Evan Gottlieb Lecture Opens Scholarly Speakers Series for 2013-14

Nagle Presents at International Romanticism Conference

Chris Nagle recently returned from the 20th Anniversary Meeting of the International Conference on Romanticism, held this year in Rochester, MI at Oakland University and the Royal Park Hotel. He and his collaborator, Courtney Wennerstrom (Indiana University), presented a paper on the short fiction of the Marquis de Sade, which focused on the so-called "gothic tales" that were part of the Contes et Fabliaux d’un Troubadour Provencal du XVIII Siecle. The two argued that these under-examined works bear significance to a new understanding of the polyamorous dynamics underwriting Enlightenment and early Romantic conjugality, and ultimately, to a global reassessment of Sade's contribution to generic innovation at the fin de siècle.

Springtime in the South

“Economies”

The Inaugural American Literature Graduate Conference at

The University of South Carolina, Columbia

 

April 4-5th, 2014

The English Department at the University of South Carolina is pleased to announce its inaugural Graduate American Literature Conference on the theme of “Economies.”  We are currently accepting individual paper and panel proposals addressing all aspects of economies: What is an economy? What kinds of economies exist? How do economies impose themselves on literature, and vice versa? How do economies affect genre?

In addition, we will hold a Roundtable with USC English Faculty on the future of American Studies.  USC Americanist faculty includes Kate Adams, Bob Brinkmeyer, Mark Cooper, Susan Courtney, David Cowart, Cynthia Davis, Alao Folashade, Greg Forter, Brian Glavey, David Greven, Leon Jackson, Catherine Keyser, Marvin McAlister, Tara Powell, Sara Schwebel, David Shields, Scott Trafton, Susan Vandenborg, Qiana Whitted, and Gretchen Woertendyke.  Plenary and Keynote speakers TBA.

The Special Collections of the Thomas Cooper library houses the complete archive of William Gilmore Simms and substantive collections on the works of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Norman Mailer, Joseph Heller, Kaye Gibbons, and James Ellroy, among many others and welcomes visiting scholars.

Single paper abstracts should be 250-500 words. Panel proposals should include an abstract for each paper as well as a description of the panel's objective not to exceed 550 words.  Please also include, with all proposals and applicants, full name and contact information, as well as institutional affiliation and a CV.

The deadline for proposal submissions is Dec 9^th, 2013.

Notification of acceptance will occur no later than Jan 9th, 2014.

Interpretations of the theme may include but are not restricted to:

-- Financial, moral, emotional, racial, ethnic, cultural, consumerist, historical, modern, fictional, speculative, geographical, agricultural, industrial, post-industrial, urban, rural, trade, public, private, gender, feminist, sexual, queer, social, domestic, interpersonal, educational, academic, regional, national, international, transglobal, transatlantic, imaginary, physical, literary, print, media, information, capitalist, imperial, oligarchic, feudal, mercantile, military, wartime, maritime, economies of vice, business, transport, climatological, economic hubs (financial centers, ports, etc.), economies of scale, micro, macro

-- Marxist, Keynesian, Utopian, Dystopian, Jeffersonian, Agrarian, Libertarian, Conservative, (Neo-)Liberal

--  Economic causes/effects in literature: moments of crisis, recovery, downturn, depression, development, gentrification, oppression, ghettoization, revolution

Please send proposals as well as any questions to,

alcatusc@gmail.com.

Sincerely,

The Graduate American Literature Colloquium

Department of English

 

Rob Bixby/March Street Press Reading, Saturday, Oct. 5

This weekend, the English Department is proud to sponsor the Rob Bixby/March Street Press Reading and Tribute (2:00-4:00PM), Saturday, October 5, Richmond Center.
 

Ten poets and writers with Michigan ties will gather to read their work and to celebrate the life and contribution of Robert J. Bixby (Masters of Social Work from WMU), fiction writer, editor, and publisher of March Street Press, who died last fall. All of the visitors have had books published by Robert Bixby; all will come at their own expense and will donate the proceeds from sales of their books to help fund the Robert J. Bixby Award in Creative Writing, established this spring with a gift from Bixby’s widow, Kathy Bixby.

Readers: Arnie Johnston, Deborah Ann Percy, David R. James, Josie Kearns, Elizabeth Kerlikowske, Lynn Pattison, Beverly Matherne, Keith Taylor, Rosalie Sanara Petrouske, John Rybicki, and Eric Torgersen.

This event is sponsored by the Creative Writing Program, the Department of English, the WMU Development Office, and the WMU Libraries. Free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served and a book signing follows the reading. Book sales will be handled by Dean Hauck of Kalamazoo’s Michigan News Agency.

For more information about the event, please contact Arnie Johnston at 269-870-0703, arnie.johnston@wmich.edu or Anne Tappan Strother, anne.t.strother@wmich.edu.

Dr. Gwen Tarbox to offer Comic Studies in Spring 2014

WMU Students: Be sure to check out ENGL 5970: Comic Studies (Tuesday, 4:00-6:20) with Dr. Gwen Tarbox.