ESSE-10 CONFERENCE TORINO, ITALY 24-28 AUGUST 2010
The seminar, entitled "History and Literary Journalism" is currently
seeking submissions from
IALJS and ESSE members that respond to the following topic:
History and literary journalism are seemingly fraternal twins
separated at birth: one seeking to
recover the past, the other striving to capture the present, and
both committed to preserving a
"truth" for posterity. Though they share a dogged belief in
(re)presenting the facts of a given
event, both vary in their conceptions of how that event should be
documented. Historians believe
that the passage of time and critical distance favors objectivity,
whereas literary journalists
advocate contemporaneous coverage through firsthand, immersive
reporting. And yet, despite
their differences, both mirror the other's creed: a literary
journalist views history as it is
happening, or has recently happened, in order to reconstruct the
scenes of that event accurately,
while a historian typically strips the event of its emotion and
drama in pursuit of a more
traditional journalistic representation of a past event. This
seminar proposes to study how and
where literary journalism/journalists and history/historians cross
disciplines and ideologies, and
why academia still prefers that latter to the former as being a more
faithful rendering of the past.
Submissions in the form of an abstract of 300-500 words (with a
short cv attached) should be sent
to John Bak ((John.Bak /at/ univ-nancy2.fr)) and to David Abrahamson, IALJS
President (dabrahamson@
northwestern.edu) by 31 January 2010.
Please note the following information about ESSE 10 :
http://www.unito.it/esse2010/home/index.php?contenuto=home
and about IALJS (International Association for Literary Journalism
Studies): http://www.ialjs.org
Registration opens on 1 March, 2010. Standard Registration deadline:
1 June 2010. Application
deadline for fee-waivers and for low-budget accommodation (special
add ress to be posted on this
site): 1 May 2010. Pre-paid accommodation in Halls of Residence and
low-budget residence on a
first-come, first-served basis (though they have not put them on the
website yet). Deadlines for
reservations and confirmation of rooms in Halls of Residence: 1 July 2010.
