Conference Call
26th MELOW International Conference to be held at the
University of Kashmir, SRINAGAR
15-17 September 2025
CHALLENGES IN ADAPTATION: INTERPLAY OF TRADITION AND INNOVATION
The multifaceted literary, aesthetic, and cultural representations of life we engage with today are often complex, intertextual, interdisciplinary, and transcultural. Adaptations, in particular, emphasize dynamic and interactive exchanges and collaborations. The textual and performative networking engendered in the process propels us through and beyond the traditional issues of the relative merits of the original and the adapted work, fidelity, dilution, and the losses incurred, or the gains accrued, which were so hotly debated in earlier phases of Adaptation Studies. Simultaneously, adaptation is no longer limited to a simple movement from the page to the stage or the screen. Whereas traditionally adaptation meant transforming a literary text into different mediums like film, television, theatre, and other forms of popular culture through translations, trans-generic adaptations, revisions, parodies, and counter-narratives, Adaptation Studies today has evolved to include other forms of textual and cultural modes that have enriched the theory and practice of adaptation in the 21st century.
Critics like Andre Lefevere, Robert Stam, Brian McFarlane, Thomas Leitch, Linda Hutcheon, and others have several theories on the subject that continue to be revisited. However, there is a decisive shift from viewing adaptation as a ‘product’ to now recognizing it as a ‘process’ with its own underlying principles. While the Ur-text had its sanctity, the transformed version became intriguing too in the manner in which the newer generations interpreted it.
In an endeavor to understand the processes involved and the outcome of adaptations, the MELOW 2025 conference seeks to explore and analyze complementary focal points in the evolution of a literary text through time. In a scenario when social norms have undergone significant changes, what are the hurdles encountered by the present-day recipient of a “classical” text? How do these adapted texts compare with their original versions? Why is it necessary to re-write and re-configure literary texts that have thus far stood the test of time? How faithful are these adaptations to the stories they borrow from? What innovative strategies must be employed to re-tell an old story? And what is the cultural impact of storytelling across different platforms?
Another approach comprises a more contemporary aspect of adaptation that the Conference seeks to explore. Adaptation Studies now includes a relatively broader range of art forms and theoretical concerns. Newer media and technologies have fostered new models and modes of adaptation, expanding the contours and scope of the field. Adaptation also thrives now on media convergence, where multiple media intersect and engage with one another while reimagining and reinterpreting a source text. This heterogeneity has thus made adaptation a dynamic and ever-evolving category not easily identifiable by any overarching theoretical paradigm. Today, Adaptation Studies is a myriad, productive field of inquiry that addresses adaptation not as a form of ‘borrowing’ bound by the ‘fidelity factor’ but attempts to foreground and recognize the processes and underlying principles involved in the act of adaptation. Never a static act, adaptation is a constantly adopting art form that throws up questions of authorship, legitimacy, intertextuality, subversion, imitation, revisionism, etc. The notion of medium specificity has also entered the domain of Adaptation Studies whereby the distinctive features of the source and target media are analysed. The cross-genre interaction in adaptation also raises issues of genre-specific conventions and technicalities and their interplay during the act of adaptation.
Remembering the old and looking forward to these new modes of adaptation, these are some of the questions the forthcoming conference seeks to answer.
Abstracts (200-250 words) are invited on any of the sub-themes below:
Panel suggestions:
1. Adapting the Narrative: Ethics, Politics, and the Future of Storytelling
This panel will explore the theory and practice of adaptation, the contribution of critics and theorists to the debate, the ethics of ownership, the politics behind transforming original texts through contestation and subversion, and the future of adaptations in an age dominated by AI and VR.
2. The Fidelity Question: The Creative Licence
This panel will explore the dichotomy between staying faithful to the original text and taking liberties while recreating it in a different milieu. What are the challenges and the risks?
3. Visual Transformations: From Page to Stage/Screen
The focus will be on stage/film adaptations of classical literary texts and the transformations that take place in the new medium.
4. Stories that Move: Trans-Cultural Adaptations
Papers will discuss how literary texts with specific cultural roots undergo a change when relocated in a different culture and are thus localized to suit the new audience.
5. Same Story, Different Narrative: Moving across Genres
This panel would explore the changes that take place when the same story is told in a different genre. How and why does this shift in genre affect the Ur-story? How do digital spaces redefine adaptation?
Important Deadlines
Announcement of Conference: 6 April 2025
Deadline for abstracts: 10 May 2025
Acceptance letters to be sent by 1 June 2025
Delegate fee to be sent by 1 July 2025
Full papers (those competing for the ISM Award): 15 August 2025
Full papers (those who wish to publish in MEJO): 1 Sept 2025
Final program to be ready by 5 Sept 2025
Conference Dates: 15-17 September 2025
MODE OF ABSTRACT SUBMISSION
Please fill up this Google form as directed:
The deadline for receipt of abstracts is 10 May 2025
Presenters need to be at least postgraduate research scholars, teachers, or independent scholars.
All abstracts will be peer-reviewed before they are accepted.
This is an in-person conference. Online sessions may be considered for delegates from outside India.
All paper presenters need to be members of MELOW. If you are not a member, you may send your abstract now and apply for membership once it is accepted.
Details of membership/registration fees will be sent along with the acceptance letter.
In memory of the late Prof Isaac Sequeira, MELOW annually awards a prize for the best paper presented by a young scholar (below forty at the time of the conference). The award comprises a certificate and a cash prize of Rs. 5,000. The competition is open to Indian citizens who are members of MELOW. The abstract and paper should be submitted by the stipulated deadline in the required format. Joint entries are not eligible for the ISM Award.
For further inquiries, please email: melusmelow@gmail.com
Our website: www.melow.in
HOST INSTITUTION (Department of English, University of Kashmir, Srinagar)
The Department of English is one of the oldest departments in the University of Kashmir. Established in 1954, it has earned a reputation for contributing to English Language and Literature and strives towards academic excellence by promoting a rigorous academic and research culture. The department offers a diversified curriculum and provides research opportunities in a wide range of research areas with a thrust on interdisciplinary approaches and methods. Regular national and international seminars, conferences and workshops are organized and a significant collaborative network with reputed universities is created.
The University of Kashmir is situated at Hazratbal, Srinagar. The campus is flanked by the beautiful Dal Lake on one side and offers a stunning view of the Zabarwan mountain range. The university is around 17 kms from the Sheikh-ul-Alam International airport and 9 kms away from Lal Chowk, the city centre. Srinagar is well connected by air and road. September is ideal weather, the days are quite warm and the scenery is lush with just a hint of Autumn. However, participants are advised to carry light jackets for evenings.
Organizing Committee:
Prof Iffat Maqbool, Chairperson
Prof Nusrat Jan
Prof Mufti Mudasir
Prof Tasleem War.
Dr Sumaira Akhter
Dr Rafaquat Raja
Dr Najma
Reach us on: www.melow.in, www.melusmelow.blogspot.in
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Email: melusmelow@gmail.com
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