Nabokov, Blackness, and Whiteness (MLA)
New Orleans
Organization: International Vladimir Nabokov Society
Event: MLA
The International Vladimir Nabokov Society seeks paper proposals for presentations on the following theme for the Modern Language Association’s Annual Convention (January 9-12, 2025, New Orleans, LA):
Nabokov, Blackness, and Whiteness
Vladimir Nabokov is not generally thought of as an author whose writings engaged matters of racial identity, politics, or social justice; however, his works do contain, with some regularity, references to race-related issues, as well as recurring patterns and images of black and white: chessboard figures, Harlequin designs, character names, and more. The IVNS invites innovative papers on blackness and whiteness in Nabokov’s works, understood broadly in any number of separate or overlapping contexts: race, ethnicity, and/or identity matters in (or related to) Nabokov (including, potentially, civil rights issues; perspectives from BLM; influence from or on Black authors; reading race, racism, and/or anti-racism in Nabokov; etc.); white and black as themes/designs/motifs/colors in his works (chess themes; characters such as Dr. Blanche Schwarzmann, Ivor Black, or others combining Black and White; etc.).
Please send 250-word abstracts by 3/15/2024 to Christopher Link (linkc@newpaltz.edu) and Marie Bouchet (marie.bouchet@univ-tlse2.fr).
Submission Deadline:
Friday, 15 March 2024
Chris Link