For centuries, the Mediterranean Sea has both divided and joined the many disparate nations, cultures, language groups and artistic traditions which flourished in the Mediterranean Basin: the Maghreb, Iberia, Southern Europe, the Balkans, the Levant and Egypt. As a dividing line and barrier to inter-cultural exchange, it has allowed each of these regions and their many cultures to develop unique artistic traditions. As the major feature binding these diverse cultures together, however, it has also facilitated inter-cultural exchange. What happens, then, when these traditions travel, meet and merge with each other? How does the host country adopt and adapt the ideas and aesthetics coming from abroad to its own native tradition?
This volume will look at such pan-Mediterranean artistic exchange (in literature as well as film, painting, music, photography, etc.) produced during or about the Modernist period, roughly the last quarter of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th. We welcome papers addressing any aspect of Modernist and avante-garde literature and art on four related themes: first, papers which describe the interaction of two or more Mediterranean artistic traditions (international Futurism, for example, or the reception of French Surrealism in Algeria); second, two or more Mediterranean cultures (Alexandria’s Jewish community or relations between Greeks and Turks in Cyprus); third, depictions of the Mediterranean itself during the period (in, for example, Lawrence Durrell’s Bitter Lemons of Cyprus or Henry Miller’s Colossus of Maroussi); or, fourth, the myriad forms of Modernist and avante-garde art which emerged from a single location (such as Cavafy, Marinetti, Ungaretti and Durrell in Alexandria). Papers on similar themes will also be considered.
Title: The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Modernity
Eds. Adam J. Goldwyn (Uppsala University) and Renee Silverman (Florida International University)
CONTACT INFORMATION:
For inquiries: adam.goldwyn@lingfil.uu.se
For submissions: Email one to two page abstracts by June 15 to Dr. Goldwyn at adam.goldwyn@lingfil.uu.se
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