Les langages du livre médical

The Languages of the Medical Book

Call for Papers

I am putting together a panel on the history of the medical book for the 2016 meeting of the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading, and Publishing (SHARP) in Paris, France, July 18-21, which surrounds the theme "The Languages of the Book". If interested in being part of such a panel (in Paris!), please see the following call for papers.

SHARP’s 2011 conference on “The Book in Art and Science” in Washington, D.C. attracted a number of papers on the medical book and medical print culture—a topic that, while traditionally marginal within print culture studies, has drawn increased scholarly interest over the past few years. This panel will provide a forum for discussing research findings, questions, and concerns specific to the medical book and its history at SHARP’s 2016 conference in Paris, France, July 18-21.

Papers may approach the topic, “The Languages of the Medical Book,” from different angles, including (but not limited to):

- The genre-specific language of the medical book

- The form of the medical book — its changing material demands and/or differences from other kinds of books

- The medical book trade — key actors, structure, governing laws and conventions

- Dialogue and tensions among writers, publishers, editors, agents, and other participants in medical print culture

- The circulation of medical books within and across national borders

- Multilingual medical books; translation issues and the medical book

- Digitization and the its impact on the circulation of the medical book and/or medical information

If interested in joining this panel, please send a MS Word document or PDF with the title of your paper, an abstract (maximum 400 words), and short biography (maximum 100 words) to sb2103@cam.ac.uk by November 10, 2015. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the organiser, Sarah Bull, at the same e-mail address.