READING'S EFFECTS ON THE BODY/THE EFFECTS OF BODIES ON READING

I am soliciting papers for a session scheduled for the 1997 meeting of the Western Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies, to be held in Berkeley, California, USA from February 14th through the 16th. The session description is below:

I am organizing a session on the various ways in which eighteenth-century readers felt somatic responses to their reading. The most obvious examples would be sexual excitation (in the case of pornography) and tears (in the case of sentimental literature), but anecdotal evidence suggests a far greater range existed. Nausea, the sensation of one's skin crawling, shortness of breath, even sleepiness, all of these (and more) are of interest to me.

I am also interested in studies of how the body and bodily sensation affect reading. Is an interpretation of pornography or sentimental literature necessarily different if one stops at frequent intervals to masturbate or cry? Presumably, but how? Must an asthmatic read sensation fiction in shorter installments than a non-asthmatic? I don't know, but I hope the session will provide some provocative answers to these necessarily somewhat speculative questions.

I envision a session of three papers, each about fifteen minutes, with ample time for discussion afterwards.

Please direct inquiries and detailed abstracts to: David A. Brewer, 3346 Anza St., San Francisco, CA 94121 or via email to: dabrewer@uclink.berkeley.edu The deadline for submissions is October 15, 1996 and earlier submissions are appreciated.

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