Cfp: "Storyworlds Across Media: Mediality – Multimodality – Transmediality," Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, June 30– July 2, 2011.

Even though narratology was conceived as a transmedial endeavour from its very beginnings in Russian formalism and French structuralism, most of its more influential models have been – and continue to be – developed in the context of literary criticism and film studies. In contemporary media culture, however, the creation of storyworlds is not limited to literature and traditional feature films. Rather, emerging forms of multimodal and interactive narration, experiments with the distinction between fictional and nonfictional narrative, various forms of intermedial adaptation, and attempts at 'transmedia storytelling' create new ways of presenting narrative content, thereby calling attention to the affordances and limitations of different narrative media as well as to their potential for cooperation. The increased interest in the relation between media and narrative sparked by the development of digital technology and the recent proliferation of delivery techniques in the context of media convergence has reinforced the need for an interdisciplinary and transmedial narratology that studies storyworlds across media.

We welcome proposals for papers on the following aspects of storyworlds across media:
· Transmedial narratological concepts: What are the theoretical problems encountered by the project of a transmedial narratology that spans different media? To what extent and under what conditions can narratological concepts be applied across narrative media?
· Mediality of Narrative: In what ways is the mediality of pictorial narrative (e.g. paintings, photographs), graphic narrative (e.g. graphic novels), audiovisual narrative (e.g. TV-series, film), and interactive narrative (e.g. computer games) relevant for their specific narrativity?
· Intermedial Relations: How do older media react to the emergence of new media by imitating their techniques or borrowing their resources? How do new media start out borrowing the narrative forms of older media but eventually develop their own forms?
· Transmedial Narration: What kinds of specific problems arise from the transmedial representation of characters, events, and storyworlds in the context of adaptations, transmedia storytelling franchises, and other forms of transmedial narration?

Please send proposals (including a 300-word abstract, contact information and a 100-word bio) for 30-minute papers via email (as a PDF) to storyworlds@uni-mainz.de no later than March 31th, 2011. Accomodation for speakers will be provided. Publication of the conference proceedings is planned.