Call For Papers

The demand of Thomas the Apostle to thrust his hand into the wound on Christ’s side to overcome his own disbelief of the Resurrection inscribed wounds into the literary tissue as a form of direct access to a veiled truth. This specific gesture drives much of the mystical tradition or the various harmful expressions embraced by the Marquis de Sade, Leopold Sacher-Masoch, or contemporary artists such as Angélica Liddell, who are interested in carving a path through the flesh as a means of accessing the spirit. The maxim Seeing is believing thus subjects the condition of truth to contact and visibility; however, it poses a challenge to the act of reception: being able to hold one’s gaze upon the cracks through which suffering seeps, often hinting at individual or collective trauma. On the other hand, as Erich Auerbach reminds us in Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature, foundational works such as the Odyssey—where Eurycleia recognizes Odysseus by the scar on his thigh—establish wounds not only as a source of knowledge but, above all, as a means of re-cognition. The skin is, after all, the portrayal of our personal history to the world. Considering the visible marks borne by our bodies as identity traits, on the other hand, holds a special place for motherhood, an experience subject to profound physical and psychological transformations in which individual processes intertwine with societal expectations. Maternal experience is informed both by the cracked breasts of Yerma’s sister and by the agony of Lorca's heroine over her inability to become a mother.

Motherhood is also, as Julia Kristeva argues in Powers of Horror, the unity from which we separate to shape our own identity, an experience that we keep facing during our lives through the abject, defined as that which disturbs established boundaries. One of the most straightforward examples of the abject is an open wound, a liminal surface that deconstructs the inside/outside dichotomy. It is not surprising, then, that identitarian processes often involve interventions on the skin as a way of saving, through liminality, the gap between the interior and exterior realities. Tattoos, piercings, or scarifications represent a voluntary construction of identity through physicality; however, these actions have also been historically linked to processes aimed at the destruction of humanity: the numbers tattooed on the skin of the prisoners of Nazi concentration camps entail the imposition of a stigma—derived from the Greek word στίγμα ‘mark’—through which the I is opposed to a marked Otherness that is furthermore inscribed in a singular spatiality: the Lager. Outside the context of European testimonial literature, prominently featuring the work of Primo Levi—for whom memories were like "wounds that reopen"—narratives like those of Gloria Anzaldúa reveal the potential of rethinking the relationship between identity and spatiality in terms of wounds. The experience of the borderland referred to by the Chicanx writer likewise engages with works that, in addressing traumatic journeys, shape narratives of resistance and memory in which the enunciating voice has suffered an exophonic dislocation. Similarly, the connection between geography and wounds also opens up to a study that, in addition to addressing how humans treat one another, articulates the relationship that we establish with nature. Ecocriticism contributes to this analysis through a focus on slow violence and its representation in petrofiction and climate fiction.

Now then, to what extent is it possible to account for all these issues through language? As Juan Mayorga cautions, the history of the 20th century dealt a deathblow to language, opening an abyss between reality and representation, and proving the inability of words to take care of the world. And yet, contemporary literature continues to build scenarios in which agonizing words are all the more capable of portraying other worlds the more they are aware of their own limitations. Within the horizon outlined by Theodor W. Adorno’s well-known dictum, there stand those literary ventures that embody the fault of language and, from it, explore other possibilities of expression. Among these there stand out certain forms of performance that harness the potential of rites as a means of social intervention as well as various manifestations of therapeutic writing and grief literature. Wounds, both in artistic genesis and in reception processes, thus become a focal point for rethinking the healing capacity of language.

Ultimately, as revealed by the scar that runs across the back of Sethe, one of the most prominent characters in Toni Morrison's literary universe, wounds are physical signs that bear witness to violence; yet, in its resemblance to the shape of a beautiful tree, Sethe’s scar confronts us with the opportunity that art offers: to take care of the relationship between truth, beauty and human suffering.

The purpose of this international conference is to reflect on the various literary representations of wounds and their relationship with other arts, both from a theoretical and comparative perspective. The aim is to open a space for dialogue among young researchers who wish to delve into the study of literature in search of new approaches and perspectives.

We would like to extend a special invitation to undergraduate, master’s and PhD students and young researchers to send their proposals and participate in this conference.

All proposals must be adjusted to the themes detailed above. They must be original and unpublished, and need to be written either in Spanish or English. Those who wish to participate will have to fill in a participation form, available on our website. We also welcome panel proposals of up to 3 or 4 presenters. Abstracts for each of the members shall be sent individually via the enabled form, indicating their panel proposal in the “remarks” section. Proposals will be evaluated individually and may be accepted or rejected independently of the rest of the panel’s proposals. Registration is free for all attendees, whether a proposal is sent or not.

Anyone interested in receiving a certificate of attendance must complete the attendance form available on our website. In addition, an attendance sheet must be signed for each session attended. Minimum attendance to obtain the certificate is established at 80%.

Once the conference has come to a close, a selection of proposals will be published after a double-blind review process has taken place.