Sheffield and online, 29th November 2023
Sheffield Gothic are excited to announce our next conference, ‘Consuming the Gothic’, to be held in-person in Sheffield and online on Wednesday 29th November 2023.
The Gothic has a long and complex relationship with consumption. Our habits of consuming have been reflected in Gothic and Romantic writing and art for over 200 years, and the connection between what we consume and our love of terror persists to this day. Sometimes, we’re the ones doing the consuming, sometimes we’re being consumed. Consumption is closely connected to food, from what we eat to how we eat it, but it goes a lot further than that. From material consumerism and ecological anxiety to disease and the living dead, the act of consuming is intimately bound up with ideas of society, civilisation, and romance.
How is consumption reflected in Gothic literature, film, and art? Is it always monstrous, or can the way we consume forge a sense of community? What does consuming in relation to the Gothic mean to us today?
This conference will feature panels and talks, as well as a creative writing workshop, run by Leonie Rowland (Manchester Metropolitan University). If you’d like to engage with the conference theme from new perspectives and try your hand at producing a short creative piece, then this is for you. No previous creative writing experience necessary!
We welcome proposals for 20 minute research papers, 5 minute lightning talks, and creative writing pieces (of whatever length you like!). We also welcome creative papers. Discussion of processes and influences in writing, film-making, music, or other creative activities are all welcomed. If you have any questions about creative papers, please get in touch!
Whether you’d prefer to stick to a more traditional paper format or you want to share your Gothic-inspired creative writing, we’d love to see you there.
Topics can include, but are not limited to:
Food, eating, and feeding
Consumerism and greed
Ecological anxiety and disaster
Illness, disease, and death
Monsters and monstrosities
Gothic romance
Please send proposals/creative writing abstracts of up to 300 words to SheffieldGothic@gmail.com by 5pm on Monday 21st August. Participants can expect to be notified by mid-September. We look forward to hearing your ideas, and please get in touch if you have any questions!
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