[Englecturers] FW: Women and Death in the Nineteenth Century (2/1/06; collection)

[Steven Axelrod]

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-cfp at lists.sas.upenn.edu [mailto:owner-cfp at lists.sas.upenn.edu]
On Behalf Of Sheri Weinstein
Sent: Tuesday, November 08, 2005 1:27 PM
To: cfp at english.upenn.edu
Subject: CFP: Women and Death in the Nineteenth Century (2/1/06; collection)



Death Becomes Her:
Cultural Narratives of Women and Death
in Nineteenth-Century America


According to Edgar Allan Poe, "the death of a beautiful woman is,=20
unquestionably, the most poetic subject in the world." Throughout=20
nineteenth-century American literature and culture, women are often=20
popularly represented as not only harbingers of life, but also keepers of=20
death. The nineteenth century had particularly fascinating rituals for=20
death, almost always centered around feminine artifact, sexuality and=20
performance=ADfor example, mourning hair jewelry and clothing, elaborately=
=20 drawn-out mourning etiquette for widows and spirit mediumship.
Furthermore,= =20 death itself is often presented in such a way as to seem
markedly if not=20 problematically feminized: it is sensational (the penny
press=92s obsessive= =20 coverage of a dead prostitute) and sentimental (the
tragic heroine's=20 literary deathbed scene); it is beautiful and noble (the
sacrifice of the=20 woman=92s life as her most shining moment); and,
overall, it is a source of= =20 great drama (just as any "good" woman is).

Women's abilities to die beautifully, to mourn properly, and to connect=20
with the dead psychically all speak to an important intersection of=20
cultural values and aesthetic principles in and of nineteenth-century=20
American life. Why are the deaths of women so prolifically, if artfully,=20
rendered? What values are behind the cultural association of women with=20
death? Why are women collectors of the artifacts and ephemera of death? Why=
=20 and how is death feminized?

We invite all essays that consider the aesthetic, cultural, literary and=20
political currency of connecting women to death and connecting death to the=
=20 feminine. Possible focuses include analyses of women's deathbed
scenes,=20 suicides, murders, funerals, and autopsies in literature and
other=20 nineteenth-century media.


Abstracts or completed articles will be accepted for=20 consideration.
Abstracts should be 250-500 words long; articles should be= =20
15- 25 pages; either document should be accompanied by a c.v.  Please=20
include copies of any photographs or graphics that will accompany your work=
=20 or a description thereof.


Send proposals electronically to either=20
<mailto:sheriweinstein at hotmail.com>sheriweinstein at hotmail.com or=20
<mailto:elizdill at hotmail.com>elizdill at hotmail.com or  send two copies via=20
U.S. mail: to:



Sheri Weinstein and Elizabeth Dill

Department of English

Kingsborough Community College, City University New York

2001 Oriental Blvd.

Brooklyn, NY 11235

The deadline is February 1, 2006.

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