CFP: Special issue of “Telos” on Carl Schmitt's “Hamlet or Hecuba”

David Pan and Julia Reinhard Lupton are the editors of a special issue of the journal “Telos”.

In 1956, Carl Schmitt published a short volume entitled “Hamlet oder Hekuba: Der Einbruch der Zeit in das Spiel”, based on a series of lectures he held on the topic in Düsseldorf the year before. A core section of the essay was translated into English and published in a special issue of “Telos” devoted to Schmitt’s writing in 1987. Twenty-two years later, Telos Press is now publishing a complete English edition of “Hamlet or Hecuba”, translated by David Pan and Jennifer Rust and with introductions by David Pan, Jennifer Rust, and Julia Reinhard Lupton.

The planned special issue of “Telos” invites responses to Schmitt’s Hamlet interpretation from a broad range of perspectives in order to promote a lively discussion. Topics might include: the motivations, symptomology, and insights of Schmitt’s reading of Hamlet; the relation of Hamlet or Hecuba to Schmitt’s other postwar writings; Schmitt’s essay in the framework of the German Shakespeare and/or the German postwar political context; Schmitt’s encounters with Benjamin and Freud through the medium of Hamlet; Schmitt’s cultural and literary theory, including his understanding of myth and tragedy; Schmitt and historicism; Schmitt’s dramaturgy; Schmitt’s ideas on political representation; Schmitt, Shakespeare, and political theology.

We seek submissions of approximately 6,000 words. Deadline: 1 March 2010.

Please direct inquiries to David Pan, Department of German, University of California at Irvine: dtpan@uci.edu
and Julia Reinhard Lupton, Department of English, University of California at Irvine: jrlupton@uci.edu