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Please find below the Call for Papers for the second PLit conference (“Powerful Literary Fiction Texts - A Stylistic, Empiricaland Performance-based Approach”) that will be held in October 2020 (28-30) in Paris. The extended deadline for submission is 31st March 2020.Further information can be found on the conference website: www.p-lit.orgPowerful Literary Fiction Texts II (PLit. II)A Stylistic, Empirical and Performance-based Approach(28-30October 2020, Paris, France)https://p-lit.org/Works of prose fictioninclude pieces of writing that are prone to provide both emotional andcognitive pleasure because they are made of “language at its most distilled andmost powerful” (Rita Dove). Yet these passages too often escape an analysisthat combines close reading with, on the one hand, the reading aloud of thetext – so that it can be experienced to the full by the audience – and, on theother hand, a study of the text’s potential effects on readers – hereby advancing a hypothesis of readers’ impressions and ofthe linguistic features responsible for them. This internationalconference series invites contributors to select and explore prose extractsthrough such a mixed approach. Each excerpt– be it a set of phrases or sentences, a paragraph or a longer extract – will thusbe orally performed and examined as a textual composition likely to elicitspecific responses on the readers’ part. Questions dealt with in thepresentations can include: ·&#160;&#160; How does the text capture the readers’ attention orinterest? ·&#160;&#160; How does it provide aesthetic appeal and triggerpowerful positive, negative or mixed emotions? ·&#160; Which other effects apart from eliciting strongemotions can render prose fiction powerful? Which role do emotions play in theseother kinds of effects (e. g. persuasion, behaviour and personalitychange)?·&#160; Is the impact closely bound tothe time of reading or are some effects created to stick with the reader forlonger? And then: How can this be linked to specificstylistic features? Thecompelling effects such pieces of text provide are usually due to:The     relationship between the part and the whole: the way the selected excerpt     articulates with the rest of the narrative it is taken from, its specific     function and purport within the respective work of fiction.The     chosen piece of text itself: although the powerful effect produced in a     reader is partly due to his or her subjectivity, we assume it also results     from the way the author’s language organises and conveys the cognitive     realities of real or fictitious experience. The presentation format thus involves foursuccessive stages:A brief     introductory presentation of the story from which the chosen extract is     taken, and of the excerpt’s function or purport within the rest of the     narrative. The reading     aloud of the extract: thanks to this oral performance, the text will be     experienced by the audience as ‘living’ material embodied through human     voice. A close     reading aiming to discover the text’s mechanisms. If all linguistic     choices are potentially meaningful (Leech &#38; Short 2007: 27), which are     the ‘powerful’ ones, responsible for the audience’s reactions? Tools     pertaining to the field of literary linguistics may be helpful to identify     the effectual stylistic features: lexical choices and coinages; syntactic     choices, including tense and aspect; figures of speech and other stylistic     devices, such as ellipses, rhythm, sounds, et cetera.The     explicit highlighting of the hypothesized connection between the     identified linguistic features and the effects they have on readers.Contributors are especially welcome to present empirical research on readerperception of specific textual phenomena or stylistic features, but testablehypotheses are also suitable.Any kind of fictional literary prose or drama text may be considered,irrespective of subgenre, literary tradition, or intended audience. However, poetry,historical non-fiction texts, and translation analyses are unfortunately notsuitable. NoteThis conference has been conceived as a convivial event, aiming to fosterinteraction between attendees: there will be only one talk at a time andlunches will be provided, as well as an opening reception on the first eveningof the conference.Submission guidelinesPresentationtime for each paper will be 20-25 minutes, followed by a 5-10 minutesdiscussion.Please submit ashort bio (not longer than 50 words) including your name and institutionalaffiliation, and a completely anonymised file consisting of the abstract (up to300 words, excluding references; unpublished work) and the literary excerpt(s)under study (no longer than 350 words altogether).If the selectedexcerpts are not in English, we kindly ask contributors to base theirpresentation on an English translation (preferably a professional one) thatallows following the argument of the paper.Please send thetwo files to the following e-mail address: plit.conference@gmail.comThe deadline forsubmission is 31st March 2020.Keynote speakersSandrine Sorlin, Professor of English language and linguistics at Université     Paul Valéry - Montpellier 3 (France)Raymond A. Mar, Professor of psychology at York     University (Toronto, Canada)Organisers- Mariane Utudji,Université Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris 3 (France)- Victoria Pöhls, Max-Planck-Institute forEmpirical Aesthetics (Frankfurt, Germany)- Dr Craig Jordan-Baker, University of Brighton(United Kingdom)