Isaac Asimov CFP

CALL FOR PAPERS: Critical Insights: Isaac Asimov

The latest entry in the extensive Critical Insights series from Grey House Publishing/Salem Press will focus on the work of Isaac Asimov. This series distills the best of both classic and current literary criticism of the world’s most-studied literature. The series focuses on an individual author’s entire body of work, a single work of literature, or a literary theme. Edited and written by some of academe’s most distinguished literary scholars, Critical Insightsvolumes provide authoritative, in-depth scholarship suitable for everyone from undergraduate students to professional scholars and teachers. The primary goal is to provide critical support for the teaching of the materials involved, with the undergraduate level as the central focus.

Essays on Asimov and his work, each approximately 5,000 words would be due to the editor in draft form by July 1 of this year. All essays must be original and not previously published. Writers of each essay included in the volume will be paid $250 under separate contract with the publisher. The following essays are needed:

1. Introductory cultural/historical context chapter providing background to Asimov’s career

2. Introductory compare/contrast chapter comparing Asimov or an Asimov text to another author or text.

3. Introductory critical reception chapter providing an overview of the critical history of Asimov’s work.

4. Introductory critical lens chapter providing a look at a work or works by Asimov from a particular critical perspective in a way that establishes the relevance of that approach to Asimov and also illustrates how that approach works in general.

5. Ten essays on topics proposed by the author and agreed upon with the volume editor. The emphasis will be on the fiction and on texts that are most likely to be taught in undergraduate classes, but some coverage of more marginal materials, including the nonfiction, would definitely be welcome as long as the main things are covered.

Please contact the volume editor, Professor M. Keith Booker, by e-mail at m.keith.booker@gmail.com for more information or to express interest in contributing an essay. Essay proposals should include a tentative title, a brief description of the proposed essay, and a brief summary of the credentials of the author(s). This call for papers will remain open until all essays have been assigned.