CFP: War Stories: The War Memoir in History and Literature

22-24 November, 2010

Keynote Speaker: Prof Jay Winter (Yale)

This conference, which will be held in conjunction with the Writing Cultures Group, is an inter-disciplinary approach looking at the war memoir from ancient times to the present, and will be held at the University of Newcastle, Australia

From the early modern period through to the present day, both combatants and non-combatants who have lived through war have written about their experiences in autobiographical works. Sometimes published, but often not, such memoirs entail not only authors recalling their wartime lives but recasting, re-imagining and reprocessing their experiences. The popularity of war memoirs in the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries in particular raises questions about why, when and the manner in which conflicts are recalled and remembered, how these texts contribute to or conflict with collective memories, and how they can be read and interpreted by the reading public and scholars alike.

Papers are invited from scholars from across the disciplines working on any aspect of the memoir in relation to military conflicts in any locale, from the early modern period to the present day. In examining war memoirs and the manner in which both veterans and civilians recall past conflicts, this conference will also contribute to a broader discussion on the experience of war across cultural boundaries. It is anticipated that the focus of this conference on the military memoir will result in an edited collection of refereed, original, contributions to the field.

Please send a 300 word abstract and a short bio to:

Associate Professor Philip Dwyer
Philip.Dwyer@newcastle.edu.au

Dr Roger Markwick
Roger.Markwick@newcastle.edu.au