Cambridge - October 12, 2013
A symposion on feminist narratology, held at Anglia Ruskin University (Cambridge, UK) on October 12, 2013, was organised by Tory Young with the financial support of the British Academy. Around forty researchers from the UK, elsewhere in Europe, Canada and the US came together to discuss future directions which the field of feminist narratologies might take.
The six keynote lectures set a wide-ranging agenda, from outlining how feminist narratology expands the canon of texts which narrative model-building relies on and suggesting new interdisciplinary ventures with cognitive, digital and autobiographical approaches (Robyn Warhol), to superseding the false dichotomy of form and content and moving toward a contextualised approach to narratology (Susan S. Lanser), exploring how narrative female personae elicit our own stories in a sociological framework (Maria Tamboukou), and how the tools of feminist narratology yield incisive readings of popular media (Kathy Mezei), literary fiction (Marion Gymnich) and new media, such as Wikipedia (Ruth Page).
Fiona Doloughan’s response to the day’s discussions brought to the fore the wider issues of intersectional identities of race, gender and class. As an inherently contextualised approach, feminist narratology engages with these salient social issues and makes narratological inquiries, in Susan S. Lanser’s phrase, “matter.”
The symposion was concluded with plans to establish a Network for Feminist Narratology. For further information, please contact Dr Tory Young at:
tory.young(at)anglia.ac(dot)uk
Karin Kukkonen
University of Turku