In 1764, Horace Walpole wrote what is now recognized as the first Gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto. In doing so, he started a literary tradition that would captivate readers for centuries to come.

Today, over 260 years later, readers and writers alike still turn to Gothic fiction as an artistic way of exploring fears and insecurities. The Gothic has become a versatile mode of engaging with topics of trauma, identity, memory, technology, ecology, and global culture, among many others.

We, the members of three student clubs — Bookin’ It, Beyond Theory and Cinemates — from the Faculty of Modern Languages of the University of Warsaw, cordially invite scholars and students to join us in an interdisciplinary examination of the motif of trauma in Gothic fiction. We encourage contributions that explore how Gothic traditions are challenged, reshaped, or revitalized in today’s world, and how the Gothic, in turn, provides a labyrinthine map of cultural anxieties, desires, and transformations.

Submissions might address (but are not limited to):

• evolution of the genre
• revival of Gothic fiction
• motif of the supernatural
• trauma in Gothic fiction
• character archetypes and their function
• contemporary Gothic fiction in relation to its predecessors
• depiction of the Gothic in visual art, cinema, and popular culture
• the connection between the Gothic aesthetic and historical memory
• intersection of Gothic fiction with psychoanalysis

Please submit a 250-word proposal and a 100-word bionote by March 31, 2026, using this form: https://forms.gle/aA8qh3ersFeJ83ps9. Notifications of acceptance will be sent by April 30, 2026. We are looking forward to your submissions!

VENUE

Faculty of Modern Languages University of Warsaw, Dobra 55

21-22 May 2026

CONTACT

if you have any questions, email us:

gotyk.konf.student.uw2026@gmail.com