Call for Papers
Elmira 2005: The Fifth International Conference on the State of Mark
Twain Studies
August 4-6, 2005

Conference Co Chairs:
Conference Planning Committee:
Dr. Michael Kiskis, Elmira College
Dr. Kerry Driscoll, St. Joseph College
Dr. Thomas Quirk, University of Missouri
Dr. Charles Mitchell, Elmira College

Dr. Linda Morris, University of Davis, California

Gretchen Sharlow, Elmira College

Dr. Peter Stoneley, The Queen's University of Belfast

Mark Woodhouse, Elmira College

The Elmira College Center for Mark Twain Studies invites the submission
of eight-page, double-spaced manuscripts, in duplicate, suitable for
fifteen-minute presentations.  Include a cover sheet stating the title
of the paper, your name, address, email address, and phone number.  Also
enclose a one-paragraph abstract of your paper.  Papers are invited on
the following topics:

Electronic and Digital Mark Twain - Papers focusing on the availability
and uses of electronic and digital resources in teaching or conducting
research on Twain.

Theorizing Mark Twain - Papers that make use of ideas, strategies, and
vocabularies derived from any branch of critical theory.

Domestic Mark Twain - Papers examining the role of domesticity in
Twain's work; Twain's houses; houses in Twain's writing; Twain's
household.

Polemical Mark Twain - Papers focusing on Twain as polemicist; the
polemic as form, style, humor, and temperament. Twain's social criticism
and anti imperialism.

Mark Twain's Reading - Papers concerning Twain as an avid and
inquisitive reader and the ways in which books entered into Twain's own
literary production.

Mark Twain's Biography or Autobiography - Papers focusing on new
approaches to Twain biography or to the problems and challenges of
reading, editing, or understanding the autobiographical material.

Mark Twain's Writing Friendships - Papers exploring how friendship is
constructed and represented by Twain and his contemporaries. What are
the cultural roles, qualities, and limits of Twain's friendships?

Mark Twain and the Assault of Laughter - Papers examining the role of
laughter in Twain's work; laughter as a subject in the humor; wit,
satire, or sardonic laughter.