopia, recognising what such modes have in common rather than what might separate them. We invite contributions analysing different genres of the fantastic such as vampire fiction, ghost stories, science fiction, utopian/dystopian fiction and fantasy. We invite case studies that investigate key fantastic tropes in thinking about ageing and time such as longevity, immortality and rejuvenescence. We invite contributions that explore ‘fantastic’ age representations from different periods across literary history, recognising that fantasy changes along with the changing nature of reality. We particularly welcome articles that address texts from the Global South.
Contributions are invited which address some of the following questions:
- How do literary visions of alternative worlds and times intersect with, reinforce, but also critique what it means to live a human life in time?
- What might it mean to age in a posthuman context?
- How does the fantastic shape epistemological and ontological possibilities of life in time?
- How do age narratives shape fantastic genres?
- What cultural fears do figures of the fantastic like the vampire, zombie or the witch address and how are these related to longevity/eternal life?
- How is ageing represented in its relationship to death, dying and the end of life in fantastic modes?
- What are the functions of the life course, of childhood/youth and old age in particular, in the fantasy genre?
- What is the relationship between fantastic narratives, ‘queer’ time and ageing?
- How are embodied experiences of age, gender and race constructed and defamiliarised in fantasy and science fiction?
- How do age and ageing intersect with wider cultural and scientific narratives of demographic and climate change?
- What does this tell us about contemporary discourses of ageing and ‘lateness’?
Please send abstracts by 31 August 2021 to Sarah Falcus (S.J.Falcus@hud.ac.uk) or Heike Hartung (hhartung@uni-potsdam.de).
Complete Articles on the accepted proposals are due by 1 February 2022
For more information, please check the announcement