Convention of the Modern Language Association of America (MLA)
Washington, DC, December 27-30, 2005
“Lying in Portuguese”
Updated on December 26, 2005
Call for papers. The panel “Lying in Portuguese” is about lying in literature, law, morals, psychology, logic, politics, linguistics, philosophy, and everyday life. Portugal, Brazil, Lusophone Africa and Asia are the usual areas of the MLA Luso-Brazilian Division. Please send your paper proposal to the panel organizer, Victor J. Mendes (vmendes@umassd.edu), including a bio-blurb (name, institutional affiliation, no more than three publications, current research, e-mail), a title and a generous abstract of the paper (500 words) until March 15, 2005. English is the preferred language for the paper, but it may be in Portuguese as well. The papers will be considered for a larger project on “Lying in Portuguese” and for publication in Portuguese Literary & Cultural Studies, www.plcs.umassd.edu Updates of this project can be found at www.umassd.edu/cas/portuguese/vmendes.cfm Accepted papers will be available online as of December 12, 2005, in order to allow informed discussion at the MLA Convention in Washington, DC.
Some references:
1. Machado de Assis. Dom Casmurro.
2. J. A. Barnes. A Pack of Lies: Towards a Sociology of Lying.
3. Sissela Bok. Lying. Moral Choice in Public and Private Life.
4. Brett Bourbon. "Is Fiction a Kind of Lie?" Finding a Replacement for the Soul. Mind and Meaning in Literature & Philosophy.
5. Jeremy Campbell. The Liar's Tale. A History of Falsehood.
6. Stanley Cavell. Must We Mean What We Say?
7. Jacques Derrida. “History of the Lie: Prolegomena.”
8. V. Charles Ford. Lies! Lies!! Lies!!! The Psychology of Deceit.
9. René Girard. Deceit, Desire, and the Novel; Self and Other in Literary Structure.
10. Jean-François Kahn. Esquisse d'une philosophie du mensonge.
11. Immanuel Kant. “On a Supposed Right to Lie from Altruistic Motives.”
12. Levitcus 19:11.
13. M. Lewis and C. Saarni (eds.). Lying and Deception in Everyday Life.
14. Luciano. O Mentiroso (ou O Incrédulo).
15. Friedrich Nietzsche. “On the Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense.”
16. David Nyberg. The Varnished Thruth. Truth Telling and Deceiving in Ordinary Life.
17. Fernão Mendes Pinto. Peregrinação.
18. John Vignaux Smyth. The Habit of Lying. Sacrificial Studies in Literature, Philosophy, and Fashion Theory.
19. David Livingstone Smith. Why We Lie: The Evolutionary Roots of Deception and the Unconscious Mind. Trans. in Portuguese: Por Que Mentimos: Os Fundamentos Biológicos e Psicológicos da Mentira. São Paulo/Rio de Janeiro: Editora Campus.
20. David Livingstone Smith. "Mentirosos Inatos" in Viver Mente & Cerebro, 153 (http://www2.uol.com.br/vivermente/) <Friday, November 04, 2005>.
21. Adrienne Rich. “Women and Honor: Some Notes on Lying.”
22. Lauren Slater. Lying. A Metaphorical Memoir.
23. The liar's paradox (Logic).
24. Orson Welles. F For Fake. 1973.
More relevant references are very welcome; send them to vmendes@umassd.edu, please.
Revised version of panel 454 sent to the MLA on November 8, 2005 (confirmed by the MLA on December 12, 2005):
2005 MLA Convention, Washington DC
Thursday, December 29, 2005
Panel 454. Lying in Portuguese
12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., Jackson, Washington Hilton
Program arranged by the Division on Luso-Brazilian Language and Literature.
Presiding: Victor J. Mendes, Univ. of Massachusetts, Dartmouth
1. "Introduction to Lying in Life and Literature."
Victor J. Mendes, Univ. of Massachusetts, Dartmouth
2. "More Than Just Pillow Talk: Lying and the Art of Deception in the Novels of Eça de Queirós." Kathryn M. Sanchez, Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison. Paper here.
3. "Ele veementemente mente / He Lies Vehemently."
Bernardo Palmeirim, Universidade de Lisboa. Paper here.
4. "Living a Lie: The Silence of Truth in Dom Casmurro."
Scott Infanger, Vanderbilt University. Paper here.
Initial version sent to the MLA:
2005 MLA Convention, Washington DC
Thursday, December 29, 2005; 12:00 noon--1:15 PM
Jackson, Washington Hilton
Panel 454. Lying in Portuguese
1. Carlinda Fragale Pate Nuñez, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro
"Theoretical Disguises of Lies--Ut mandacium poesis or Parmenides' Revenge."
2. Kathryn M. Sanchez, University of Wisconsin, Madison
"More than Just Pillow Talk: Lying and the Art of Deception in the Novels of Eça de Queirós."
3. Bernardo Manzoni Palmeirim, Universidade de Lisboa
"Ele veementemente mente / He lies vehemently."
4. Claudia Pazos Alonso, University of Oxford
"Lying and Self-Betrayal in Dom Casmurro."
Respondent: Victor J. Mendes, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
Notes:
A. The speakers must be MLA members.
B. The speakers are responsible for travel and hotel expenses [a list of hotels with discounts for the Convention will be provided at www.mla.org , I think] to attend the MLA Convention, December 27-30, 2005.
C. Prospective speaker, please make sure that you took care of A & B.
D. From www.mla.org
Guidelines for All MeetingsDeadlines. Since the calls for papers appear on the MLA Web site in early February, the deadline to submit Special Session proposals and Division, Discussion Group, and Allied and Affiliate program copy forms to the convention office has been changed to allow more time for staff members to prepare and send materials to the Program Committee. Special Session proposals and all other program copy must be postmarked no later than 1 April. Participants in all sessions must be listed on the membership rolls by 7 April or have been granted a waiver of membership.
Membership. While anyone who has registered for the convention may attend meetings, only current MLA members may organize, chair, or participate formally in sessions (i.e., give papers, serve as discussants, or have their names listed in the Program).
Membership in the association is for the calendar year. Individuals who join the MLA to organize or participate in convention programs must be listed on the membership rolls by 7 April of the year in which the convention is to be held.
On occasion, foreign scholars or individuals who work in disciplines other than language and literature (and who thus might not be members of the MLA) may, with permission from the executive director, be invited to speak on a program. Members who wish to invite such persons must complete a waiver-request form (which can be obtained from the convention office or on the MLA Web site at www.mla.org) and submit the form no later than 1 April. The speaker's discipline (history, economics, psychology, etc.) or profession (curator, archivist, attorney, etc.) must be specified. Please note that waived nonmembers cannot organize or chair a session.
Payment for speakers. Each year the MLA Executive Council authorizes very limited funds to provide partial assistance to persons who are not MLA members and who would not normally be expected to attend a professional meeting in the field of language and literature. Those who are eligible to receive such funds include distinguished persons in fields other than those directly represented by the MLA, creative writers who do not have academic positions, scholars who reside outside the United States and Canada, and MLA honorary members and fellows. Requests for such funds must be made on the fund request form (which may be obtained from the convention office or on the MLA Web site at www.mla.org), must reach the executive director no later than 15 April of the year in which the convention is to be held, and must explain how the participant would enrich the program.
Participation in meetings. So that as many members as possible may have the opportunity to be active in convention programs, a member may participate as speaker or respondent only twice (e.g., by organizing and chairing a meeting, reading a paper, or serving as a speaker, panelist, or respondent in one or two sessions) at a single convention. Up to eight participants, including presiders and respondents, and their affiliations may be listed for any roundtable session. The Delegate Assembly has approved the policy that there must be a fifteen-minute discussion period at the end of each session; therefore, the Program Committee strongly recommends that there be no more than three principal papers in a session. A member may propose only one special session a year. No more than two panelists from the same institution may participate in a session.
Length of meetings. All convention meetings other than forums last one hour and fifteen minutes; forums are one hour and forty-five minutes. Fifteen minutes must be left at the end of each session for discussion.
Calls for papers. Calls for papers, which may be published in the MLA Newsletter and on the MLA Web site (www.mla.org), serve to bring together potential session organizers (be they divisions, discussion groups, allied organizations, or individual members) and participants. Calls for papers are simply statements of intent to propose a session; they do not in any way bind the organizer or the Program Committee. No announcements will be made for organizers who have already submitted their proposals.
Of the four issues of the Newsletter produced each year, three are useful for making calls for papers: Fall--for the convention to be held in the following calendar year (e.g., the Fall 2004 issue for the convention to be held in December 2005); Winter--for the convention to be held in the following calendar year; Spring--for the convention to be held that year. (The Summer issue cannot be used for sessions proposed for that year because the deadline for proposals is in early April.) A calendar of deadlines is available from the convention office and on the MLA Web site. Because of the limited space available, calls for papers in the Newsletter and on the Web site must be limited to thirty-five words, including the title of the session but not counting the name and address of the person placing the announcement. The MLA reserves the right to edit calls for papers submitted to the Newsletter and the Web site.
Division Meetings
The MLA divisions encompass the primary scholarly and professional concerns of the association. Each division may arrange one to three meetings of one hour and fifteen minutes each. Fifteen minutes must be left at the end of each session for discussion. As an alternative to its regular programs, a division may propose a forum (see sec. 6), perhaps in conjunction with another division, a discussion group, an allied organization, or an affiliate organization. A division that arranges a forum may also organize one other meeting during the convention at which the forum is held.
Executive committee program responsibilities. Division executive committees are responsible for planning division programs. It is the duty of the chair of the executive committee to handle the details of organizing the session(s) and to prepare copy for the Program issue. If the chair delegates these responsibilities to another member of the executive committee, that member must notify the MLA convention office of the change. Division executive committees are encouraged to experiment with a variety of formats in organizing their sessions. A division session can, for example, present a roundtable, a panel discussion, two speakers, or a single speaker who delivers a major address.
Executive committees meet during the convention to select topics for future convention programs and to transact other business. Immediately after the convention, the secretary of the executive committee (who will have become the chair on 1 January and thus will organize the program for that year) must send the MLA convention office a call for papers for at least one of its three sessions. The call should include the deadline for submissions, the name of the person to whom papers should be sent (if other than the secretary [incoming chair]), and other pertinent information (see Calls for papers above for more details).
Executive committees may arrange informal social gatherings during the convention for members of their divisions--luncheons, dinners, or cash bars for cocktails or nightcaps. The convention office cannot consider scheduling requests for social events that are not scheduled during the cash bar time period (5:15-6:30 p.m., 28 or 29 December) and are not in a headquarters hotel.
Selecting topics for division programs. Because division programs are among the largest convention meetings in terms of scope and attendance, executive committees are urged to plan at least tentative topics for their programs a year or more in advance. In selecting topics for division sessions, executive committees should keep in mind that divisions represent major areas of membership interest and that their programs, over a period of years, should attempt to convey the range of interests of the division membership. The MLA convention office maintains files of the last five years of convention programming for each division. To aid in the selection of topics, this information is made available to the chairs of the executive committees on a regular basis.
Selecting speakers. Executive committees may place calls for papers in the MLA Newsletter and on the MLA Web site (see sec. 2). The Delegate Assembly approved the Executive Council's recommendation that each division be required to issue a call for papers for at least one of its sessions each year.
Preparing Program copy. The chair is responsible for submitting final copy for the Program to the MLA convention office by the deadline announced for that year, usually 1 April. Chairs are reminded that they must adhere to the guidelines on membership and on payment for speakers (see sec. 2).
Return to Victor J. Mendes page.
