Theo Finigan (Vancouver Island University)
theo@****.com (Log-in to reveal)
This session will
address literary works across different genres and cultural origins since the turn
of the millennium, and the challenges associated with categorizing, examining,
and teaching them.
Nineteen years in, our
twenty-first century literary traditions are beginning to take shape, and,
indeed, it may be time to bring the unhelpfully named "contemporary"
period to a close. Has our culture indeed shifted into a new literary period?
What aspects of the new era provide it a sense of definition? Or, is the
defining crisis that will launch a new literary period just on the horizon? The
9-11 Attacks, globalization/neoliberalism, the Anthropocene, the collapse of a
post-Cold War détente with the resultant repolarization of world powers, and
many other cultural shifts may serve as useful markers of an incipient
yet-to-be-labeled era. In this spirit, this special session will address
literary works across different genres and cultural origins since the turn of
the millennium, as well as the challenges associated with categorizing, examining, and
teaching them.