Arctic, Antarctic Gothic

“Nature is not natural and can never be naturalized” (Graham Harman, Guerilla Metaphysics)

Aporetic Press invites the submission of abstracts for a collection of essays on Arctic and Antarctic Gothic.

Given the importance of questions of materiality and realism in contemporary critical theory and philosophy, it is not surprising that ascribing agency to inorganic phenomena or thinking through the horror of nature has become the central focus for explorations for these questions. This collection will seek to examine representations of the Arctic, Antarctic and cold landscapes in gothic and horror media from the nineteenth century to the present in order to discuss the ways in which such desolate, cold, dark and indifferent landscapes become the embodiment of monstrosity and horror. Arctic Gothic narratives are attempts to understand an indifferent natural world within which the subject is trapped and confronted by unknown and incomprehensible powers, entities and things.

Topics may include (but are definitely not limited to) the following:

  • Samuel Taylor Coleridge
  • Frankenstein
  • Environmental gothic
  • Whiteness
  • Inhuman
  • Edgar Allan Poe’s The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket
  • Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness
  • Carpenter’s The Thing
  • Horror movies set in snowy landscapes
  • King and Kubrick’s The Shining
  • Moss’ Cold Earth
  • Black Metal

Please submit a 250 word abstract by 30 April 2018 to aporeticpress@gmail.comarctic.

Call for Proposals and Monographs

Aporetic Press is committed to publishing works that do not fall comfortably into accepted categories and established genres.

We are particularly interested in subjects which are not in vogue but nonetheless represent cutting edge thought, dynamic scholarship (including para-academic work) and unconventional creativity. We are willing to publish on the neglected and the niche providing the work is creative and original in approach.

We are inviting the submission of proposals for edited collections, scholarly monographs in the fields of literary criticism, philosophy, media and cultural studies, as well as fiction and poetry related to the Gothic, horror, weird, speculative, cyberpunk and science fiction. In the case of literary works a complete manuscript is preferred in lieu of a proposal.

Please send your proposals to aporeticpress@gmail.com

Aporetic Press – because your questions matter.

CFP: Fortean Approaches to the Study of Religion (Deadline for Abstracts June 15th 2015)

Currently seeking abstract submissions for inclusion in the following proposed collection:

Damned Facts: Fortean Approaches to the Study of Religion
Edited by Jack Hunter

(Doctoral Candidate, Dept. Archaeology & Anthropology, University of Bristol)

Overview:

Over the course of four intriguing books (The Book of the Damned (1919), New Lands (1925), Lo! (1931), and Wild Talents (1932)), Charles Hoy Fort meticulously collected hundreds of accounts of anomalous events documented in scientific journals and newspapers, including such unusual occurrences as fish falling from the sky, poltergeists, unidentified flying objects, levitations, mysterious objects, disappearances, ball lightning, and so on. Throughout all of his works, Fort employed the philosophy of intermediatism: “that nothing is real, but that nothing is unreal: that all phenomena are approximations in one way between realness and unrealness.” Through this rigorously agnostic epistemology Fort was able to explore some exceedingly strange territory, unearthing phenomena (what he called “damned facts”), that mainstream science had rejected outright, and in so doing inspired others to employ a similarly Fortean approach in their own writings. This collection draws together scholars who have taken a Fortean approach to the study of religion, itself a category filled with a wide range of weird and anomalous accounts: from miracles, encounters with supernatural beings, and self-mortification, to stigmata, spirit possession and mystical experience.

Some possible themes:

Submissions of abstracts on areas related to the following would be greatly appreciated:

  • Fortean approaches to religion.
  • The paranormal in the context of religion and religious studies.
  • Explorations of implications of Fortean/paranormal phenomena for the study of religion
  • Relating Fortean concepts to theory, theology, etc.
  • Examinations of the relevance of other Fortean writers, e.g. John Keel, John Michell, Colin Wilson, Jacques Vallee, etc. to the study of religion.
  • Intermediatism
  • Extraordinary religious phenomena (stigmata, spirit possession, magic, shamanism, visions, altered states of consciousness etc.)

These are just a few ideas, and I would be more than happy to hear other thoughts or suggestions for possible chapters that would fit within the general theme of the book.

I can be contacted via, if you have any ideas or questions please don’t hesitate to get in touch: discarnates@googlemail.com

Deadline for Abstract Submissions and Expressions of Interest: June 15th 2015.

The book is currently under consideration by Aporetic Press (https://aporeticpress.wordpress.com/about/)

Bio: Jack Hunter is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Bristol. His research takes the form of an ethnographic study of contemporary trance and physical mediumship in Bristol, focusing on themes of personhood, performance, altered states of consciousness and anomalous experience. In 2010 he established Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the Paranormal, as a means to promote an interdisciplinary dialogue on issues relating to paranormal beliefs, experiences and phenomena. He is the editor ofParanthropology: Anthropological Approaches to the Paranormal (2012) and Strange Dimensions: A Paranthropology Anthology (2015, forthcoming), both of which gather some of the best articles from the first four years of the journal. He is the author of Why People Believe in Spirits, Gods and Magic(2012), a beginner’s introduction to the anthropology of the supernatural, and co-editor with Dr. David Luke of Talking With the Spirits: Ethnographies from Between the Worlds (2014).

Forthcoming Book on Andrei Tarkovsky

 

Beyond the Frame: The Films and Film Theory of Andrei Tarkovsky is a vibrant and critically informed exploration of one of the giants of twentieth century film. Despite Tarkovsky’s almost canonized position in the pantheon of great directors and his substantial influence on European Art Cinema, writings on him are surprisingly scarce. Compared to his peers like Ingmar Bergman, who described Tarkovsky as “the greatest, the one who invented a new language,” or Akira Kurosawa, who once said about Tarkovsky, “Probably there is no equal among film directors alive”, there are considerably fewer book length academic studies of his films. However, in just seven completed feature films, two of which were made in exile, Tarkovsky managed to create one of the most cohesive and compelling bodies of work in the history of cinema. Beyond the Frame: The Films and Film Theory of Andrei Tarkovsky is an academic yet accessible engagement with not only Tarkovsky’s films but also his often neglected film theory. It features chapters on each of his films from his remarkable debut Ivan’s Childhood (1962), through his defining works Solaris (1972), Mirror (1975) and Stalker (1979) before turning to his two films in exile, Nostalghia (1983) and The Sacrifice (1986). It examines and interrogates a range of issues growing in currency in contemporary film theory which are revealed also to be the cornerstones of Tarkovsky’s oeuvre, from studies of memory and experience, to representations of autobiography and time. The project explores Tarkovsky’s place in film history and theory, revealing him to be both a director and a theorist sui generis.

 

 

terence mcsweeneyAbout the Author: Dr Terence McSweeney is a Lecturer in Film and Television History at Southampton Solent University. He is the author of The ‘War on Terror’ and American Film: 9/11 Frames per Second (Edinburgh University Press, 2014) and co-editor of Millennial Cinema: Memory in Global Film (Wallflower, 2012). He has written and published on a diverse range of topics connected to film, literature and history.