DFW22 - The International David Foster Wallace Society

CFP: DFW 2022 – Austin, TX – June 2-4, 2022

The International David Foster Wallace Society Conference

The International David Foster Walace Society invites you to attend DFW 2022 in Austin, Texas. Special events at the Harry Ransom Center (home to Wallace’s archive), social events, and other presentations will be included, in addition to a wide variety of panels of Wallace criticism and commentary.

Panels will be held at the University of Texas Glickman Conference Center. The keynote address by Pulitzer-winner Jennifer Egan will be held at Jessen Auditorium in Homer Rainey Hall on Thursday, June 2. The keynote, sponsored by the Harry Ransom Center, is free and open to the public.

NOTE: submissions accepted for the canceled conference in 2020 are accepted for the 2022 conference, provided that the paper/talk has not been given at another conference.

Papers commenting on any aspect of Wallace’s work, thought, influence, or context are invited. Potential topics include but are not limited to:

Wallace, gender, masculinity, misogyny, and sexualities
Wallace and race
Wallace and socioeconomic class
Thinking globally about Wallace
Wallace and climate change / the Anthropocene
Wallace as philosopher / religious writer / political writer
Reconsiderations of established lines of thinking about Wallace (e.g., irony and sincerity, entertainment, addiction, etc.)
Under-discussed short fiction and essays by Wallace
Wallace, canonicity, critical establishments, and anthologies
Teaching Wallace, especially in settings other than the undergraduate English major

Submission deadline: March 7, 2022

Submit paper abstracts of 300 words and brief biographical info to [email protected]. We welcome submissions from currently unaffiliated scholars, contingent faculty, faculty in settings other than higher education, and graduate and undergraduate students. Full panel proposals are welcome also, though we encourage panels that span a variety of faculty ranks and institutions.

Include in your submission your name, affiliation (if any), mailing address, and email address. Please specify any special AV or scheduling needs when submitting your proposal.