The American Literature Association will offer a roundtable session on “The Newness of Little Women” in celebration of the novel’s 150th anniversary in 2018. The conference will take place in San Francisco, CA, from May 24-27 2018. Some of the questions to be explored include In what ways did Alcott’s book revolutionize the novel as a genre or form? In what ways did Alcott’s slangy diction transform the language of American literary realism? What are Little Women’s most distinctive contributions to the development of literary or popular culture? How did the novel change the ways writers could represent young people, mothers and families, art and ambition? How does Little Women represent in unique or ephemeral ways its own moment in history? Interested participants are encouraged to send in 300-word abstracts by email to Gregory Eiselein eiselei@ksu.edu and Anne K. Phillips annek@ksu.edu . The deadline for proposals is Friday, January 19, 2018. Early submissions welcome. The call for papers can be found here.
