Writing the other - intimacy in global times, from paper to screen
Écrire à l’autre
L’intime à l’heure du global, du papier à l’écran
Published on Thursday, June 21, 2018
Abstract
The editors of French Historical Studies seek articles for a special issue on letters and correspondence in the francophone world to appear in 2021. What does it mean to write to and be read by someone else? What are the social and cultural conditions of this form of writing to “an other”? When and where can one speak of shared “epistolary cultures”? How do technological innovations change patterns of circulation? What role do distance and absence play at different moments in time? When do we prefer to write rather than talk? All periods, from medieval to contemporary, are welcome. Transnational perspectives that grapple with the role of the intimate within global and connected histories are particularly encouraged.
Announcement
Presentation
The editors ofFrench Historical Studiesseek articles for a special issue on letters and correspondence in the francophone world to appear in 2021.
Personal and intimate writings (sometimes called “ego documents”) have long stood in the shadow of more “official” historical sources. Traditionally, historians have used letters for biographical purposes and only rarely based social and political histories primarily on epistolary exchanges. Yet recent works in the history of intimacy have not only revealed the richness of writing intimate histories; they have also shown how connected our sense of self and our emotional lives are to wider historical dynamics.
This special issue of French Historical Studiesproposes to take stock and press on with this historiographical renewal. If letters mark the intersection of the personal and the social, of public and private, what does it mean to write to and be read by someone else? What are the social and cultural conditions of this form of writing to “an other”? When and where can one speak of shared “epistolary cultures”?
We seek a wide range of approaches to the topic, to reflect the variety of recent scholarship. Our starting point is the letter as a “private” object, but one that is neither circumscribed to the private sphere nor limited to a specific material form (paper). Rather, we take it to mean (with Cécile Dauphin) an act of written communication to someone who isn’t there.
We encourage submissions to pay attention to the materiality of writing, to changing media and conditions of circulation. Today we write to people more than ever before, whether by email, text messages, or social media. We spell out “phone” conversations and send 16 million text messages every minute around the world, creating new forms of language and new ways of relating to one another. How do technological innovations change patterns of circulation? What role do distance and absence play at different moments in time? When do we prefer to write rather than talk?
All periods, from medieval to contemporary, are welcome. Transnational perspectives that grapple with the role of the intimate within global and connected histories are particularly encouraged.
Submission Guidelines
Queries about submission and other matters should be addressed to the guest editors: Thomas Dodman (td2551@columbia.edu), Caroline Muller (ccarolinemuller@gmail.com) and Anne Verjus (anne.verjus@ens-lyon.fr).
To submit an article, visit https://www.editorialmanager.com/fhs/default.aspx. After registering, follow the submission instructions under “Instructions for Authors” on the website. Articles may be in either English or in French but must in either case conform to French Historical Studies style (for details, see https://www.dukeupress.edu/French-Historical-Studies/) and must be accompanied by 150-word abstracts in both French and English. Manuscripts should be between 6,000 and 10,000 words. For any illustrations authors must obtain written permission for both print and online publication from the relevant persons or institutions.
The deadline for submissions is August 19,2019.
Subjects
- History (Main category)
Date(s)
- Monday, August 19, 2019
Keywords
- Correspondances, écriture intime, cultures épistolaires, matérialités de l'écriture
Contact(s)
- Anne Verjus
courriel : anne [dot] verjus [at] ens-lyon [dot] fr - Caroline Muller
courriel : caroline [dot] muller [at] univ-rennes2 [dot] fr - Thomas Dodman
courriel : td2551 [at] columbia [dot] edu
Reference Urls
Information source
- Anne Verjus
courriel : anne [dot] verjus [at] ens-lyon [dot] fr
License
This announcement is licensed under the terms of Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal.
To cite this announcement
« Writing the other - intimacy in global times, from paper to screen », Call for papers, Calenda, Published on Thursday, June 21, 2018, https://doi.org/10.58079/10fn