CFP: Explorations in Love’s Labour’s Lost

This collection of essays seeks to explore the many new and cutting-edge directions surrounding the scholarship of Love’s Labour’s Lost, especially related to global approaches. Love’s Labour’s Lost has always been perceived as a peculiar comedy with its indeterminate ending. In what way is this ending more in the way of a post-modern text? In what way does the homosociality of the young nobles instantiate adolescent or young male same-sex attraction and desire? In what ways is the test to which the young women subject their male lovers indicative of the questioning or skeptical nature of the young women regarding the nature of romantic love? This collection looks to explore how we interpret Love’s Labour’s Lost in the present day, inclusive of appropriations and adaptations. Approaches that might be particularly appropriate include:

• national, regional, and local identity
• ethnicity and race
• sexuality and gender in homosocial friendships
• metadramatic use of language
• marriage or its lack thereof at the conclusion of the play
• performance, national and multimedia adaptation or appropriation of text across countries, cultures, and societies
• pedagogical approaches to Love’s Labour’s Lost in secondary, collegiate, and post-graduate education
• the Green World and eco-criticism

Please submit a 250-300 word abstract by March 1, 2026 to W. Reginald Rampone, Jr. at wrampone@scsu.edu and to Eric Rasmussen at erasmussen@unr.edu