Helion International Conference
Fourth edition
Frontiers of the Possible: Borders and Openings in Speculative Fiction
Helion Circle in collaboration with West University of Timişoara
10 – 11 May 2018
Timișoara
Orizont Conference Hall, Sf. Gheorghe St. 3, First Floor
Organisers:
Cornel Secu, President of Helion Cultural Association
Lucian-Vasile Szabo, Faculty of Political Sciences, Philosophy and Communication Sciences, West University of Timișoara, Conference Chair
Marius-Mircea Crișan, Teacher Training Department, West University of Timișoara, Scientific Chair
Scientific Committee:
Professor Clive Bloom, Middlesex University, Notre Dame University USA
Professor Ştefan Borbély, Babes-Bolyai University
Dr. Mădălin Bunoiu, West University of Timișoara
Professor Otilia Hedeșan, West University of Timișoara
Dr. Magdalena Grabias, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin
Professor William Hughes, Bath Spa University
Professor Mircea Mihăieș, West University of Tmișoara
Dr. Dana Percec, West University of Tmișoara
Dr. Lucian-Vasile Szabo, West University of Tmișoara
Dr. Marius-Mircea Crișan, West University of Tmișoara
Conference programme
Thursday, May 10
Arrivals
17.00 – 17.20 Opening Session
Cornel Secu, Lucian Vasile Szabo, Marius-Mircea Crișan, Opening remarks
Cornel Secu, Marius Crișan, Helion Circle and the Fantastic Perspective on Literature
17.20-17.50
Chair: Marius-Mircea Crișan
William Hughes, Bath Spa University UK, ‘the first Gray Winter’: Ecocriticism and Contemporary Zombie Fiction
18.00 – 19.00
Chair: William Hughes
Dana Percec, West University of Timișoara, A Critique of the Gothic with the Benefit of Hindsight: P.D. James and Stephen King on Writing Fiction, Yesterday and Tomorrow
Magdalena Grabias, William Hughes, Dana Percec, Lucian Vasile Szabo, Book presentation: Dracula an International Perspective (edited by Marius-Mircea Crișan), Palgrave Gothic Series, Palgrave Macmillan, Springer Nature 2017.
19.00 – 20.00
Chair: Dana Percec
Peter Seyferth, University of Hagen, The Gothic Utopia of Today
Magdalena Grabias, Lublin University, A Strange Case of the Post-Millennial Gothic on Screen
Friday 11 May
10.00 – 11.00
Chair: Peter Seyferth
Karoly Pinter, Catholic University Budapest, Journey to the Unknown: the Uncertainty of Construed Reality in The Time Machine
Constantina Raveca Buleu, “Sextil Puscariu”, Institute for Linguistics and Literature within The Romanian Academy, Gothic Variations: From Cybergothic to Candygothic, Richard K. Morgan: Altered Carbon – an Analysis
11.00 – 11.15 Coffee break
11.15 – 12.15 Chair: Ştefan Borbély
Emanuela Ilie, “Al. I. Cuza” University from Iaşi, Romania. The Gothic Body. Reflections on the Abnormal Otherness in the Noir Prose Written in the Inter-War Romania
Mariano Martin Rodriguez, project HISTOPIA, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Further Ancient Yahoos: Civilisation versus Barbarism in Modernist Imaginary Voyages Set in Classical Antiquity
12.15 – 13.15 Chair: Magdalena Grabias
Ştefan Borbély, Babes-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca, Has Become God Obsolete? Alternative Representations of the Supreme Being within the Speculative Fiction
Marius-Mircea Crișan, Gothic dimensions of the fantastic space
13.15 – 13.30
Cornel Secu, Lucian Vasile Szabo, Marius-Mircea Crișan, Closing remarks
14.45 Conference trip
20.30 Serata SF – SF Dinner, Casa Politehnicii 2
20.45 Helion Prize Award
21.00 Mini Concert: Liviu Butoi Jazz Band
Helion Circle in International Contexts
Anticipation Club Helion Timiş was established on March 18, 1980. On March 25, 1981 it published the first magazine Helion, printed and distributed throughout Romania, which had three series 1981-1991; 1994-1995; 2006-present (82 numbers in total). In 1981 it launched the national competition of short stories HELION, which reached its 32nd edition. Helion Club’s publications have won numerous awards at national conventions of science fiction, the magazine Helion won the award for best European fanzine in 1984 at Brighton and in 1988 at San Marino, as well as Library Nova Award for the best nonfiction magazine at EUROCON Budapest in 1989.
Since 2010 Helion Association, which includes the most important members of the Helion Club, edits the electronic magazine Helion online (ten issues per year).
Since 1981 Helion Club organizes Helion Days, which in 1985 were transformed in the Session Helion (31 editions).
Since 2015 Helion Club, with substantial support of the Culture House of Timisoara and Helion Association organises Helion International Conference.
Helion has organized alone or in cooperation with other clubs five S.F. National Convention and it was the mainstay in EUROCON in 1994, when Cornel Secu (presiednt of the club at that time), was awarded the prize for best European promoter.
Since its beginnings, Helion established itself as an important center for S.F. authors, and in the last decade it has become the Romanian club with the most diverse and substantial activity.
