CfA: Special Issue: "Music, Autobiography, and Constructing the Self", Journal of Musicological Research

CfA: "Music, Autobiography, and Constructing the Self", Journal of Musicological Research

Guest Editors: Emma Kavanagh and Sarah Kirby

Deadline for Proposals: 7 June 2024

Submissions are invited for a special issue of the Journal of Musicological Research on the topic of music, autobiography, and constructing the Self.

Previously construed as an “untidy” (Olleson, 2000) presence within music history, the topic of biography has garnered increased attention in recent years through edited collections by the likes of Christopher Wiley & Paul Watt (2019) and Joanne Cormac (2020). These have sought to challenge existing notions of the place of biography in musical history, and to highlight the historiographical challenges it presents to scholars. They collectively argue for a focus on biographical writing in dialogue with contemporary social, political, cultural, and economic currents, and illuminate (and grapple with) the particular ideologies that inform biographers’ strategies. In so doing, they embrace the genre as an important tool in understanding composer reception, and make the case for a new understanding of the place of biography in a wider historiographical discourse.

While the field of literary autobiography studies has been active for several decades, questions around music and its intersections with autobiography are less well-developed. Approaches have been diverse: from examining evolving self-narratives of inspiration (Schulster, 2001) to the hermeneutics of “autobiographical” listening (Bonds, 2019). Yet few scholars have examined how musicians have sought to harness the powers of autobiography for the purposes of their own promotion, and how music might become entangled in the creation of a public Self.

This special issue sets out to explore the myriad ways in which musicians have constructed their own public images and biographical narratives through their music, writings, and collecting practices, within changing media landscapes. The geographical and temporal scope is wide in the hope of creating a collection of essays covering a range of approaches and methodologies within the realm of musicology.

Articles may relate to:
 * Music as autobiography
 * Published composer and performer autobiographies
 * Music collections as reflections of the Self
 * ‘Branding’ and strategies of self-promotion
 * Assembling of (and control over) posthumous legacies

Article proposals and queries may be sent to emma.kavanagh[at]music.ox.ac.uk and kirby.c[at]unimelb.edu.au by 7 June. Proposals will be reviewed for potential inclusion in the journal; all authors will receive a decision by 1 July. Authors to be included in the volume should expect to have their full, final manuscripts prepared by 30 November 2024; articles will then be evaluated by the Journal of Musicological Research in a double-blind peer review process.