The
Historical Fictions Research Network (see https://historicalfictionsresearch.org/)
aims to create a place for the discussion of all aspects of the construction of
the historical narrative. The focus of the conference is the way we construct
history, the narratives and fictions people assemble and how. We welcome both
academic and practitioner presentations.
The
Network addresses a wide variety of disciplines, including Archaeology,
Architecture, Literature, Art History, Cartography, Geography, History, Memory
Studies, Musicology, Reception Studies, Linguistics, Cultural Studies, Museum Studies,
Media Studies, Politics, Re-enactment, Larping, Gaming, Transformative Works,
Gender, Race, Queer studies.
For
the 2024 conference, HFRN seeks to engage in scholarly discussions on the topic
of adaptation in historical fictions.
What
happens when well-known historical narratives are adapted for present-day
audiences, or are transformed into another genre or medium? Historical fictions
induce questions about mediated heritage and collective memories and
problematize processes of canonization and appropriations in local as well and
global contexts (Cartmell, Hunter and Whelehan 2000). The term “classics”
brings up discussions on claims about originals and copies, challenged by the
idea of every mediation as one of a kind (Hutcheon 2012). Debates on what
constitutes originals, models and adaptations raise questions on authenticity,
eye-catching aspects when dealing with historical fiction. A central issue is
how the afterlives and appropriations of historical canon and established
narratives in history-writing are transformed into new generations of
historical fictions.
The
term adaptation refers to how art work move from one medium to another. But as
Linda Hutcheon states in A Theory of Adaptation, the phenomenon involves more
than the journey from novel to film or film to video game or novel to
filmscript and explains its complexity as “an acknowledged transposition of a
recognizable other work or works; A creative and an interpretive act of
appropriation / salvaging; An extended intertextual engagement with the adapted
work. Therefore, an adaptation is a derivation that is not derivative – a work
that is second without being secondary. It is its own palimpsestic thing.” (p.
9)
Thus
the combination of adaptation and historical fictions sheds light on epistemological
and cultural aspects on form and content, aesthetics and embodiment, values and
ethics, authenticity and credibility, traditions and re-thinking and a variety
of uses of the past in fiction. The perspectives of adaptation furthermore
explore historical fiction as transformative contents in transmedial
storytelling, mediated in old as well as new media, exploring how processes of
adaptations and media form the content, including how story worlds and
franchises are created. (Thomas 2022; Harvey 2015) Yet another angle is how
adaptations invite users to interact in transcultural encounters such as fan
culture in gaming and social media.
Papers
are invited on topics related, but not limited, to:
- The
past in fictional adaptations
- Heritage, adaptation and historical fiction
- Historical fiction and cultural legacy
- Intermedial storyworlds and historical fiction
- Adapting non-fiction to fiction
- Renewals and traditions in historical fiction
- Popular and “classic” adaptations
- Authenticity, adaptation and historical fiction
- Adaptations between genres
- Franchises, adaptation and historical fictions
- Epistemological aspects on historical fictions and adaptations
- Adaptation, historical fiction and pedagogics
Our
Keynote Speakers:
Anna
Sofia Rossholm (Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, Stockholm University)
https://www.su.se/english/profiles/aross-1.403165?open-collapse-boxes=research-projects
Ylva
Grufstedt (Senior Lecturer at Malmö University)
https://mau.se/en/persons/ylva.grufstedt/
Anna
Pettersson (film director and artistic director for Strindberg’s Intima Teater)
https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Pettersson
Conference
Organisers:
Cecilia Trenter (University of Malmö), Kristina Fjelkestam (University of
Stockholm) and Claudia Lindén (University of Södertörn)
Please
use the form on our website to register a proposal: https://historicalfictionsresearch.org/hfrn-conference-2024/
Paper
proposals are due 1st September 2023. They should consist of a title, and an
abstract of no more than 250 words. The decisions on acceptance will be communicated
by 1st November 2023 at the latest.
HFRC
2024 will be an in-person event. The venue is at Malmö University, which is 25
minutes by train from Copenhagen airport. For information about Malmö
University, please visit https://mau.se/.
Kontakt
E-Mail: historicalfictionsresearch@gmail.com