ExRe(y) 2020 : ExtReme 21: Going Beyond in Post-Millennial North-American Literature and Culture

Department of American Literature and Culture at Maria Curie-Sklodowska University is pleased to announce the third ExRe(y) conference. A three-day international conference “ExtReme 21: Going Beyond in Post-Millennial North-American Literature and Culture” will be held on June 4-6, 2020 in Lublin, Poland.

We invite proposals for papers and panels that focus on the topic of the (broadly understood) extreme in American and Canadian literature and culture of the last two decades.

Topics may include, but are not limited to the following:

•Golden Oscar Raspberry – bestsellers, blockbusters, flops
•TL;DR – new forms of cultural/literary expression, short beats long, readership, language change/corruption/development
•wow vs. meh – scandal, controversy, normcore, can Sims die of boredom?
•extreme -isms (e.g. radicalism, extremism, fundamentalism, conservatism, liberalism)
•(post-)9/11 – terror, war, suspicion, discrimination, conspiracy, surveillance, safety, Enduring Freedom?
•human dominion vs. bio gaze – the Anthropocene, are we too many?, extreme nature, disaster scenarios, elitist issue?
•time shift – human time vs. deep time, real time, 24/7, transience, no time
•post/transhumanist aesthetics/ethics
•millennial fatigue and the mechanics of overexposure
•hyper-/hypo- (e.g. aesthesia, criticism, kinesia, media(tion), reality, sexuality)
•architectural (non-)extremes – slums vs. gated communities, eco-/sustainable architecture, smart growth, Extreme Architecture
•money, money – crisis, bankruptcy, economic stagnation, vampiric capitalism, Crazy Rich Asians
•Everything Is Awesome?
•aesthetics of excess
•love-hate with globalization
•the Internet brain – stupidity vs. infobesity
•the game of thrones – Yes We Can, when I search “idiot,” The Breakfast Club rooftop dance
•4th wave – HeForShe, #MeToo, #HimToo, backlash
•alone together – me-centrism vs. The (Social) Network, digital divide

Confirmed plenary speakers:
Prof. Andrea O'Reilly Herrera (University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, CO, USA)
Prof. Aneta Dybska (University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland)

Selected papers will be published in a special issue of the Polish Journal for American Studies (http://www.paas.org.pl/pjas/) in 2021.

Titled abstracts of up to 250 words should be sent to [email protected] by 1 January 2020. All submissions must include a 100-word biographical statement.

The conference fee of 350PLN/80€ covers conference materials, coffee breaks, and a wine reception.

The last day of the conference will coincide with Lublin’s XIV Night of Culture (Noc Kultury), an annual city-wide cultural event attended by thousands of visitors. More information about the event may be found at https://nockultury.pl/. As part of the conference, all participants will be invited to join a special evening tour of the city center.

Further information is available on the conference website at www.exrey.umcs.lublin.pl.