Exploring Authenticity in Contemporary Literatures in English

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue will build on the work presented at the symposium to be held at the University of Reading on the 1st and 2nd of November, exploring the different ways in which authenticity is constructed and represented in contemporary literature. The strongest contributors to the symposium will be invited to revise their papers for consideration in the Special Issue, and additional contributions will be solicited from leading international scholars in the field.

Culture in general, and literature in particular, seem to be concerned with authenticity, or lack thereof, more than ever before: authenticity in politics, gender, sexuality, ethnicity and nationality. In contemporary fiction, in particular, there appears to be a turn away from fiction as it is traditionally understood, and a move towards authenticity as an ethical marker of subjectivity. The popularity of such narratives seems to suggest that we long for things we experience as lost, searching for an identity, be it individual or collective, that eludes us. But what is authenticity, and what does it entail in a globalised world? How is authenticity constructed and deconstructed in contemporary literature? In a ‘post-truth’ world—a world of ‘fake news’, viral conspiracy theories and catfishing—is the concept of authenticity redundant, or more vital than ever? The aim of the symposium is to explore ideas of authenticity in their various manifestations in literatures in English. The online event will take place over two half days on 01-02 November 2021.

The organisers invite proposals of no more than 250 words for twenty-minute papers from scholars of all career stages. Possible topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Authenticity and gender
• Authenticity and sexuality
• Authenticity and ethnicity
• Authenticity and nationality
• Authenticity and the global/the local 
• Realism, hyperrealism, naturalism
• Authenticity in the postmodern world
• Authenticity and intertextuality: concepts such as original literary work, reproduction, printed representation
• Ghostwriting, diaries, biographies, autobiographies, autofiction
• Authenticity and adaptation
• Authenticity and creativity

The keynote lecture will be given by Professor Daniel Lea, Oxford Brookes University.

When submitting your abstract, please also include a brief biographical sketch of up to 50 words. Proposals must be submitted to Jeni Giambona at g.giambona@pgr.reading.ac.uk by Friday 10 September 2021.

Please send an approximately 250-word proposal to the guest editor (d.brauner@reading.ac.uk) beforehand, ideally by April 30th, 2022. Drafts of articles should be sent by the deadline indicated at the opening of this call for papers. Papers will be peer-reviewed. Please do not hesitate if you have any questions.

Prof. David Brauner
Dr. Genoveffa Giambona
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Humanities is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

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.