Library
CFP: Oprah Winfrey and Reading (great for the impact on library book groups and circulation).
Oprah Winfrey is arguably the most important influence on reading and literacy in the past fifty years. She devotes considerable time on her talk show to reading and talking about books, and every book she asks her TV audience to read immediately becomes a bestseller. Furthermore, Oprah's book club continues an ongoing literary debate in America. Its middle-class women's readership provokes critical anxiety about the state of American letters, and the ability of a commercialized American culture to sustain artistic production, that has been a recurring theme in American cultural debates since at least Van Wyck Brooks' "America's Coming of Age." Given Oprah's importance in this long-standing culture war, the paucity of critical work on Oprah's Book Club is surprising.
We think it's time to change that. We are seeking submissions to a collection of essays about Oprah's Book Club. We are interested in diverse analysis: gender and reading, the middlebrow novel, women and book clubs, consumerism and publishing, reception studies, investigations of publishers' interaction with the Oprah book club, implicit politics of Oprah's book club, sex and sexuality in the book club, the complex negotiation of race (and the appearance of racial harmony), corporate book clubs (as opposed to consciousness-raising personal ones in the Seventies), the book club and feminism, and specific analysis of germinal selections and their relationship to the larger book club.
Please send completed essays or one-page abstracts to Cecilia Konchar Farr ([email protected]) and Jaime Harker ([email protected]) by October 1, 2004. If you prefer to send a paper copy, mail one to
Jaime Harker atthe University of Mississippi, 214 Bondurant Hall,
University, MS, 38677, and Cecilia Konchar Farr at College of St.
Catherine, 2004 Randolph Ave. St. Paul MN 55105.
- Cfp: Beyond The Book: Contemporary Cultures Of Reading
CFP: Beyond the Book: Contemporary Cultures of Reading A conference at the University of Birmingham, UK 1 & 2 September 2007 Keynote Speakers: Janice Radway (Duke University) & Elizabeth Long (Rice University) Book groups, Lit Blogs, on-line bookstores,...
- Cfp: Beyond The Book: Contemporary Cultures Of Reading
CFP: Beyond the Book: Contemporary Cultures of Reading September 1-2, 2007 Location: United Kingdom Deadline: January 15, 2007 First Call for Papers Beyond the Book: Contemporary Cultures of Reading A conference at the University of Birmingham, UK 1 &...
- Cfp: Culture Of Reading, Past And Present
CFP: Culture of Reading, past and present APPROVED PANEL IN THE LITERATURE & SOCIETY SECTION and possible collection of essays for publication FOR THE AMERICAN CULTURE ASSOCIATION PCA/ACA ANNUAL MEETING, April 12th-15th, 2006 ATLANTA MARRIOTT MARQUIS,...
- Interested In Joining A Book Club?
There are two book clubs meeting at the Madison Public Library, and new readers are always welcome. One of the groups meets in the afternoon. Their next meeting is Thursday, March 5, at 1:30 p.m. at the Public Library. The book we have chosen to read...
- Join The Madison Public Library's Reading And Discussion Group
Good books bring people together. Consider all the people who have come together to read and discuss the books promoted by Oprah's Book Club, or all the people here in Madison who read Fahrenheit 451 for the Big Read in April. October is National...
Library
CFP: Oprah Winfrey and Reading (10/1/04; collection)
CFP: Oprah Winfrey and Reading (great for the impact on library book groups and circulation).
Oprah Winfrey is arguably the most important influence on reading and literacy in the past fifty years. She devotes considerable time on her talk show to reading and talking about books, and every book she asks her TV audience to read immediately becomes a bestseller. Furthermore, Oprah's book club continues an ongoing literary debate in America. Its middle-class women's readership provokes critical anxiety about the state of American letters, and the ability of a commercialized American culture to sustain artistic production, that has been a recurring theme in American cultural debates since at least Van Wyck Brooks' "America's Coming of Age." Given Oprah's importance in this long-standing culture war, the paucity of critical work on Oprah's Book Club is surprising.
We think it's time to change that. We are seeking submissions to a collection of essays about Oprah's Book Club. We are interested in diverse analysis: gender and reading, the middlebrow novel, women and book clubs, consumerism and publishing, reception studies, investigations of publishers' interaction with the Oprah book club, implicit politics of Oprah's book club, sex and sexuality in the book club, the complex negotiation of race (and the appearance of racial harmony), corporate book clubs (as opposed to consciousness-raising personal ones in the Seventies), the book club and feminism, and specific analysis of germinal selections and their relationship to the larger book club.
Please send completed essays or one-page abstracts to Cecilia Konchar Farr ([email protected]) and Jaime Harker ([email protected]) by October 1, 2004. If you prefer to send a paper copy, mail one to
Jaime Harker atthe University of Mississippi, 214 Bondurant Hall,
University, MS, 38677, and Cecilia Konchar Farr at College of St.
Catherine, 2004 Randolph Ave. St. Paul MN 55105.
- Cfp: Beyond The Book: Contemporary Cultures Of Reading
CFP: Beyond the Book: Contemporary Cultures of Reading A conference at the University of Birmingham, UK 1 & 2 September 2007 Keynote Speakers: Janice Radway (Duke University) & Elizabeth Long (Rice University) Book groups, Lit Blogs, on-line bookstores,...
- Cfp: Beyond The Book: Contemporary Cultures Of Reading
CFP: Beyond the Book: Contemporary Cultures of Reading September 1-2, 2007 Location: United Kingdom Deadline: January 15, 2007 First Call for Papers Beyond the Book: Contemporary Cultures of Reading A conference at the University of Birmingham, UK 1 &...
- Cfp: Culture Of Reading, Past And Present
CFP: Culture of Reading, past and present APPROVED PANEL IN THE LITERATURE & SOCIETY SECTION and possible collection of essays for publication FOR THE AMERICAN CULTURE ASSOCIATION PCA/ACA ANNUAL MEETING, April 12th-15th, 2006 ATLANTA MARRIOTT MARQUIS,...
- Interested In Joining A Book Club?
There are two book clubs meeting at the Madison Public Library, and new readers are always welcome. One of the groups meets in the afternoon. Their next meeting is Thursday, March 5, at 1:30 p.m. at the Public Library. The book we have chosen to read...
- Join The Madison Public Library's Reading And Discussion Group
Good books bring people together. Consider all the people who have come together to read and discuss the books promoted by Oprah's Book Club, or all the people here in Madison who read Fahrenheit 451 for the Big Read in April. October is National...