Call for Papers
Slavic Game Studies: Computer Game Adaptations of Historical and Literary Narratives
Narratives, both literary and historical, have always been appropriated by other arts. The various phenomena of media change have been widely researched for the established arts such as painting, music and film, but in the field of digital games, processes of this kind are still very much under-explored, especially in relation to Central and Eastern Europe.
The workshop aims to investigate intermedial transfer processes between history, literature and game(s). At the centre of our interest are game adaptations of historical and literary narratives, whereby attention will also be paid to the reverse direction of transfer, the appropriation of game materials and mechanics in texts (Victor Pelevin, Yurii Andrukhovych). The focus will be on Slavic cultures in the broadest sense: The games and/or texts analysed should at least have a connection to Slavia, either in terms of their content or their origin.
Within this loose framework, the spectrum of literary adaptations ranges from well-researched global hits such as the Witcher, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and Metro game series to the recently published adaptation of Stanisław Lem’s novel The Invincible (Niezwyciężony). The different modes of dealing with history are just as diverse, ranging from historical didactics (Svoboda 1945: Liberation) to propagandistic historical fabrication (Smuta). In the vast majority of games, history fulfils the function of an exotic scenario and simply serves the purpose of entertainment, as in the recently published The Last Train Home or the strategy classic Cossacks, whereby both the didactic and distorting aspects resonate implicitly here. In this context, a look at counterfactual depictions of history (Atomic Heart, Iron Harvest) would be of particular interest.
A second focus of the workshop is on methodological considerations: In respect to their own media specificity, games can be analysed partly with the established methods of cultural and media analysis, partly Game Studies have developed and are developing new methods, which will be presented and discussed in the workshop.
The aim of the workshop is to explore the new intermedial field of Slavia, to lay the foundations for Game Studies with a Slavic profile, i.e. Slavic Game Studies, and to familiarise participants with methods. Possible questions are:
- How do games adapt literary and historical narratives?
- What are the specifics of this type of “intersemiotic translation” (Jakobson)?
- What methods can be used to analyse these processes?
- Which historical myths are created in games?
Conference venue: Ruhr University Bochum (RUB)
Date: 22-24 November 2024
Please send abstracts with max. 500 words + short biography by 30 June 2024 to the e-mail address karin.buelow@rub.de.
You will receive feedback on the status of your application by mid-July.
For speakers, travel (within Germany; in accordance with the travel regulations of Ruhr-University Bochum) and accommodation will be covered.
Languages: German, English
Organising team:
Prof. Dr Yvonne Pörzgen, RUB; yvonne.poerzgen@rub.de
Secretariat: Karin Bülow; karin.buelow@rub.de
Dr Valentin Peschanskyi, University of Münster; valentin.peschanskyi@uni-muenster.de