Cognitive and Poetics 2013

25 – 27 April 2013
Osnabrück, Germany

Over the past 30 years we have seen a growing body of research devoted to the cognitive underpinnings of literature and the arts in general, especially with regard to the linguistics of literature. This first international conference on cognition and poetics (CaP-12) aims at bringing together scholars from a wide range of disciplines, including, but not limited to, literature, culture, aesthetics, semiotics, linguistics, cognitive science, neuroscience, philosophy, history, and psychology in order to illuminate the possibilities (and limitations) of taking a fresh look at literature and other poetic artifacts (such as film, music, art, drama) from a cognitive perspective. On the one hand, we need to take stock of what has already been done in this field over the past 30 years or more, on the other hand, some ideas and methods will have to be critically evaluated in the light of new research, and there are also many new pathways to be discovered and developed. In particular, a cognitive approach to literature raises questions about the basic nature of aesthetic experience and whether there are specific constraints and features (differentia specifica, as Jakobson termed them) that characterize the individual art forms, their production, and their reception.

Eventually, we hope to arrive at a fruitful collaboration and symbiosis between the different disciplines.

Invited plenary speakers so far include:

Mark Bruhn (Regis University, Denver)

Wallace Chafe (University of California, Santa Barbara)

Barbara Dancygier (University of British Columbia, Vancouver)

Suzanne Nalbantian (Long Island University, New York)

CALL FOR PAPER

We invite 20-minute paper submissions for the first international conference on Cognition and Poetics (CaP-12). The conference will take place from the 25-27 April 2013 at the Institute of English and American Studies of the University of Osnabrück, Germany.

The conference is part of the UOS Research Cluster on Cognition and Poetics.

FORMAT
The conference will feature up to six plenary talks by leading scholars. In addition, the conference invites proposals for special workshops and themed panels/sessions.

Scholars interested in organizing a workshop or panel/session should outline the topic and rationale of the project (in no more than 400 words), develop a suitable format, and invite participants to the event. Needless to say, all participants will have to register for the main conference.
Please send proposals to cap@uni-osnabrueck.de by November 30, 2012.

We also invite abstracts for 20-minute papers on topics dealing with cognition and poetics in the broad sense outlined above, including:

Cognitive perspectives and cultural history
Aesthetics, emotion, affect
From sentence to text: linguistic perspectives and the macro level
Universals and specifics in cognition and aesthetic experience
Creativity and the arts
The differentia specifica of the arts
Blending
Brain versus mind
Literature and experience
Constructional approaches to language and literature
Text types / genres from a cognitive perspective
The evolution of the arts
Pragmatic perspectives on authors and readers

SUBMISSION DETAILS
Please send 250-word abstracts to cap@uni-osnabrueck.de by 30 November 2012. Abstracts should be sent as anonymized attachments in MS Word format.

You need to specify in your email text:

your name,
affiliation,
email address,
title of the talk

Acceptance of papers will be sent out by 31 December 2012.

STIPENDS & WAIVERS
Graduate students and PhD Candidates are particularly invited to send paper and workshop proposals. We offer fifteen (15) grants for graduate students which cover the conference fee and accommodation. These grants will be awarded for the fifteen best proposals.

For further details about the conference please contact Professor Alexander Bergs (abergs@uos.de), Professor Peter Schneck (pschneck@uos.de), or Ms Meike Pentrel, who is in charge of organizing the conference (mpentrel@uos.de).