Metalepsis has been increasingly present in several artistic fields, by enhancing a self-reflexive porosity between narrative levels and by provoking a very special kind of ontological sliding. When Gérard Genette (1972) transferred this figure from the field of rhetoric to that of narratology, in order to describe the subversion of boundaries between narrative levels, or the non-distinction between the diegetic and extradiegetic worlds, he associated the disquieting nature of the metalepsis with the following “unacceptable and insistent” hypothesis: we, as recipients of a work structured by this narratological figure, may find ourselves in the (Borgesian) odd circumstance of noticing that the extradiagetic could already be the diegetic.

Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto

April 4-5, 2019

Organizing Committee

• Joana Matos Frias
• Rosa Maria Martelo

Argument

Metalepsis has been increasingly present in several artistic fields, by enhancing a self-reflexive porosity between narrative levels and by provoking a very special kind of ontological sliding. When Gérard Genette (1972) transferred this figure from the field of rhetoric to that of narratology, in order to describe the subversion of boundaries between narrative levels, or the non-distinction between the diegetic and extradiegetic worlds, he associated the disquieting nature of the metalepsis with the following “unacceptable and insistent” hypothesis: we, as recipients of a work structured by this narratological figure, may find ourselves in the (Borgesian) odd circumstance of noticing that the extradiagetic could already be the diegetic. Metalepsis has become a very relevant transmedial category in 20th- and 21st-century art, certainly also due to the fact that it signals the ontological instability proper to modern and contemporary thought.The Intermedialities Group of the Margarida Losa Institute for Comparative Literature, from the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Porto, will organize a IAWIS focus conference on metalepsis as a transmedial notion. We intend to discuss how and why this figure is so present in literature and in the arts in general, as well as to analyze its many ways of functioning.

The conference will take place at the University of Porto, on April 4-5, 2019 and it will welcome proposals on the following topics:

The concept of metalepsis: history and theories;

• Metalepsis from a transmedial perspective;
• Metalepsis and literary genres; metalepsis and mise-en-abyme; reconfigurations of the author and the reader;
• Experiencing contemporary literature and other arts: ontological metalepsis in literature, in visual and audiovisual arts, and in performing arts;
• Metalepsis and the crisis of the apparatus;
• Metalepsis and poetry.

Submission guidelines

Proposals should be sent via email to ilc@letras.up.pt 

until the December 14, 2018,

with the following details:

• Name
• Bio note (±200 words)
• Institutional affiliation
• Title- Research topic
• Abstract (±200 words)

Notification of acceptance: until January 18, 2018

Registration fee

Early bird fee: Until February 1, 2018

• Professors and Researchers with Ph.D: 100,00 €
• Students: 50,00 €
• ILC and Lyra Compoetics Network Members: 0,00

Late comers: From February 2 to February 25, 2018

• Professors and researchers with Ph.D: 120,00 €
• Students: 60,00 €
• ILC and LyraCompoetics Network Members: 0,00

For further queries, please contact: ilc@letras.up.pt