Call for Papers Writing the Pandemonium: Perspectives on Pandemic Literature Proposals for an edited book/ anthology of chapters on Pandemic Literature i.e. novels, poetry, short fiction pertaining to Pandemics The millennial pandemic Covid 19 has hit humanity with all its ferocity and frenzy and put everything in shambles. Causing mass deaths and jeopardizing world health, it has emanated a déjà vu situation whereby the memories and accounts of past pandemics appear to have resurfaced and ensnared humanity amid all the current misery and chaos. While historical accounts and statistical data have always pointed at the genesis and graphical growth of the pandemics ever since, literature has endeavoured to proffer us an honest and deeply humanistic perspective on life as it exists in the aftermath of a pandemic. Literature has been an indelible and lasting record and reflection of humanity in its entirety and has always sought to reflect the immediate socio-cultural milieu and the ailments plaguing mankind. It makes an artistic testimony of all that is both macrocosmically and microcosmically experienced by society. A gazing at the literary firmament gives us a vivid panoramic trajectory replete with significant works concerning pandemic. Be it Boccaccio’s The Decameron, Albert Camus’ The Plague, Defoe’s A Journal of the Plague Year, Ahmed Ali’s Twilight in Delhi, Jack London’s The Scarlet Plague or Stephen King’s The Stand and so on so forth, the pandemic narrative has engaged itself in making an astute and thought-provoking study of humanity under the siege of this ogre-adversary. An overview or reading of the literary writings built around pandemic theme evinces the employment of a deconstructive approach by writers to examine and understand the dynamics of the socio-economic, cultural and political structures of a given society operating under this highly volatile situation. They also work to delve deep and highlight the warp and weft of human relationships and their changing topography in the wake of this horrifying threat. The present anthology is an ensemble effort in the direction of exploring the whole corpus of literary work that has been created so far on the broad theme of pandemic and its impact on the different aspects of human life. It aims to showcase a gamut of themes revolving around the essential theme/ plot of pandemic. Following is a list of sub-themes that can be appropriately explored in the work undertaken for study, however it is by no means a restrictive one:- • Pandemic as apocalypse • Pandemic and loss of human values/moral decline • Pandemic and politics • Pandemic and gender/ feminism • Pandemic and disability studies • Pandemic and medical humanities • Pandemic and psychology/human behaviour • Pandemic and culture • Pandemic and ecology • Pandemic and concurrent existential challenges like wars, etc • Pandemic and religion • Pandemic and crime • Pandemic and existential philosophy Kindly append a brief bio of yours along with an abstract of around 250 words of the paper with a scanned self-attested declaration that the paper is an original, unpublished piece not sent for simultaneous publication elsewhere. Authors are requested to stick to the MLA eighth style of citation and the paper should contain 3000-6000 words. The scholarly papers should be submitted by 7th November 2020 at the following email address:- drrakhivyas@gmail.com Dr Rakhi Vyas Assistant Professor Department of English Jai Narain Vyas university, Jodhpur, Rajasthan , India