This Comparative Literature session has been selected for inclusion in the 42nd  convention of the Northeast Modern Language Association, to be held in New Brunswick, New Jersey April 7-10, 2011. The host institution is Rutgers University.

We invite papers analyzing degeneration in Western and non-Western works of, or portraying, the 19th century. What do fictions of degeneration tell us about the  scientific, sexual and cultural politics of the 19th century? In what contexts is the  fear of degeneration exacerbated or sublimated at the end of the century? How does  contemporaneous biological theory become literature? Comparative approaches and papers  dealing with 19th century popular literature welcomed.

Please send 400 word abstracts to Ana Oancea, aio2101@columbia.edu by 30 September 2010,  including your university affiliation and AV needs.

More information on the 2011 convention is available on the NEMLA website: www.nemla.org.