The Mythopoeic Society invites paper submissions for an online conference that focuses on the connections between and among Inkling authors and the literary tropes of the horror sub-genre of speculative fiction, to be held through Zoom and Discord February 4-5, 2022. Aspects of this topic might include any of the following as well as other approaches not mentioned here: the utopian and dystopian dimensions of fantasy worlds, including those of the Inklings, that include horrific elements; the role of fear in idealized world building, including the works of the Inklings; the demonic and the angelic, with reference to the works of one or more of the Inklings; monstrosity, gore, and/or body horror (possibly contrasted with otherness and/or beauty); the redeemable and the unredeemable; the appeal of dread in Inkling fantasy and in horror examples; the horrific within the fantastic and the fantastic within the horrific, including in the works of the Inklings; the horror of otherness within the sameness of the fantastic; horrific race and/or gender elements in fantastic narratives, including those of the Inklings; horror as the despoliation of the fantastic. Papers from a variety of critical perspectives and disciplines are welcome.
Each paper will receive a 50-minute slot to allow time for questions, but individual papers should be timed for oral presentation in 40 minutes maximum. Two or threepresenters who wish to present short, related papers may also share a one-hour slot. Participants are encouraged to submit papers chosen for presentation at the conference to Mythlore, the refereed journal of the Mythopoeic Society (http://www.mythsoc.org/mythlore/). All papers should conform to the MLA Style Manual current edition.
Paper abstracts (250 word maximum), along with contact information, should be sent to the Papers Coordinator, Online Winter Seminar, at the following address by 15 November, 2021: <mythiccircle@mythsoc.org>. Please include your AV requests and the projected time needed for your presentation.
