Call for Papers: 'Before, After and Beyond: Prequels and Sequels in Literature, Arts and Culture'
https://www.intellectbooks.com/journal-of-adaptation-in-film-performance#call-for-papers
Edited by Annamária Fábián and Márta Minier
Proposals for scholarly articles, practitioners' perspective essays and practitioner interviews are warmly invited for the upcoming special issue of the Journal of Adaptation in Film & Performance. This thematic issue will address adapting and recreating various forms of text into various modes of media through enhancing or challenging the concept of temporal and spatial continuity, i.e. through prequels and sequels.
Adaptation theory has historically tended to exclude prequels and sequels from its scope; they were treated as marginal or at least separate from 'regular' adaptations mainly because, as Linda Hutcheon (2006) pinpoints, building on Marjorie Garber (2003), "[t]here is a difference between never wanting a story to end [...] and wanting to retell the same story over and over in different ways". Yet, it has become apparent that prequels and sequels are here to stay, and they indeed seem to have a unique potential in retelling and reinterpreting stories as well as repositioning them in a new temporal and/or spatial framework. Whether it is the recontextualization of canonical/classical cultural content in (re)defined temporalities or the ever-renewing waves of complex storyverses through multiple, never-ending blockbuster series and spinoffs on various streaming platforms, digging for those new beginnings and not wanting a story to end seem to impress with unprecedented popularity and a potential to provide yet more layers to telling the same stories over and over again.
We welcome abstracts of cca 300 words accompanied by a biographical note and resonating with one or more of the following:
Authors are encouraged to submit their latest research findings (traditional research articles, practitioners' perspectives contributions and interview-articles) aligned with the topics listed above - the list is to serve as a guideline and food for thought only. We welcome topics embracing other ideas connected to prequels and sequels in any media and in any artform in the most general sense.
Double-blind peer-reviewing process over summer 2025
In the subject line, please write "prequel_sequel_special_issue_Name_Title"
If you have any questions regarding the issue, please don't hesitate to contact the editors.