Polemics have fallen out of fashion, neglected by political correctness and disinterested critique. What is to be gained by taking up the polemic today?
We invite papers motivated by an urgency of intervention, papers that reflect on the art of heated debate and the venting of opposition.
Some suggestions:
POLEMICAL FORMS: polemic as genre, satire, parody, farce, cabaret, inflammatory political rhetoric, the feuilleton, the open letter, the discourse of crisis and modernity
PAST POLEMICS: Lessing v. Gottsched/Goeze, Heine v. Boerne, Nietzsche contra Wagner, Karl Kraus, Adorno/Horkheimer, Breton v. Bataille, Habermas v. Foucault, Luhmann v. Habermas, Derrida v. Searle, Expressionism debate, East v. West, Historikerstreit, Handke contra Gruppe 47, Sickungen Debatte
MANIFESTOS
CANONICAL DEBATES: literary v. cultural studies, discipline formation, teaching language and culture
OPEN RANT: recycling, lifestyle politics, culture industry, labor practices, corporate policy, "management"...
The conference is sponsored by the graduate students in the German Dept. at Columbia University and will take place March 12-14, 1999. Contact Harmony Fusco if you have any questions (hf30@columbia.edu; (212) 781-3080). Please send your 5-8 p. papers by Jan. 1, 1999 to:
GegenStand 319 Hamilton Hall Mail Code 2812 Columbia University New York, NY 10032
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