Call for Papers: Reading the Magazine in the 19th Century
A panel discussion at Sight Lines: An American Studies Conference on the Science and Culture of Vision, New England American Studies Association, Annual Conference, September 23-24, 2005
In _American Flâneur_ (2004), James Werner argues for affinities between the 19th century reader of magazines and the flâneur who strolls the streets of the city. He writes: "The density and variety of the magazine's topography mimics the crowding and intensity of experience in a major metropolis." Moreover, in both the magazine and the city, the lines between "politics and commerce . information and exhortation, judgment and promotion" are blurred, demanding of the reader-spectator a certain kind of discrimination and judgment. Thus the magazine not only mirrors the topography of the city, but serves to indoctrinate the reader into a certain way of looking.
This panel welcomes submissions on American periodical culture that explore how American magazines of the 19th century seek to discipline and construct the gaze of the urban spectator. In particular, we welcome papers that explore this question by reading generically disparate texts appearing within the covers of the same magazine: fiction and fashion plates, travel pieces and advertisements, book reviews and "comicalities." As these features - in Werner's words -- "jostle each other, clamoring for the reader 's attention," what kind of reader -- of texts, of urban spaces -- is being constructed?
Prospective panelists are invited to send an abstract (500 words or less) for a 15-20 minute presentation to Brian_Sweeney@Brown.edu by March 1, 2005.
For the general call for papers and more information about NEASA 2005, please visit the conference web site: http://www.neasa.org.
