The 2010 South Atlantic Modern Language Association Convention will be held
in Atlanta, GA, November 5-7, 2010.  Its special focus is particularly
significant to Mark Twain, "The Interplay of Text and Image."

SESSION TITLE:
"Of its own accord and uninvited":
Mark Twain's Influence on 20th- and 21st-Century Literature and Culture

"Humor must not professedly teach, and it must not professedly preach,
but it must do both if it would live forever.  By forever, I mean thirty
years. . . . I have always preached. That is the reason I have lasted
thirty years."Â  (_Mark Twain in Eruption_ 202)

2010 marks the centennial of Mark Twain's death, and his continued
force in academia and in the wider community reveals the modesty of his
own estimates.  His books continue to sell well, and two of his novels
remain on the American Library Association's list of the 100 Most
Frequently Banned Books. Twain'ss preaching cut to the heart
of deep contradictions in American culture, and a century after his
death, he continues to inspire us to participate actively in difficult
conversations. Like the humor he claimed came of its own accord and
uninvited,Twain remains vibrantly a part of who we are as a nation.

This panel seeks to use the opportunity of the centennial to examine
aspects of Twain's writing and thought that reach forward into our own
time.  The scope of this panel is fairly broad, and I welcome papers
that examine Twain's own writings and their relevance to us today.
Equally, I am interested in papers that examine later writers or
performers who have felt his influence: modern preachers who are
compelled to re-examine some of the questions he raised, the characters
he created, the laughter he provoked, the controversies he aroused, or
the scathing critiques he offered.

250-word abstracts or complete papers should be submitted no later than
May 25, 2010 to:

Sharon McCoy
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Inquiries or expressions of interest welcome

Cheers,
Sharon