Texas trip

I'm just back from visiting Austin, Texas to attend the annual conference of the Society for the Study of Narrative Literature - now known as the International Society for the Study of Narrative. We'll see if the name change effects the constitution of the conference, which this year was seriously American dominated and literature centred. My panel on narratives in new media showcased some of the work that will be in the upcoming collection I'm co-editing with Bronwen Thomas, due out with UNP next year.

For me, highlights of the conference were papers by Lisa Zunshine, Peter Rabinowitz, Jan Alber and Frederick Aldama. I felt strangely disconnected from a lot of the other material - perhaps because I've not been working on 'literary narratives' so much lately. But still I came away having spent time with some great academics - not least Brian Richardson, Amy Elias, Brian McHale, Alan Palmer, Jarmila Mildorf and of course my co-panelists (if you're reading this and don't find your name here, please don't take it personally - I'm just running out of space!). Special thanks go to Alan for organising the social scene so wonderfully. If you're on Facebook, you can check out the photos.