Call for papers
Enlightened Imagination in 18th century literature
Panel at the 11th International Conference of ISSEI, Helsinki 2008
In his essay The new imagination (1990), Czech-Brasilian philosopher Vilém Flusser describes Western culture as a progressive attempt to enlighten imagination. According to Flusser, Enlightenment is the process of rationally explaining the images that have been created by imagination. Therewith, he contrasts Enlightenment and the conventional understanding of imagination in a systematic perspective, proposing a new imagination that corresponds to the binary coded language of calculations.
The aim of this workshop is to historically analyze literary forms of imagination during the 18th century. We ask the question: What is the historical relationship between imagination and Enlightenment that is represented in characteristic forms of imaginative performance, esp. in literary texts? Does imagination contradict Enlightenment – or could it be seen as a constructive or even a seminal part of it?
This inter-disciplinary workshop invites papers dealing with imagination and Enlightenment in 18th century literature and poetics that focus on questions such as:
- How does imagination become a topic of literature in the 18th century?
- What is the role and function of imagination in literary, aesthetic, poetologic, and philosophical texts of the 18th century?
- How does literature represent manifestations and narratives of imagination such as metaphors or dreams?
- Does literature broach the issue of the relationship of imagination and Enlightenment?
- How does poetic theory of the 18th century reflect this relationship?
- Can a literary text that highlights imagination nevertheless be called a text of the Enlightenment?
If there is room, I would also be eager to include papers discussing Flusser’s concept or contemporary concepts of imagination and papers dealing with imagination in art, music, and architecture of the 18th century.
This panel is part of the 11th International Conference of the International Society for the Study of European Ideas (ISSEI). The conference will be held in Helsinki, 28 July – 2 August 2008. For more information on this conference see: http://issei2008.haifa.ac.il/
Please submit your abstract (max. 300 words) to Rainer Godel, as an email attachment.
Deadline for the submission of abstracts: 15 February 2008.
Submission address: rainer.godel@netzwerk-arw.uni-halle.de.