Faculty of Letters of Craiova, Department of British and

American Studies
and
Faculty of Letters of Besançon, Laboratory “Littérature et
Histoires des Pays de langues européennes”
are pleased to announce

THE 6th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

“LANGUAGE, LITERATURE AND CULTURAL POLICIES –
OBSESSIVE DISCOURSE”

which is to be held in Craiova, Romania, October 25-27, 2007

FIRST CALL FOR PAPERS

According to Jizang, a Chinese Buddhist monk and scholar who lived in the sixth
century, it is essential that people should revise, from time to time, their discourse, in
order to avoid fixations. Obsessive discourse appears as an element of mental
disturbance, which can, eventually, lead to madness or fanaticism. If we take into
consideration the four discourses described by Lacan, only two are inclined to become
obsessive: the Master discourse and the Hysteric one. Nevertheless, obsessive discourse
is used by different social classes, including writers, journalists, politicians, teachers and
the list seems to have no end. Our conference aims at discussing the origin and the
development of this more and more present obsessive discourse.

SUGGESTED THEMATIC AREAS

 Identity / alterity
 The other within
 Afro-American Literature
 Communication and understanding
 Approaches to discourse and text analyses

Submission instructions
Presentations should not exceed 20 minutes. Abstracts should have about 100 words,
including keywords. Please fill in the registration form below and send it to the contact
persons. MA students are welcome to participate.

1. Title of paper:
2. Section (thematic area):
3. Name:
4. Academic title:
5. Address:
6. Affiliation:
7. E-mail address:
8. Abstract (100 words):
Deadline:
Abstracts will be accepted until May 15, 2007.
Acceptance of proposals will be notified no later than June 1, 2007.

Conference fees:
- participants presenting papers: 100 RON or 30 euros
- attendance without presentation: 50 RON or 15 euros
The fee will be paid upon arrival.

A volume of selected papers will be published. The conference fee includes the
publication of the volume, the conference folder and badge, certificate of
attendance, most of the refreshments during scheduled breaks, lunches, and cocktail
reception.
The fee does not include travel expenses, accommodation and the trip.

Social programme:
The conference takes place during the Craiova Festival, a cultural, social, and
historical event that celebrates the old City of Craiova, the capital of the region of
Oltenia.

Thursday 25th
Cocktail Reception, 20.00h

Friday 26th
Craiova Festival – participation in various social and cultural events (in the evening)

Saturday 27th
One-day trip to Drobeta Turnu Severin – boat journey down the Danube (optional)

Further information
A second circular will be mailed to those who have returned the preliminary registration
form. Accommodation details will be available on the conference website by the end of
August 2007.

Conference Coordinators:
Prof. Felicia Burdescu, Ph.D. (Romania)
Prof. Emil Sîrbulescu, Ph.D. (Romania)
Reader Hédi Ben Abbes, Ph.D. (France)

For additional information, please contact:

Florentina Anghel, e-mail: florianghel1@yahoo.com, tel.: 0723-696313,
Mihai Cosoveanu, e-mail: mcosoveanu@yahoo.com, tel.: 0745-429076,
Mihaela Roibu, e-mail: roibu_mihaela@yahoo.com, tel.: 0744-0014088