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Of (Hu)Man and Monarchs:
Humanness and the Fictional Representations of Monarchs in literature,
Arts, popular culture and Media. University of Gafsa
He wrapped himself in regal garments and fastened the sash.
When Gilgamesh placed his crown on his head, a princess Ishtar raised her eyes to the beauty of Gilgamesh.
When Gilgamesh rejects the advances of Ishtar and refuses to follow in his father's footsteps (as Gilgamesh himself was the son of a goddess), he renounces the status of the chosen lover and champion of the Goddess and (unwittingly) decides to be fully human. The death of Enkido soon sets him on a doomed quest for immortality. This quest can be read as an attempt to regain the former status he renounced. He desires to reestablish his connection with the divine but on his own terms. The final defeat of Gilgamesh establishes mortality as the inevitable fate of men and monarchs. The epic of Gilgamesh, like other epics, announces the severing of the connection between the divine and the human in the political realm. After Gilgamesh, the biographies of Mesopotamian rulers started to seem more human despite the formulaic presence of the divine. In ancient Egypt and ancient Greece, Monarchs were either gods or descendants of gods. In the Medieval age, he divine right of kings replaced the old myths about the divine lineage of monarchs.
But, as humanness became a more secular concept, kings started to be defined and judged in different terms. Machiavelli's realpolitik and the advent of Renaissance humanism put the concept of divine right in question. The human rather than the divine started to define the monarchs in the West. In the East, however, while Europe was restricting its monarchs and consigning them to ceremonial roles, the Meiji restoration reestablished the emperor at the center of the political system in Japan after centuries of nominal rule. This shows that the history of Monarchy is not universal. Even in Europe, the return of Monarchy in Spain after Franco's death shows that this system is not considered outdated or unthinkable (On the contrary, it is sometimes a viable solution that safeguards democracy).
The triumphs and failures of human monarchs may inspire contemporary historical literature but the posthuman monarch has a stronger sway over the realm of the imagination. In recent years, the gothic and horror genres have gained remarkable popularity in cinema and popular culture. In contemporary gothic fiction across the established and emerging narrative media, the figures of the Mummy and the vampire are usually depicted as monarchic figures that seek revenge for past wrongs. Throughout the history of literature, revenge is closely related to the theme of royalty. In classical and Renaissance, modern and contemporary revenge narratives, for example, loyalty to a deceased patriarch gives legitimacy to the actions of their heirs. Indeed, revenge narratives in Shakespeare and beyond are generally based on father-son emotional dynamics. These emotional dynamics are described as monarchic by Martha C Nussbaum in her book Political Emotions: Why Love Matters for Justice. In Victorian and contemporary horror fiction, the father-son dynamics are more complex as the royal father is the past self of the revenant. Many iconic science fiction works depict monarchs and regal figures such as Thanos, Palpatine and even Brainiac. Many of these figures, like the gothic monsters and revenants, are posthuman figures with immense power and ambition.
This collection seeks to study the depiction of royalty in works of fiction on the page, canvas, the stage and the screen. It seeks to identify recurrent archetypes and structural paradigms that make the theme of royalty (seem) universal. It also seeks to discover whether this universality is cross-cultural or whether it is a manifestation of hegemonic (mainly Eurocentric) cultural and discursive patterns. This collection is interested in works that depict royalty as central to their thematic structure. This collection's initial vision is to be centered on the humanness of the monarch. It will study the prehuman monarch of myths and sacred texts and then show how monarchs were humanized (and the extent to which they were/are perceived as human). Finally, it will deal with the posthuman alien and AI monarchs of science fiction.
We have covered all the aspects mentioned above but we wish to balance the different sections of the book (though the publisher does not require it, we feel that it is better to have the same number of articles in every section) this is why we need a single article on each one of these topics:
- The representations of Ottoman or other Muslim rulers in contemporary Cinema
- Monarchic figures in Science fiction (We are very interested in an article about Palpatine)
- Contemporary superheroes and supervillains as royalty and monarchic figures
- Thanos as a monarchic villain
- Monarchist literature
- The Originals
- Disney princesses
We have articles about ancient Egypt, sumer, India and Persia so we would be interested in one article about ancient China, Japan or Korea. We also had two abstracts one about the representations of Muslim rulers in Bollywood (especially their foreignization - Sultan of Delhi and the Mughal as visaully foreigner) and the other about Camelot 3000 but the authors failed to deliver them, we believe that they can be useful so we woud appreciate full articles about them.
We are also interested in interviews with major artists and writers from the Marvel comic universe (Jim Starlin could not be contacted but maybe others will respond or my email just ended up in the spam folder). Interviewing them about interviewed about the monarchic paradigms underlaying some of their creations and getting their opinion on the subject would be a great addition to the book (we can finish the collection with an interview)
Please send your contributions along with a 150 word abstract and a 200 word bio note (the bio will not be sent to the peer reviewers) to crowncollection436@gmail.com
If you have any queries please contact the editor Dr. Nizar Zouidi through email at nizarzouidinizar@outlook.com.
All contributions will be peer reviewed twice (by the editor's reviewers and by the publisher's reviewers to ensure quality).
It is highly recommended to make sure your article contains no typos or errors.
It should also be noted that while we accept epigraphs for the papers, we prefer that they do not exceed a stanza or two if they are in verse or 5 sentences if they are in prose (the shorter the better).
While illustrations and visual materials will certainly strengthen the argument of the chapter, the author should be prepared to delete them or replace them with references (which might prove a challenge, but sometimes the production phase can require such changes). The article should be complete without the illustrations (they should be optional). I will try to get them printed but I may not be able to convince the publisher so be prepared to make do without them. Even if we get them published, they will probably be black and white. Moeover, the authors should be very careful with copyrighted third party materials and remain within the boundaries of fair use.
The publisher may only provide limited proofreading this is why the editor recommends Anthony Wright as a professional proofreader that will reliably correct and format your manuscript after acceptance Home | Anthony Wright - Editor, Proofreader, Author (ajpwright.com). He helped with the previous collection on villainy and evil and the result is quite satisfying Performativity of Villainy and Evil in Anglophone Literature and Media | SpringerLink. The editor does not take part in any of the transactions you make with the recommended proofreader or any other proofreader you choose. Of course, you may not need any help from a professional proofreader but either way, the editor hopes that your very first draft is already in a publishable shape so we can discuss any changes that would help connect it to the rest of the book.
The concepts of the human, posthuman, and the pre-human (divine, heroic and mythological) are central to this collection, therefore we highly recommend that your article at least deals with one of them. These concepts are dynamically fluid and this collection wishes to reflect this dynamism.
Finally, please note that while this book cannot avoid being political, it does not seek to overtly or covertly promote or serve any political agenda or ideology. Any biased views about real sitting or deceased monarchs (especially his majesty king Gilgamesh of Uruk) will not be accepted.
We cannot extend the deadline because it is not a necessary addition. The current version is deemed acceptable and the feedback we received so far says that we can go ahead with the current version.
deadline for submissions:
May 15, 2022
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