Supernatural in Literature and Film Conference 2015 (8/31/14; Macau 3/26-28/15)

Almost missed this (it looks to be recorded incorrectly in the CFP database):

The Supernatural in Literature and Film
Location: Macau
Conference Date: 2014-03-26 (Archive)
Date Submitted: 2014-01-23
Announcement ID: 210698
https://www.h-net.org/announce/show.cgi?ID=210698

'The Supernatural in Literature and Film' is an international academic conference that explores the role of the supernatural in literature and film throughout history.

Deadline for Abstracts: 30 August 2014 (see cfp)

Although tales of the supernatural are as old as literature itself, they have never fallen completely out of fashion but have instead kept pace with the times. Whereas the hero of the Medieval Beowulf poem vanquished beasts from beyond Anglo-Saxon civilisation and the knights in Spenser’s Early Modern Faerie Queen fought in an allegorical Holy War, the supernatural continues to shed light on its societal context in today’s literature and film. For instance, changing cultural and scientific trends have caused Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897) to mean something different from the diverse Translyvanian vampires of Murnau (1922), Universal Studios (1931), Hammer Films (1958-74), Polanski (1967), Coppola (1992), Brooks (1995), Argento (2012), and so on.

Yet the literary and cinematic supernatural cannot merely be regarded as an artistic technique for coping with human aspirations and fears; it also relates to genuine historical or contemporary religious and folk beliefs. Relative to their fictional reflections, such real-world beliefs may serve entirely different purposes—or indeed, no purposes at all.

From friendly ghosts to vengeful spirits, from dainty fairies to Lovecraftian horrors, from magic dragons to atomic monsters, the literary and cinematic supernatural has had an enduring influence on how we live our lives.

'The Supernatural in Literature and Film' will take place in the tropical city-state of Macau, a special administrative region of China, on 26-28 March 2015.

The conference will feature presentations by academics and practitioners. It will also be possible to hear talks from the conference 'Vernacular Religion, Folk Belief, and Traditions of the Supernatural' (http://www.islanddynamics.org/folkloreconference-2015.html). On 28 March, delegates can participate in a post-conference tour of beautiful Lantau Island (Hong Kong), site of Tai O fishing village and the world’s largest seated bronze Buddha.

Adam Grydehøj
Island Dynamics
Copenhagen, Denmark
Tel.: +45 53401982
Email: agrydehoj@islanddynamics.org
Visit the website at http://www.islanddynamics.org/supernaturalconference-2015.html

Dracula Panel Again (Please Respond ASAP)

Still looking for panelists:

I'm trying to organize a panel on Bram Stoker's Dracula (including its contexts, paratexts, and afterlives) for the 2014 New England Regional Meeting of the American Conference for Irish Studies. The conference meets from 21-22 November 2014 at Wheaton College. Further details at http://acisweb.org/announcement/cfp-acis-new-england-regional-nov-21-22-wheaton-college/.

Please email me, ASAP, at NEPCAFantastic@gmail.com (using "Dracula Panel" as your subject) if are interested.

Michael Torregrossa
Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Legend Area Chair
Northeast Popular Culture/America Culture Association

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Jones's Studying Pan's Labyrinth

This is an informative text, but often reads like an introduction to film studies (perhaps that is the point of the series?) in its frequent straying from the specific film under discussion to explore larger issues related to film and film making.

Studying Pan's Labyrinth
Tanya Jones

September, 2010
Paper, 160 pages, 10 b&w
ISBN: 978-1-906733-30-8
Auteur
$15.00 / £10.50
Distributed by Columbia University Press: https://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-1-906733-30-8/studying-pans-labyrinth

Pan's Labyrinth (2006) is a film of extraordinary technical achievement and intense emotional impact, garnering acclaim from both critics and audiences alike. Such a rich cinematic text demands close scrutiny and comprehensive study. This volume guides the reader through a detailed analysis of the film, concentrating on the generation of meaning for the viewer. The book maps technical choices and how they capture human experience and political conflict. It also details the processes of production, distribution, and exhibition. Specific examples from a range of film texts enable a vivid grasp of technical vocabulary, therefore providing readers with the tools to analyze other films as well.

Contents (from WorldCat):

• Studying Pan's Labyrinth factsheet --
• introduction --
• narrative --
• genre --
• messages and values --
• film language --
• characterisation --
• institutions.

About the Author:
Tanya Jones is an experienced teacher of film and media studies and a senior examiner for a major examination board in the U.K. She is the author of a number of best-selling film and media studies textbooks.

Vampyr (2nd Edition) by David Rudkin

Released late last year:

Vampyr (2nd Edition)
David Rudkin
Publisher site: http://www.palgrave.com/page/detail/vampyr-david-rudkin/?k=9781844576449

$17.95
Paperback (96 pages)
ISBN 9781844576449
Publication Date November 2013
Formats Paperback
Publisher British Film Institute
Series BFI Film Classics

Described by its maker as a 'poem of horror', Vampyr (1932) is one of the founding works of psychological horror cinema, adapted from a collection of gothic stories by Sheridan Le Fanu and directed by the revered Danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer. Despite the fact that there is no definitive print and many English versions are marred by poor quality subtitles, the film remains a vivid,

extraordinary artwork in which the inner human state is made hauntingly visible.

In a reading as passionate as it is analytic, David Rudkin reveals how this film systematically binds the spectator – spatially and morally – into its mysterious world of the undead.

This second edition features a new foreword, discussion of the Martin Koerber and Cineteca di Bologna restoration of the film in 2008, and original cover artwork by Midge Naylor.

Contents:

Foreword

1. Carl Theodor Dreyer (1889-1968)

2. Locating Vampyr in Dreyer's Cinema and it its Sources

3. The 'Problem' of Vampyr

4. Vampyr: Towards a Reading

5. The Journey to Our Grave

Notes

Credits

About the author:

David Rudkin is a screenwriter. He has written numerous plays, including Afore Night Come (RSC dir. Clifford Williams); The Sons of Light (Newcastle Playhouse dir. Keith Hack; in further revision, RSC, dir. Ron Daniels); Ashes (London Open Space Theatre, dir. Pam Brighton) and Hansel and Gretel (RSC, dir. Ron Daniels). David Rudkin has also translated plays such as The Persians and Euripides, and he offers lectures on Adaptation for the Screen and Ibsen, amongst other topics.