21st INTERNATIONAL MELOW CONFERENCE

ILLNESS, HEALING, AND THE LITERARY IMAGINATION

(to be conducted in a hybrid format, online as well as in person)

In collaboration with the

Dept of English, Shoolini University, Solan

12-14 November 2021

About

MELOW (The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literatures of the World) was first set up in 1998 as MELUS-India. It is an academic organization, among the foremost of its kind in India. The members are college and university teachers, scholars and critics interested in literature, particularly in world literatures, and literary connections across borders of time and space. The organization meets every year over an international conference. It seeks to maintain academic standards, encourages younger scholars, and provides a forum for a fruitful exchange between upcoming and senior scholars in literature.

MEJO, the MELOW revamped journal has existed in hard print for about a decade and has gone online over the last few years. It is a double blind peer-reviewed journal and charges no publication fees.

MELOW 2021 is our 21st conference. Our earlier conferences are listed below.

1998 September: in Hyderabad
2000 Jan: in Hyderabad
2002 Jan: in Hyderabad
2003 April: in Chandigarh
2004 Jan: in Hyderabad
2005 March: in Chandigarh
2006 March: in Hyderabad
2007 March: in Chandigarh
2008 November: in Santiniketan, WB
2010 Feb: in Chandigarh

2011 Sept.: in Hyderabad
2013 Feb: in Chandigarh
2014 Feb: at Jammu University
2015 Feb: in Chandigarh
2016 Feb: at IPU, Dwarka, Delhi
2017 March: in Chandigarh
2018 March: in Dharamshala
2019 March: in Jamia Millia, Delhi
2020 Feb: in Chandigarh
2020 October: Online, Shoolini University

MELOW: Bringing people together, bringing minds together!

Melow Internation Conference

Participating delegates from

India, Japan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Poland, Turkey, Bangladesh, Nepal, Italy, Hong Kong, Canada, UK, and USA

The Conference

We are going through a traumatic period that has been unprecedented in human history, with the COVID 19 pandemic raging uncontrollably across the globe. In such circumstances, what does one do? Do we sit and lament, bewailing our fate? Or do we find ways of coping with the catastrophe? Since March 2020 the world has moved into cyber-space and much of our activities are conducted in the virtual world. Seminars and conferences, too, have been transformed into virtual events. Our organization MELOW, too, has moved into the virtual world, at least for the time being. The 2021 Conference, hosted by Shoolini University, Solan, HP, will be in a blended format, online as well as in real time.

The 2021 Melow International Conference on “Illness, Healing, and the Literary Imagination” aims to bring together scholars from different disciplines to debate on the literary culture of sickness and recovery from Giovanni Boccaccio and T. S. Eliot to the Bible and the Lotus Sutra. Outbreaks of diseases, epidemics and pandemics generate emotions of fear, melancholy, and sadness, encapsulating a social experience through a language that often proves inadequate for the given task.The fear of contamination further destroys the moral fibre and corrupts the imagination, giving rise to melancholy and sadness, and at times resignation and scepticism. The journey to recovery and healing can be long and slow but the resilient human spirit will work towards that goal without losing hope. Suffering and its aftermath together give a new life force to language and society.

The 21st International Conference of MELOW will explore themes of dis-ease, isolation, loneliness, and vulnerability together with resurgence of hope and regeneration. An exploration of collective experience through language, literature, memoir, cinema, and other forms of narration across disciplines can create human solidarity in an incomprehensible universe.

The KEYNOTE address will be delivered by Prof Rajeshwari Pandharipande of University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

The Special Isaac Sequeira Memorial Lecture will be delivered by Dr Krishnan Unni of Delhi University,

Approximately 100 delegates, hailing from India, Japan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Poland, Turkey, Bangladesh, Nepal, Italy, Hong Kong, Canada, and the USA, will participate in the conference.

THE ISAAC SEQUEIRA MEMORIAL AWARD

In the memory of Prof Isaac Sequeira who was the guiding spirit behind our association, MELOW annually awards a prize for the best paper presented at its conference. The award comprises a certificate and a cash prize of Rs. 5,000.

The ISM Award for 2021 will be given at the 2021 Conference.

MELOW Office Bearers

Office Bearers of MELOW w.e.f 1^st April 2020

President: Prof Manju Jaidka (Solan, HP)

Vice-President: Prof Debarati Bandopadhyay (Santiniketan, WB)

Secretary: Prof Manpreet Kaur (IPU, Delhi)

Jt. Secretary: Prof Roshan Sharma (CUHP Dharamshala)

Treasurer: Prof Anil Raina (PU, Chandigarh)

Advisory Board

Prof Giorgio Mariani (U of Rome, Italy)
Prof Rajeshwari Pandharipande (U of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA)
Prof Mukesh Williams (Soka University, Japan)
Prof Pawel Jędrzejko (U of Silesia, Katowice, Poland)
Prof M.L. Raina (Chandigarh)
Prof Sachidananda Mohanty (Orissa, India)
Prof Sushila Singh (Varanasi)
Dr Vijay Sharma (Delhi)

Executive Members

Prof Dipankar Purkayastha (Silchar)
Dr Seema Bhupendra (Udaipur)
Dr Neela Sarkar (Kolkata)
Dr Jyoti Mishra (Chattisgarh)
Dr Vandhana Sharma (Jammu)
Dr Radha Gautam (Surat)
Dr Neepa Sarkar (Bangalore)
Dr Meenu Gupta (Chandigarh)
Dr Jap Preet Bhangu (Longowal, Pb)

Assistant International Advisors

Dr Ui Teramoto (Japan)
Dr Khagendra Acharya (Nepal)

Reach us on: www.melow.in, www.melusmelow.blogspot.in

and https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003036474708&fref=ts

Email: melusmelow@gmail.com