Literature and Social Emotions

Conference venue: University of Bristol, United Kingdom
Period: Friday 22nd June 2018
Deadline for submitting abstracts: 15th January 2018

Work on the cultural and historical dimensions of emotion in recent decades has argued that all emotions are, to an extent, socially constructed experiences: think of Sara Ahmed’s conceptualisation of the way emotions ‘stick’ to objects in a social context, for example, William Reddy’s theory of normative emotional regimes, or Monique Scheer’s work on emotions as socially learnt practices. In this perspective, to talk about social emotions as a subcategory of emotion might seem tautological, redundant. Yet the term remains of use in scholarship across a range of disciplines, functioning to tease apart emotional experiences with an intrinsic relationship to social appraisal, real or imagined, from so-called basic emotions like happiness or fear. Emotions considered intrinsically social typically include shame, embarrassment, and envy: emotions which may seem non-prestigious, trivial, or in some cases even ‘ugly’ (Sianne Ngai) but which are prevalent and powerful in modern culture.
This symposium seeks to further our understanding of social emotions – remaining attuned to the problems of the label - by focusing on their rapports with literature. Jan Plamper and Sarah McNamer, amongst others, have pointed out that the history of emotions has much to be gained from closer contact with literature as a source. In addition to literary articulations of social emotions, however, this symposium is also interested in how the production and reception of literary works has often been, and still is, inflected by social emotions like guilt or pride. How might this understanding of literary practice as an ‘archive of feeling’ (Ann Cvetkovich) impact on the sociology of literature? Or the history of authorship, or reading?

To stage a mutually beneficial encounter between emotion researchers and literary scholars, this symposium invites papers which explore the history and theory of social emotions (broadly construed) and / or literature as a site of social emotions. Papers can draw on historical or contemporary contexts; perspectives from all areas of the arts, humanities, and social sciences are welcome. The working language of the conference will be English but global and comparative perspectives are warmly encouraged. Suggested topics for discussion include, but are not limited to:

Please submit abstracts (max. 500 words), along with a brief author biography, to literatureandsocialemotions@gmail.com by 15th January 2018.
Enquiries can be sent to the same address.