CFP: Dialogues of Chinese Poetry
Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association 78th Annual Convention
Conference Date: October 16–18, 2025
Location: Spokane, WA
Poetry, often imagined as a solitary activity, has been described as monologic since before Bakhtin’s theorizing of prose fiction. This is especially the case with lyric poetry, the dominant mode of Chinese poetry: a “monologue of the senses,” Stephen Owen called it in 1981. Yet poetry of all kinds is in fact rife with dialogues—dialogues with the reader, dialogues with other poets and poems, dialogues with the past, dialogues with other literary and intellectual traditions, and more. Aiming to open dialogue about the dialogues that engage with and surround Chinese poetry, so as to explore the possibilities and tensions surrounding such dialogues and their broader sociopolitical connotations, this RMMLA panel welcomes proposals that extend these dialogues into other areas, including history, comparative literature, psychology, sociology/anthropology, translation studies, and more. Potential topics could include, but do not need to be limited to, the following:
- Dialogues across eras in Chinese poetry
- Dialogues in Chinese poetry with audiences
- Dialogues between Chinese poetry and literatures in other languages
- Dialogues with different audiences of Chinese poetry
- Dialogues across disciplines in Chinese poetry
- Dialogues across media in Chinese poetry
- Dialogues and disruptions in Chinese poetry
Interested participants should submit a 250-word abstract and a short biography (2-3 sentences) through this Google Form by March 15, 2025. All presentations will be conducted in person and in English.
Please direct any inquiries to:
Lucas Klein: Lucas.Klein@asu.edu
Paul Manfredi: Manfredi@plu.edu
Xiao Meiling: Meiling2@ualberta.ca