CFP: “Literature in the Time of Contagions,” a special section in CLTT (Chinese Literature and Thought Today)
Contagious diseases such as tuberculosis, AIDS, and the current COVID-19 have been concerning modern and contemporary Chinese literature not only as a theme or contents but also as conditions, forms as well as styles of writing. In light of Susan Sontag’s critiques (1978, 1989), we should understand contagions not as moral metaphors, but rather as illnesses per se, as interdisciplinary studies of health humanities, as medical metonyms of pressing socio-politicalproblems, or as a linguistic devolution that strips the discourses of disease bare. This special section welcomes contributions with regard to the literary representation of infectious illnesses. We call for both research and reflections on transmittable diseases and their narratives or lyrical expressions, including academic articles and creative writings or English translations of Sinophone prose and poetry about plagues and pandemics from mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and beyond. For scholarly essays (which will be peer-reviewed before acceptance), our preference is for an engaging, accessible discussion style that also retains research rigor. Please submit your full work (up to 7,000 words) with a 200-abstract to guest-editor Dr. Howard Y. F. Choy (choyyf@gmail.com) and CLTT Acting Editor-in-Chief Dr. Ping Zhu (pingzhu@ou.edu) by June 1, 2022.