Appel à publication : « Enchanted, Stereotyped, Civilized : Garden Narratives in Literature, Art and Film », ouvrage collectif (automne/hiver 2017)

Gardens have been a crucial part in mythology and literature. Throughout English literature for example, the idea of a garden is a recurrent image; these images largely stem from the story of the Garden of Eden which is found in the Genesis, the first book of the Bible. Gardens reveal the relationship between culture and nature – the garden can be seen as civilized and ‘shaped’ and therefore domesticated nature –, in the vast library of garden literature few books focus on what the garden means – on the ecology of garden as idea, place, and action.

Our volume will discuss the topic of the garden in different theoretical contexts such as ecological, botanical, literary, filmic, art historical and cultural ones. We want to investigate the representations of and the interconnections between gardens and the above named fields over a wide timescale, with consideration of how gardens are represented and used as symbols and of how – for example – literature or visuality took form in, or influenced, gardens.

Suggested topics include, but are by no means limited to the following:

– The Biblical/Theological Garden
– The Mythological Garden
– The Renaissance Garden
– The Romantic Garden
– The Revolutionary Garden
– The Colonial/Postcolonial Garden
– Gardens in film
– Gardens in Art History
– The Garden as…
 * a location in general and as a place of romanticism specifically
 * a crime scene
* a labyrinth and therefore as a mirror of psychological conditions
– Ecological aspects on garden culture

The timetable for the volume is as follows: 

– The deadline for abstracts: October 15, 2016
– Feedback: October 31, 2016
– Submission for articles (completed): April 30, 2017
– Double peer review process and feedback due to: May 30, 2017
– Articles sent back to editors: mid of June 2017

A publication is planned during autumn/winter 2017. Chapters may explore different media (literature, movies, art, visual arts, television, etc.) and address topics on gardens.

If you are interested in proposing a chapter, please email an abstract of 500 words and a short CV to both Dr. Feryal Cubukcu (cubukcu.feryal@gmail.com) and Dr. Sabine Planka (planka@phil.uni-siegen.de).

Your abstract should outline your hypothesis and briefly sketch the theoretical framework(s) within which your chapter will be situated. All submissions will be acknowledged. If you do not receive a confirmation of receipt within 48 hours, you may assume that your email was lost in the depths of cyberspace. In that case, please re-submit. Please note that we will not include previously published essays in the collection.