Working Group for the Study of Critical Theory

Narrative and Popular Culture

A Roundtable Discussion Lead by Visiting Scholar Sean O’Sullivan (The Ohio State University)

Sponsored by the Television Studies Reading Group, the Working Group for the Study of Critical Theory at UF, and the Marston-Milbauer Eminent Professorship

Friday, March 13th, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Pugh 210

The Television Studies Reading Group and the Working Group for the Study of Critical Theory at UF invites participants for a lively discussion on “Narrative and Popular Culture” with visiting scholar Sean O’Sullivan. We are interested in exploring questions such as: What has led to certain narrative forms being designated as popular at different points in history? How have certain narrative genres been used to address issues of inequality in the past and/or present? How do we anticipate popular culture will interrogate future challenges through narrative? We are also interested in exploring contemporary uses of narrative in popular culture to deconstruct notions of class, race, gender, and identity. We welcome scholars working in any discipline, including the fields of critical theory, media studies and digital humanities, and literature from a variety of periods.

We invite graduate students to submit an excerpted or completed work of scholarship (between 8 and 15 pages) that will be circulated beforehand to all participants. Participants are encouraged to submit scholarship they have written in the past or are currently writing. The goal is not a workshop where we critique this work, but to use these papers as touchstones in our discussion of these questions. After the opening remarks by Sean O’Sullivan, each participant will give a five minute introduction to their work, followed by a discussion period. While we encourage everyone to participate, we also welcome anyone who wants to observe the discussion as well.

The event will be followed by a reception. All participants and observers are encouraged to attend. If you are interested in participating, please send your 8-15 page essay to Milt Moise at mmoise@ufl.edu no later than Friday, February 28th. Please contact Milt with any questions you might have about the event.

Sean O’Sullivan (Ph.D. Yale University) is an Associate Professor in the Department of English at the Ohio State University. His areas of interest include American television, 19th century British literature, British cinema, and serial narrative across media. He is the author of Mike Leigh, in the University of Illinois Press series on Contemporary Film Directors. He has published articles on Mad Men and modernist television; serial narrative and poetic form; Deadwood and Charles Dickens; third seasons; Krzysztof Kieslowski, Six Feet Under, and Lost; and British television drama of the 1980s. Currently, he is working on a book project entitled The Sonnet-Season and the Transformation of American Television, 1999-2015 – a study that examines the season as a newly productive storytelling shape since the turn of the millennium.