Journal of Literary Theory Vol. 9, No. 2 (2015)
Cultural and Literary Animal Studies
Guest Editor: Roland Borgards (University of Würzburg, Germany)

In recent years, animal studies have become established as an important interdisciplinary field of research. Cultural and literary studies, too, have dealt in a new way with the discourse on animals and the conditions that shape this discourse. For literary criticism in particular, methodological key questions arise within this field of study: What alternatives are there to traditional methods of ‘Motivgeschichte’ (history of literary motifs and themes) and thematology? How can sociological (e.g. Bruno Latour), biological (e.g. Stephen J. Gould), epistemological (e.g. Donna Haraway) or philosophical (e.g. Jacques Derrida) theories of animals be made productive for the analysis of literary texts? What is the relationship between theories of metaphor and theories of animals? How can individual literary genres, e.g. the novella, be theorised with reference to animals? And is the “animal turn” in cultural and literary studies merely to be conceived as a focus on a particular object of study or does it, especially in literary criticism, also establish a new research paradigm with a distinct set of methods and theories? Is there something like an animalistic theory of literature?

We encourage submissions from literary studies and neighbouring disciplines of the humanities, social sciences, and cultural studies, as well as scientific contributions, particularly from zoology, that address these questions.

Contributions should not exceed 50,000 characters in length and have to be submitted by March 1, 2015. Please submit your contribution electronically via our websitewww.jltonline.de under “Articles”.

Articles are chosen for publication by an international advisory board in a double-blind review process.

For further information about JLT and to view the submission guidelines, please visit www.jltonline.de/index.php/articles (“About JLT” and “For Authors”) or contact the editorial office at [email protected].

SUBMISSIONS THAT DO NOT FOCUS ON ONE OF OUR SPECIAL TOPICS CAN BE SUBMITTED CONTINUOUSLY VIA OUR WEBSITE.

JLT aims to publish work on fundamental issues in methodology and the construction of theories and concepts, as well as articles on particular literary theories. Case studies, i.e. studies on specific authors, works, or problems of literary history, are accepted only if they adopt a predominantly systematic perspective, contribute to the reconstruction of the history of literary theory, or pursue innovative methods. Moreover, the Journal of Literary Theory contains work reviewing and outlining trends of theoretical debates in literary theory and related disciplines.

Please contact the editorial office if you have further questions.

JLT – Journal of Literary Theory
Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
Seminar für Deutsche Philologie
Käte-Hamburger-Weg 3
37073 Göttingen
0049 – (0)551 – 39 – 7516

[email protected]
www.JLTonline.de
http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/jlt

Prof. Dr. Roland Borgards

Institut für Deutsche Philologie

Lehrstuhl für neuere deutsche Literaturgeschichte

Am Hubland

97074 Würzburg