CfP: FORUM Issue 23, Readers and Writers
© Public Domain/WikiCommons
From the earliest traces of etchings on stone tablets to the emergence of Kindles and ereaders in contemporary society, humans have invented platforms for the creation and
dissemination of text. Implicit in each textual object are the figures of the reader and writer
and their differing engagement with the work. But what does it mean to be a reader or a
writer, and how does each role play a part in the shaping of a text?
In 1967, Roland Barthes famously proclaimed the death of the author, arguing that it was for
the reader to instil meaning in a text. Barthes’ essay questioned the existing hierarchy of
writer above reader, and initiated new discussion on their roles. Reader response critics
such as Hans Robert Jauss have also considered the impact of an individual’s experiences on
textual interpretation. What effects have such theories had on previous understandings of
the reader/writer relationship? How can we conceptualise these roles in an increasingly
complex literary and textual environment?
It is not only the experiences of the individual reader and writer that are interrogated. We
can now ask what role the market plays in redefining these two figures. Robert Darnton’s
Communication Circuit draws attention to socio-political and commercial forces that impact
the creation, production and distribution of a book. How do such models complicate the
dialogical relationship between reader and writer?
How do literary devices alter our perception of the reader/writer figure? Those such as
frame narratives and epistolary forms place readers and writers at the centre of the text,
while the found manuscript and false document conceit in fiction work to remove the
presence of the author in order to foster verisimilitude. What do these metafictions say
about the changing social, cultural and intellectual nature of reading and writing?
In this issue, we aim to engage with the broadest possible understandings of readers and
writers. We are seeking submissions from a range of disciplines relating to the arts, culture
or social sciences that consider the topic of READERS AND WRITERS for issue 23 of
FORUM. Submissions may relate, but are not limited to:
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Reader response theory and affective criticism
Different approaches to critical reading
Reading and writing in the digital age
Historical reading practices
Writing communities
The history of the book
Fan fiction and non-traditional forms of publication
“Reading” visual and pictorial texts
Rewriting dominant narratives
Reading and writing as political acts
Gendered reading and writing
Literacy
Spaces for reading and writing
Metafiction
Depictions of reading and writing in literature
Papers must be between 3,000 - 5,000 words in length, formatted according to MLA
guidelines. FORUM is also considering academic book reviews (1,000 words) and
multimedia and alternative presentations for publication. Please e-mail your article, a short
abstract and your academic CV in separate, clearly labelled DOC(X). files to
[email protected] by 12th September 2016. All eligible articles will be peer
reviewed prior to publication. Only one submission per author per issue is permitted.