Haunting, Horrible Hunger: Food for Fright – Call For Papers

Haunting, Horrible Hunger: Food for Fright
Special edition of Parlour: A Journal of Literary Criticism and Analysis

[A]nd so I left my fairy godmother, with both her hands on her crutch stick, standing in the midst of the dimly lighted room beside the rotten bride-cake that was hidden in cobwebs” (Great Expectations, 158).

The upcoming issue of Parlour will concentrate on food and consumption culture with an emphasis on the displeasing aspects of appetites: hunger, starvation, gluttony, and pica to name a few. We invite submissions that explore a wide range of approaches to the issue’s theme and the various ways consumption or depravation becomes a “haunting” and “horrible” aspect of humanity.

We seek in particular articles that will engage literary texts in bold, surprising, and dark ways. We are especially interested in work that investigates the literal consumption of food (and/or non-food objects) that carries deep metaphorical freight.

Topics may include (but are not limited to) food, appetite, consumption, and:

  • Intersections of gender, race, sexuality, class, ableness, and other facets of identity with food and consumption
  • Fantastical food inquiries such as the crossover between fey folk and food superstitions or rituals that include the giving or taking of food to/from ghosts and/or other apparitions
  • Traditional literary theory enhanced, augmented, or revived through the merging of food and consumption theory and/or other critical lenses that emphasizes these themes
  • Literary texts that engage with recovered paratextual objects such as cookbooks, etiquette guides, advertisements, and other expository materials
  • The ugly politics that impact the production, control, distribution, and especially, the consumption of foods
  • Grotesque depictions of eating and eaters
  • Deconstructing or de-fleshing arguments that explore vile or taboo cravings such as culinary cannibalism
  • Juicy, chewy, greasy, plate-licking analyses readers can cut with a knife and eat with a spoon

We accept literary criticism from any and all periods

Deadline for full article submission is February 13, 2017.

See our other current CFPs, read the latest issue, or check out our other content here: www.ohio.edu/parlour.