Cfp: "Recycling Myths, Inventing Nations," Department of English and Creative Writing, Aberystwyth University, July 14-16, 2010.

The organisers of "Recycling Myths, Inventing Nations" would like to invite proposals for panels and papers that explore myth and myth-making in all its guises. The conference will bring together scholars working across creative and critical disciplines, historical periods and theoretical approaches in order to explore the links between story-telling, mythology, histories, identities and ideologies. The organisers welcome contributions that will explore these issues in ways that will engage with current and emerging scholarly dialogues and demonstrate the diverse range of approaches being adopted in the study of mythology, both in contemporary culture and cultures of the past. Proposals should raise new questions and ideas in relation to the cultural, social and political functions of myth; the “recycling” of stories; the formation of “invented” identities and the multivalent relationships between mythology, history, fact and fiction. Suggested themes include;

• the ways in which writers draw on myths to retell the stories of people and nations
• the re-inscription of myths in fiction as a challenge to “official” history
• the use of myth by writers to represent new kinds of personal or collective identity
• using myth as a way to rethink literary traditions
• the fictional critique of myth and its politics
• the links between story-telling, mythology, identity and history
• mythologising origin or originary culture
• the supernatural in relation to origin and ancestral identity
• recycling mythologies to reflect contemporary political, cultural and global crises.

We welcome proposals, in the form of a 250 word abstract on any of these topics, or a related area. The deadline for abstracts is 30th November 2009. Proposals, expressions of interest and enquiries by email to myth2010@aber.ac.uk.

Or visit the conference webpage: http://www.aber.ac.uk/en/english/myth2010/.