[AMS-announce] CFP: Theorizing the Boss: Critical Readings of the Songs of Bruce Springsteen

[ams-announce-admin at list.bowdoin.edu]

Theorizing the Boss: Critical Readings of the Songs of Bruce Springsteen

We invite chapter proposals for an edited volume of critical 
theoretical essays on Bruce Springsteen's work.  We encourage a wide 
range of approaches, particularly literary and cultural studies, but 
chapters should be written in a style accessible to a non-academic 
audience.  Chapters might use any number of theoretical approaches to 
consider relevant themes in Springsteen's oeuvre.  Here are a few 
possible themes:

Readings of genre, including the dramatic monologue
American voices: the American dream, Manifest Destiny, or American
Ideals versus American Reality
Prophecy and visionary voices
Narratives of the immigrant and oppressed
The nuclear family and conservatism
Considerations of violence
Springsteen as Catholic apologist/liturgist

We are especially eager for readings of Springsteen's work alongside 
the work of those writers and musicians who have most influenced him, 
including, but not limited to, Flannery O'Connor, Walker Percy, John 
Steinbeck, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, and Bob Dylan.

Please send a 500-word proposal and full vita to Roxanne Harde 
(rharde at augustana.ca) and Irwin Streight (streight-i at rmc.ca) by 
7 January 2008.  Upon acceptance, articles of around 8000 words will 
be due 1 June 2008.  Please feel free to get in touch with any questions.