Keynote Speakers:
Dr. Beverly Lyon Clark
Thursday, October 18th, 1pm
Smathers Library East
Dr. Carl Freedman
Friday, October 19th, 7pm
Emerson Alumni Hall
The Oxford English Dictionary uses the phrase "as I imagine" to help readers understand the widely varying implications and uses of the term "fantasy," a word which tends to elude easy definition. Fantasies are psychological, political, public, private, genre, myth, and otherwise enigmatic. Whether or not we always acknowledge them, they exist in every art form and facet of life. In the course of this conference, we would like to revisit and perhaps unsettle current discourses on the fantastic. What are the roles of individuals, groups, nations, and artists in imagining and articulating the fantastic?
The term "fantasy" encompasses psychological phenomena such as dreams, escapism, and politics, such as examined in Guillermo del Toro's "Pan's Labyrinth"; it describes genres of art, film, literature, and video/computer games; it can refer to various human endeavors; it be used to describe ancient myths or fairy tales. Psychologically, the term "phantasy" has been used to describe repressed, imagined responses to unfulfilled wishes. Politically, fantasy can even offer such benefits as helping a nation deal with a national tragedy, such as Nancy Yi Fan's Swordbird; a nation is, after all, is a type of fantasy in and of itself, an "imagined community" as Benedict Anderson coined the term, of people all living out their own fantasies. Conversely, fantasy can offer the alternative: the literary or popular vision of national tragedy or dystopia as seen in Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale or George Orwell's 1984.
Whether fantasy -- broadly conceived -- is useful or delusional, entertaining or escapist, subversive or didactic, "high" or "common," inclusive or exclusive of "sci-fi" or "gothic" texts/(sub)genres, this conference seeks to explore the uses of fantasy/phantasy in today's society in literature, film, video games, and other facets of pop culture.
EGO Officers and Conference Coordinators:
Cari Keebaugh <keebaugh@english.ufl.edu>
Amy Amorelli <girasole@ufl.edu>
Aaron Cerny <acerny@english.ufl.edu>
Emily McCann <esmccann@ufl.edu>
EGO webmaster:
Clay Arnold <garnold@english.ufl.edu>