*CFP* "HUMANISM AND THE FICTIONAL REPRESENTARIONS OF MONARCHS IN LITERATURE, ARTS AND MEDIA", BOOK CHAPTER

When Gilgamesh rejected the advances of Ishtar and refused to do what his father did, he renounced the status of the chosen lover and champion of the Goddess and (unwittingly) decided to be human. The death of Enkido made him realize that he is no longer favored by the Gods. His failed attempt to reach immortality can be read as an attempt to regain the former status he renounced. The epic of Gilgamesh, like other epics, anounces the severing of the connection between the divine and the human in the political realm. After Gilgamesh, the biographies of Mesopotamian rulers started to seem more human despite the formulaic presence of the divine. In ancient Egypt and ancient Greece, Monarchs were either gods or descendents of gods. In the Medieval age, he devine right of kings replaced the old myths about the divine lineage of monarchs. Machiavelli's realpolitiks and the advent of Renaissance humanism put the concept of divine right in question. The human rather than the divine started to define the monarchs in the West. In the East, however, while Europe was restricting its monarchs, the Meiji restoration puts the emperor at the center of the political system in Japan. The Victorian and Edwardian ages are the last literary periods to be named after monarchs. They both witnessed the rise of Gothic literature. The figure of Dracula strikes the reader as a monarchic figure. But this monarch is a posthuman figure cursed with immortality and a hunger for human blood. In recent years, the gothic and horror genres have gained remarkable popularity in cinema and popular culture. The figures of the Mummy and the vampire are usually depicted as monarchic figures that seek revenge for past wrongs. Revenge is closely related to the theme of royalty. In classical and Renaissance, modern and contemporary revenge narratives where loyalty to a deceased patriarch gives legitimacy to the actions of their heirs. Indeed, revenge narratives in Shakespeare and beyond are generally based on father-son emotional dynamics. These emotional dynamics are described as monarchic by Martha C Nussbaum in her book Political Emotions: Why Love Matters for Justice. In Victorian and contemporary horror fiction, the father-son dynamics are more complex as the royal father is the past self of the revenant. 

  

This collection seeks to study the depiction of royalty in works of fiction on the page, canvas, the stage and the screen. It seeks to identify recurrent archetypes and structural paradigms that make the theme of royalty (seem) universal. It also seeks to discover whether this universality is cross-cultural or whether it is a manifestation of hegemonic (mainly Eurocentric) cultural and discursive patterns. This collection is interested in works that depict royalty as central to their thematic structure.  This collection's initial vision is to be centred on the humanness of the monarch. It will study the prehuman monarch of myths and sacred texts and then show how monarchs were humanised (and the extent to which they were/are perceived as human). Finally, it will deal with the posthuman alien and AI monarchs of science fiction. As a matter of fact, it will be divided into three major parts:

• The Pre-human (divine or other) Monarch 
• The Human Monarch 
• The Post-Human Monarch

 

The collection accepts full articles (in English) between 4000 and 7000 words formatted according to the latest edition of the Chicago manual of style on one or more of the following topics or other related topics:

• Monarchic universals 
• Monarchy and the divine 
• God as king in Milton and the Bible 
• The depiction of monarchs in sacred texts and their influence on literature and media 
• Myths and legends about Monarchs 
• Gilgamesh and Humanism 
• Prehuman (God, hero), human and post-human (AI, Alien) monarchs 
• The role of Monarchs in Fairy Tales and romances 
• Harun AlRashid in poetry and fiction 
• The divine Monarch and the human monarch in early literature 
• Monarchs in Greek drama 
• Monarchs in Medieval Romances 
• Monarchs in the translations and adaptations of the Arabian Nights 
• European accounts of Eastern Monarchs 
• The kings of the Sagas 
• Monarchy in/and political satire 
• Brainiac and other supercomputers as monarchs (monarchy and AI) 
• the theme of monarchy in comparative literature and postcolonial literary and media studies 
• Female monarchs on the page, the stage and the screen 
• Egyptian and Oriental Monarchs in Post-War Italian Cinema 
• Feminist studies of monarchy 
• Monarchy and narratives about slavery in America 
• The figure of Dracula through time (as monarch -even in modern or futuristic guises) 
• Vampires, Ghosts and other revenants as monarchic figures 
• Eternal and undead monarchs 
• Revenge and monarchy 
• Queen Elizabeth I in fiction 
• Royalty in contemporary romantic literature and films 
• The royal other in travel narratives and colonial narratives 
• The king and patriarch in ancient and contemporary narratives about Troy 
• The Shakespearian monarch 
• Revenge and royalty
• Palpatine and the cult of the star war monarch 
• The Grand Turk: Ottoman Sultans in Western fiction 
• kings in precolonial Africa 
• Heroes as -future - monarchs and monarchs as -past heroes - heroes 
• Regal figures (characters who behave like royalty though they are not royal) 
• Xerxes from The Persians of Aeschylus to 300 
• King Arthur then and now 
• Alien kings in science fiction 
• Monarchic emotions 
• The Godfather, the Queen of the South and Yakuza (Mafia narratives and the Monarchist nature of crime organizations in fiction) 
• African Monarchs in European fiction and cinema 
• Nigerian Monarchs in contemporary literature and media 
• Fictionalized Chinese emperors in Western travel narratives 
• Chinese Monarchs in contemporary cinema 
• Indian Monarchs in literature and Media 
• Fictionalized accounts of Russian and Byzantine Monarchs 
• Monarchs in post-revolutionary French literature 
• Portrayal of Versailles in literature and Media 
• Queen Elizabeth II in fiction 
• Victorian and 19th century depiction of European and Eastern Monarchs 
• Fictional Monarchs in popular culture 
• Fictional monarchs in music and dance 
• The portrayal of Monarchs in visual arts (historical perspectives and contemporary visual arts (digital arts, cosplay etc) are preferred) 
• oriental royal harems in Western narratives and visual arts 
• The theme of special bloodline in science fiction and gothic literature 
• The chosen one in sacred and literary texts

 

Articles about specific works are also welcome. We will be waiting for chapters about:

• The Originals 
• The Crown 
• The Godfather 1972 
• The Histories of Shakespeare 
• Song of Ice and Fire 
• The novels of Philipa Gregory 
• Faraon (1966) 
• 300 
• King Lear 
• The King (2019) 
• Outlaw King (2018) 
• The emperor and the assassin (1998) 
• The Last Emperor (1987) 
• Dracula 3000 
• Camelot 3000 (comic book) 
• Mass Effect Andromeda (the Archon/the pathfinder) 
• The Marvel Universe 
• Superman 
• Desney Princesses

and other works where the theme of royalty is central.

Please send your contributions along with a 150 word abstract and a 200 word bio note to crowncollection436@gmail.com by December 29th, 2021 (extensions may happen depending on the amount and nature of the contributions)

If you have any queries please contact the editor Dr. Nizar Zouidi through email at nizarzouidinizar@outlook.com.

All contributions will be peer reviewed twice (by the editor's reviewers and by the publisher's reviewers to ensure quality).

It is highly recommended to make sure your article contains no typos or errors.

It should also be noted that while we accept epigraphs for the papers, we prefer that they do not exceed a stanza or two if they are in verse or 5 sentences if they are in prose (the shorter the better).

While illustrations and visual will certainly strengthen the argument of the paper, the author should be prepared to delete them or replace them with references (which might prove a challenge, but sometimes the production phase can require such changes). The article should be complete without the illustrations (they should be optional). I will try to get them printed but I may not be able to convince the publisher so be prepared to make do without them.

The publisher may only provide limited proofreading this is why the editor recommends Anthony Wright as a professional proofreader that will reliably correct and format your manuscript after acceptance Home | Anthony Wright - Editor, Proofreader, Author. He helped with the previous collection on villainy and evil and the result is quite satisfying Performativity of Villainy and Evil in Anglophone Literature and Media | SpringerLink.

Finally, please note that this book is not political. Any biased views about real sitting or deceased monarchs (especially his majesty king Gilgamesh of Uruk) will not be accepted.