Literary Modernism and the Concept of Freedom
A special issue of Humanities (ISSN 2076-0787).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2026 | Viewed by 106
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues:
While modernism is hardly unique among literary movements in its fascination with philosophical questions about the nature and possibilities of human freedom, its interventions were uniquely shaped by a pervasive sense that these possibilities had been altered, for better or worse, by the sweeping changes wrought across the globe by industrial modernity.
This Special Issue invites papers that investigate the juncture between modernism, modernity, and philosophical freedom. What are the competing conceptions of freedom at work in modernist texts, and where do they come from? How do the aesthetic innovations of literary modernism (such as stream of consciousness narration, fragmentary poetics, the “mythic method,” or the stylistic interpolation of jazz forms and rhythms) reflect a philosophical concern with how the ruptures of modernity condition the search for human freedom in any of its various senses? How do modernists channel or anticipate the work of philosophers concerned with similar questions? In what ways do modernist writers insist on the philosophical relevance of matters of race, gender, and sexuality in relation to these questions?
Please send an abstract of 500 words to Dr. Tim Clarke at tim.clarke@ukings.ca by 30 March 2026.
Finished essays of 6000 to 10,000 words (excluding bibliography) will be due by 30 June 2026.
Dr. Tim Clarke
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- literary modernism
- modernity
- philosophy
- ethics
- aesthetics
- freedom
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