The New Seriality Studies

From Charles Dickens and the Star Wars epic, to The Sopranos, Orange is the New Black, and the Serial podcast, seriality’s iteration of installments, gaps, sequences, and seasons has drawn audiences into storyworlds both vast and intimate.  "The New Seriality Studies" looks at the past, present, and future of serial storytelling across media, periods, and disciplines.  Three panels explore periodicals, novels, television, comics, film, and music in light of the cross-genre play of seriality’s formal, spatial, temporal, material, and social effects. The closing roundtable, moderated by Sharon Marcus (Columbia), features discussion with A.O. Scott (film critic, The New York Times), Julie Snyder (co-creator and executive producer, the Serial podcast), and Lev Grossman (book critic, TIME, and author of the Magicians trilogy). 

Panel Participants: Emily Bloom (Columbia), Jared Gardner (Ohio State), Lauren M. E. Goodlad (Illinois), Linda Hughes (Texas Christian), Amy King (St. John's), Rob King (Columbia), Kathleen Loock (Freie University, Berlin), Sharon Marcus (Columbia), Helena Michie (Rice), Sean O’Sullivan (Ohio State), James Braxton Peterson (Lehigh), Michael Szalay (UC Irvine), Robyn Warhol (Ohio State)

Schedule:

Opening Remarks

9:00-9:30am

Lauren M.E. Goodlad (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign): "Seriality Studies Now"

9:30-11:00am

Panel 1

Moderator: Emily Bloom (Columbia University)

Jared Gardner (Ohio State): "Graphic Entanglement and the Serial Spacetime of Comics"
Helena Michie (Rice) and Robyn Warhol (Ohio State): "Synchronic Reading"

11:00-11:15am

Break

11:15am-12:45pm

Panel 2

Moderator: Amy King (St. John’s University)

Michael Szalay (UC Irvine): “The Sopranos and Allegory"
Sean O’Sullivan (Ohio State): “Serial Cross-Hatching and the Television Season”

1:00-2:00pm

Lunch

2:00-4:00pm

Panel 3

Moderator: Rob King (Columbia University)

Kathleen Loock (Freie University, Berlin): “Remakes, Sequels & Co.: Hollywood’s Love Affair with Serial Modes of Storytelling”
James Braxton Peterson (Lehigh): “Surreal Seriality in the Semiotic Imagination of Lupe Fiasco”
Linda Hughes (Texas Christian): “The Longue Durée of Serial Print Cultures”

4:00-4:15pm

Break

4:15pm

Creative Roundtable

Moderator: Sharon Marcus (Columbia University)

A.O. Scott (The New York Times)

Julie Snyder (Serial Podcast)

Lev Grossman (TIME)