Here is the official 35-word text that was just published in the MLA Spring Newsletter for a Special session I wish to organize at the 1997 MLA (in Toronto):

"PRINTED VOICES: A Comparative Outlook on Renaissance Dialogue". Submissions should explore the specificity and function of the dialogue genre in Renaissance and Humanist culture. (French, English, Italian or Spanish). Abstracts by 1 April to Jean-Francois Vallee, Departement de Litterature comparee, Universite de Montreal, C.P. 6128. Succ. Centre-ville, Montreal, Qc, Canada, H3C 3J7; valleej@ere.umontreal.ca
(preferably by e-mail)

This session has not yet been approved but some people have already expressed interest and hopefully it will become a reality. I am looking particularly for scholars working on early 16th century English dialogue (More, Ascham, Elyot et al.) since the French and Italian components of the panel are already spoken for. But I am open to any proposition.

Ideally, panelists should have a general and theoretical outlook on the dialogue genre, so that a fruitful "meta-dialogue" can emerge from the culturally and linguistically diverse dialogues being discussed.

Jean-Francois Vallee