#150 = Volume 50, Part 2 = July 2023
NOTES AND CORRESPONDENCE“Fred Folio” Unmasked. The year 1855 saw the publication of a satiric work known variously as A Book for the Times: Lucy Boston, or, Woman’s Rights and Spiritualism: Illustrating the Follies and Delusions of the Nineteenth Century and, more simply, as Lucy Boston, or, Woman’s Rights and Spiritualism: Illustrating the Follies and Delusions of the Nineteenth Century. It is an anti-feminist/anti-spiritualist diatribe whose narrative relies upon what we today would describe as elements of science fiction and fantasy to “prove” its points. These include poltergeistic phenomena and seances (modeled after those of the young Fox sisters circa 1848) as well as extrapolation that re-imagines the contemporary political system for satiric purposes. In the novel, women successfully change the New York State constitution to allow them to vote and hold office, and Lucy Boston succeeds in becoming Governor of New York. The reactionary messages of Lucy Boston resonated with its contemporary audience, and the book went through at least two editions of several thousand volumes each; but it is today a work known primarily by scholars of women’s history and those interested in nineteenth-century fantastic satire. Elizabeth Lowry, for example, recognizes it as “targeting the Fox sisters in particular,” even though the Fox sisters had by 1855 “more of less ceased public practice” (“Spiritual(R)Evolution and the Turning of Tables” Journal for the Study of Radicalism 9.2 [Fall 2015]: 1-16).
Although “Fred Folio” is generally known to have been pseudonymous, the identity behind the pseudonym has escaped bibliographers. It has not hitherto been noted that upon his death, “Folio” was identified in an obituary notice in The Hamilton Literary Monthly of 1886, a publication of Hamilton College in Clinton, New York: “Rev. Frederick J. Jackson, ’43, who died at Nyack, December 26th, 1885, was the author of ‘Lucy Boston; or, Women’s Rights and Spiritualism,’ illustrating the foibles and delusions of the nineteenth century.” Other resources show that Jackson was born on 8 March 1815 and served for a while as the Principal of the Tarrytown Military Institute. His grave lies in the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, inadvertently linking him to a much greater American fantasist, Washington Irving, who is also buried in Tarrytown.—Richard Bleiler, Collections and Humanities Librarian, University of Connecticut Library, U of Connecticut, Storrs
Second Annual C.S. Lewis Symposium at Ulster University, 13-14 November 2023, Ulster University, Coleraine (Northern Ireland). This two-day, public-facing academic symposium aims to examine C.S. Lewis in the light of his influence on twentieth and twenty-first century writers working in genres as varied as children’s fiction, sf, literary and cultural criticism, popular apologetics, and even poetry. The central organizing metaphor is genealogy, the passing down to successive generations of essences, qualities, and characteristics that one inherits. Drawing on this central metaphor, we will examine how Lewis was shaped by his own set of literary influences and also how he transmitted (and transmuted) these influences through his own work to writers throughout the world. Our hope is that a Janus-like approach—looking simultaneously back to Lewis’s “forbears” and forward to his “sons and daughters”—will offer scholars working in diverse areas of Lewis research ample opportunity to carve out topics suited to their own interests.
We invite proposals of up to 250 words for twenty-minute papers on some aspect of our theme. Submissions are welcome from scholars at every career stage. Please include a brief bio with submission. Email proposals to <White-C36@ulster.ac.uk> by 5pm, 4 September 2023. Please note that this is an in-person event; at present we do not have the tools to enable virtual participation.—Curtis White, Ulster University
Book Series: Transmedia Monsters and Villains. This new series aims to cover the fascinating subject of monsters and villains through an interdisciplinary perspective. Each volume will focus on a single figure (or group of figures) and examine it in its multiple incarnations, from origins to adaptations in different media. Also welcome are approaches to the subject that transcend genres and examine monsters and villains as they are presented in horror fiction, thrillers, science fiction, etc. We welcome proposals for both edited collections and monographs. The essential requirements of the volumes will be their interdisciplinarity and focus on the issues of adaptation and transmediality. Proposals may include (but are certainly not limited to) the following figures: Dracula, Frankenstein’s creature, the werewolf, the mummy, zombies, witches and wizards, the Golem, doppelgängers, hybrids, clones, mad scientists, serial killers, cannibals, aliens, ghosts, spirits, gods, demi-gods, mythological creatures, dinosaurs, machines, cyborgs, androids, dragons, underwater creatures, underground creatures, shapeshifters, mutants, tyrants, orcs, ogres, clowns, statues, dolls, puppets, biblical figures, and personifications of Death. We gladly welcome any queries by prospective authors/editors for the preparation of a proposal. Please contact Dr. Antonio Sanna, at <isonisanna@hotmail.com>. The deadline for submissions is 15 September 2023.—Dr. Antonio Sanna, University of Sassari, Italy
Mechanization and the Child. Special issue of The Journal of Children in Popular Culture. JOCPC is now accepting article submissions for the fall 2023 issue, which is focused on the broad theme of the mechanized child. We have kept the theme open-ended and invite work across a wide range of disciplines in which researchers are exploring representations of the intersection between the child figure, childhood, and mechanization. Topics may include robotics, automatons, cyborgs, AI, VR, and other emerging technologies, both historical and future forward, real and fictional, as well as how these are used by, on, and for children. Born alongside new and emerging technologies, children have an innate fluency with new technologies that often leaves their adult counterparts behind, reinforcing the notion of children as symbols of futurity. The theme of mechanization and the child also includes films and literary texts. Contributors are invited to explore both high and low-tech forms of mechanization.
JOCPC is an open-access, online, international, interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed journal that provides a forum for scholars and professionals to interrogate representations of the child in popular culture. The journal facilitates an international dialogue through vigorous discussion of the intersections among the child, the conception of childhood, and any other interactions with the child in the context of popular culture. All disciplines are welcome and international submissions are encouraged. The submissions deadline is 31 August 2023: the submission length should be between 5,000 and 9,000 words, including notes. The journal is also accepting reviews for books, films, and television. For further information or review submissions, contact <carynmurphy@gmail.com>.—Caryn Murphy, University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh
The Wizard of Oz at UNC Charlotte, 21-24 September 2024; Call for Presentations. This three-day festival welcomes writers, scholars, collectors, and fans to explore The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Written in 1900, Baum’s fairy tale incorporated timeless life lessons, and his stories were ahead of their time. As Oz magic continues far beyond Baum’s lifetime, we benefit from fresh interpretations in visual, performing, and literary art. Such works as The Wiz, Wicked, Dorothy Must Die, and Amy Chu and Janet K. Lee’s Sea Sirens reflect changes in American culture while incorporating the non-traditional gender roles and diverse characters that Baum ingrained in Oz. Oz appeals to all ages, inspires adaptations from creators and designers, allows scholars to explore a multitude of textual interpretations, and calls to cos-players to live a dream, as well as filling collectors’ spaces with books and merchandise. CharlOz is a chance to explore how Oz inspires you.
Applicants may submit proposals by emailing us at <charl-oz@uncc.edu> anytime before 17 November 2023. Prospective presenters are encouraged to give particular consideration to the following focus areas: Oz’s reflection of American history and/or culture; aspects of Oz relating to race, class, disability, or childhood; analyses of visual and performing arts as they relate to Oz; authors and/or illustrators who have adapted Oz and how those literary adaptations fit into the larger framework Oz provides; Oz themes that examine gender roles, norms, traditions, and sexualities, including LGBTQIA+; and Oz portrayals of education, love, heroism, self-reliance, and teamwork. Presentations might also address non-traditional technologies that include podcasts, games, or other examinations of how varied technologies transform Oz themes, as well as discussions of how a creator’s mass-marketed Oz work fits within the larger Oz world.
For individual presentations, upload a description (approx. 250 words) including all versions of Oz or Oz creators you will address; the angle or thesis through which you will examine your texts/people/characters, and any additional information to help the committee understand your project. Also include the proposed length of your presentation (example: 30 minutes). For panels, workshops, and roundtables, upload a single document including the title, a 250-word description of the proposed topic, a brief explanation of each participant’s contribution to the discussion, and an account of all versions of Oz/Oz creators you wish to address. For interactive or technological presentations include a brief explanation (up to 250 words) of the technology and materials you plan to use and how you would incorporate them into a session (see Venues page for technologies available). Finally, upload a short (approx. 80 words) bio and “About the Presenter” statement that may be used on the festival website and/or our website or program. Please note that CharlOz may edit this information for length, clarity, or formatting as needed. The festival committee will carefully review all submissions and communicate results by 29 January 2024. The conference email is <charl-oz@uncc.edu>. —CharlOZ Conference Committee
Coming in 2024: 82nd World Science Fiction Convention in Glasgow, Scotland; August 8-12. We are delighted to be bringing the World Science Fiction Convention to Glasgow, a vibrant city filled with science fiction, fantasy, and inventiveness; and our team aims to bring our love of these to the 82nd Worldcon. Under its previous name as the SECC, Glasgow has hosted two previous Worldcons: Intersection in 1995, and Interaction in 2005; it also hosted COP26 in 2021. We are delighted to be able to revisit the SEC, which has seen considerable growth in the last few years, including new onsite hotels, restaurants, and development inside the convention center itself. It will serve as a hub for a fantastic Worldcon.
We are going to be hosting amazing Guests of Honor, including Chris Baker, Claire Brialey, Mark Plummer, Ken MacLeod, Nnedi Okorafor, and Terri Windling; and we have a fabulous set of events and programming for you to enjoy. Join us as we bring all our futures together in one great celebration! Our Chair is Professor Esther MacCallum-Stewart and our team is a dedicated band of fans both local and international, old and new. Our convention committee and staff includes previous Worldcon and Bid Chairs, who are volunteering alongside newcomers. We draw our experiences from the many events that take place around the UK and beyond. Glasgow 2024 will be building on the success and enthusiasm present at Loncon 3 (2014) and Dublin 2019, an Irish Worldcon. Our community is a thriving one, and we welcome everyone to join us, share their ideas and celebrate the UK’s ongoing love of science fiction and fantasy. If you’d like to find out more, or get involved with Glasgow in 2024, drop us a line at <info@glasgow2024.org>. —Glasgow 2024 Committee and Staff
Edited Collection on Posthumanism: A Study in 21st-century Perspectives. The world and human civilization are governed by rapid and gradual changes. In order to perceive and explore these changes, posthumanism was developed very late in the twentieth century as a literary-philosophical approach. In philosophical, political, and critical writings by Ted Schatzki, Ihab Hassan, Evan Thompson, and Robert Pepperell, among many others, posthumanism considers human beings to be totally dependent on the environment and possessing qualities that are not limited only to individuals but are also parts of the ecosystem. The forthcoming anthology of critical writings on posthumanism, tentatively titled “Posthumanism: A Study in 21st-Century Perspectives,” proposes to compile different approaches to the issue of posthumanism. Please send proposals of no more than 300 words, along with five or six keywords and a brief bio, to Pinaki Roy at <monkaaroy@gmail.com> and Tanima Dutta at <duttatanimaofficial@ gmail.com>. The deadline for submission is 31 August 2023.—Pinaki Roy and Tanima Dutta, Editors
Special issue of American Imago, Comics on the Couch: Graphic Medicine and Psychoanalysis. The field of narrative medicine recognizes that stories articulate the language of the body. Rita Charon, the founder of the field of narrative medicine, brought both patient and practitioner to a fuller recognition of stories as a source of medical insight and intervention: stories may take shape in words but originate through bodily drives. Drawing lessons from psychoanalysis about “attention, drives, and relationships,” she reminded us that the nineteenth-century photographs of hysteria captured images of bodies telling stories not yet spoken. This special issue of American Imago will sustain Charon’s recognition of the place of psychoanalysis as an originating discourse in the practice of narrative medicine, but now will herald the burgeoning field of graphic medicine, which documents in image as well as text stories of health and illness—in comics. The same graphic novels and narratives that propelled comics studies into critical and academic acclaim now have taken center stage in medical, psychological, and other health and wellness arenas. Thus, this special issue will reframe for today’s patients, practitioners, and critics the question that Charon posed over two decades ago in Psychoanalysis and Narrative Medicine (2008): what are the dividends of placing psychoanalysis and graphic medicine side by side? Contributors should consider how comics, which are filled with bodies displaying internal experience on the surface, illuminate psychoanalysis, which opens both the analyst and analysand to the theaters of the body. How can psychoanalysis, which relies upon recursivity, help us think about comics, which rely on sequentiality? This issue will reflect on such questions, bringing psychoanalysis and graphic medicine side by side to foster new cultural and clinical conversations. Abstracts of no more than 300 words and a one-page CV should be sent to <Vcamden@kent.edu> and <Valentino.Zullo@ Ursuline.edu> by 15 September 2023.—The Editors
Special Issue of The Australasian Journal of Popular Culture: The Afterlife in Popular Culture. This special issue aims to explore representations of mortality and/or religion in twenty-first-century pop-cultural texts that feature and emphasize the afterlife. It asks how the afterlife is understood but also how people are encouraged to live their lives. Such aims will inevitably consider what place (if any) religion has in shaping popular cultural texts and understandings of the beyond, and what perceptions of morality are favored and guide character story arcs. Ultimately this special issue will contribute to a continuing and growing discussion on the representations of morality, religion, and the afterlife in contemporary society. Possible topics might include moral motivation/reasoning and life after death, dichotomies of Heaven and Hell, representations of the “soul,” cultural differences in constructions of the afterlife, depictions/constructions of the spiritual realm, ghosts, the paranormal and the afterlife, religious motifs in texts that feature the afterlife, representations of Supreme Being(s), and notions of suffering and reward. Full articles of 5,000-6,000 words should be emailed directly to the editors: Associate Professor Angelique Nairn, at <angelique.nairn@aut. ac.nz>, and Senior Lecturer Justin Matthews, at <justin.matthews @aut.ac.nz>. The deadline for submission is 13 October 2023.—Angelique Nairn and Justin Matthews, Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand
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