Theorizing The Boss

Check out this amazing Call For Proposals that Mandy just sent me. Man, oh man, I adore academia sometimes!

CFP [American]: Theorizing the Boss (01/07/08; collection)

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 possiblethemes:
* 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@augustana.ca) and Irwin Streight (streight-i@rmc.ca) by 7 January 2008. Upon acceptance, articles of around 8000 words will bedue 1 June 2008. Please feel free to get in touch with any questions.