Faculty Bookshelf
Author: Courtney Sender
Title: In Other Lifetimes All I've Lost Comes Back to Me
Publisher: West Virginia University Press, 2023
Summary: Populated with lovers who leave and return, with ghosts of the Holocaust and messages from the dead, Courtney Sender's debut collection speaks in a singular new voice about the longings and loneliness of contemporary love. The world of these fourteen interlocking stories is fiercely real but suffused with magic and myth, dark wit, and distinct humor. Here, ancient loss works its way deep into the psyche of modern characters, stirring their unrelenting lust for life.
In "To Do With the Body," the Museum of Period Clothes becomes the perfect setting for a bloody crime. In "Lilith in God's Hands," Adam's first wife has an affair in the Garden of Eden. And in the title story, a woman spends her life waiting for any of the men who have left her to come back, only to find them all at her doorstep at once.
For readers of Elena Ferrante, Nicole Krauss, and Carmen Maria Machado, and for anyone who has known love and loneliness, In Other Lifetimes All I've Lost Comes Back to Me is a wise and sensual collection of old hauntings, new longings, and unexpected returns, with a finale that is a rousing call to the strength we each have, together or alone.More information on the book In Other Lifetimes All I've Lost Comes Back to Me »
Title: In Other Lifetimes All I've Lost Comes Back to Me
Publisher: West Virginia University Press, 2023
Summary: Populated with lovers who leave and return, with ghosts of the Holocaust and messages from the dead, Courtney Sender's debut collection speaks in a singular new voice about the longings and loneliness of contemporary love. The world of these fourteen interlocking stories is fiercely real but suffused with magic and myth, dark wit, and distinct humor. Here, ancient loss works its way deep into the psyche of modern characters, stirring their unrelenting lust for life.
In "To Do With the Body," the Museum of Period Clothes becomes the perfect setting for a bloody crime. In "Lilith in God's Hands," Adam's first wife has an affair in the Garden of Eden. And in the title story, a woman spends her life waiting for any of the men who have left her to come back, only to find them all at her doorstep at once.
For readers of Elena Ferrante, Nicole Krauss, and Carmen Maria Machado, and for anyone who has known love and loneliness, In Other Lifetimes All I've Lost Comes Back to Me is a wise and sensual collection of old hauntings, new longings, and unexpected returns, with a finale that is a rousing call to the strength we each have, together or alone.More information on the book In Other Lifetimes All I've Lost Comes Back to Me »
Author: Jeffrey Gray
Title: Companion to American Poetry. Ed. with Mary McAleer Balkun and Paul Jaussen.
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell, 2022.
Summary: A Companion to American Poetry brings together original essays by both established scholars and emerging critical voices to explore the latest topics and debates in American poetry and its study. Highlighting the diverse nature of poetic practice and scholarship, this comprehensive volume addresses a broad range of individual poets, movements, genres, and concepts from the seventeenth century to the present day. Organized thematically, the Companion’s thirty-seven chapters address a variety of emerging trends in American poetry, providing historical context and new perspectives on topics such as poetics and identity, poetry and the arts, early and late experimentalisms, poetry and the transcendent, transnational poetics, poetry of engagement, poetry in cinema and popular music, Queer and Trans poetics, poetry and politics in the 21st century, and African American, Asian American, Latinx, and Indigenous poetries. Both a nuanced survey of American poetry and a catalyst for future scholarship, A Companion to American Poetry is essential reading for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, academic researchers and scholars, and general readers with interest in current trends in American poetry. More information on the book Companion to American Poetry »
Title: Companion to American Poetry. Ed. with Mary McAleer Balkun and Paul Jaussen.
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell, 2022.
Summary: A Companion to American Poetry brings together original essays by both established scholars and emerging critical voices to explore the latest topics and debates in American poetry and its study. Highlighting the diverse nature of poetic practice and scholarship, this comprehensive volume addresses a broad range of individual poets, movements, genres, and concepts from the seventeenth century to the present day. Organized thematically, the Companion’s thirty-seven chapters address a variety of emerging trends in American poetry, providing historical context and new perspectives on topics such as poetics and identity, poetry and the arts, early and late experimentalisms, poetry and the transcendent, transnational poetics, poetry of engagement, poetry in cinema and popular music, Queer and Trans poetics, poetry and politics in the 21st century, and African American, Asian American, Latinx, and Indigenous poetries. Both a nuanced survey of American poetry and a catalyst for future scholarship, A Companion to American Poetry is essential reading for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, academic researchers and scholars, and general readers with interest in current trends in American poetry. More information on the book Companion to American Poetry »
Author: Russell Sbriglia and Slavoj Žižek
Title: Subject Lessons: Hegel, Lacan, and the Future of Materialism
Publisher: Northwestern University Press, 2020
Summary: Responding to the ongoing "objectal turn" throughout contemporary humanities and social sciences, Subject Lessons presents a sustained case for the continued importance of the category of the subject for the future of materialist thought. Incorporating elements of philosophy, psychoanalysis, and literary and cultural studies, the volume's eleven essays contest the movement to dismiss the subject, arguing that there can be no truly robust materialism without accounting for the little piece of the Real that is the subject. More information on the book Subject Lessons »
Title: Subject Lessons: Hegel, Lacan, and the Future of Materialism
Publisher: Northwestern University Press, 2020
Summary: Responding to the ongoing "objectal turn" throughout contemporary humanities and social sciences, Subject Lessons presents a sustained case for the continued importance of the category of the subject for the future of materialist thought. Incorporating elements of philosophy, psychoanalysis, and literary and cultural studies, the volume's eleven essays contest the movement to dismiss the subject, arguing that there can be no truly robust materialism without accounting for the little piece of the Real that is the subject. More information on the book Subject Lessons »
Author: Angela Jane Weisl, Ph.D.
Title: Medieval Literature: The Basics
Publisher: Routledge, 2018
Summary: Medieval Literature: The Basics is an engaging introduction to this fascinating body of literature. The volume breaks down the variety of genres used in the corpus of medieval literature and makes these texts accessible to readers. It engages with the familiarities present in the narratives and connects these ideas with a contemporary, twenty-first century audience. More information on the book Medieval Literature: The Basics »
Title: Medieval Literature: The Basics
Publisher: Routledge, 2018
Summary: Medieval Literature: The Basics is an engaging introduction to this fascinating body of literature. The volume breaks down the variety of genres used in the corpus of medieval literature and makes these texts accessible to readers. It engages with the familiarities present in the narratives and connects these ideas with a contemporary, twenty-first century audience. More information on the book Medieval Literature: The Basics »
Author: Jonathan Farina Ph.D.
Title: Everyday Words and the Character of Prose in Nineteenth-Century Britain
Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2017
Summary: Everyday Words is an original and innovative study of the stylistic tics of canonical novelists including Austen, Dickens, Trollope, Thackeray and Eliot. Jonathan Farina shows how ordinary locutions such as 'a decided turn', 'as if' and 'that sort of thing' condense nineteenth-century manners, tacit aesthetics and assumptions about what counts as knowledge. More information on the book Everyday Words »
Title: Everyday Words and the Character of Prose in Nineteenth-Century Britain
Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2017
Summary: Everyday Words is an original and innovative study of the stylistic tics of canonical novelists including Austen, Dickens, Trollope, Thackeray and Eliot. Jonathan Farina shows how ordinary locutions such as 'a decided turn', 'as if' and 'that sort of thing' condense nineteenth-century manners, tacit aesthetics and assumptions about what counts as knowledge. More information on the book Everyday Words »
Author: Karen Gevirtz, Ph.D.
Title: Representing The Eighteenth Century in Film and Television 2000-2015
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017
Summary: This book analyzes early twenty-first century film and television’s fascination with representing the Anglo-American eighteenth century. Grounded in cultural studies, film studies, and adaptation theory, the book examines how these works represented the eighteenth century to assuage anxieties about values, systems, and institutions at the start of a new millennium. More information on the book Representing The Eighteenth Century in Film and Television 2000-2015 »
Title: Representing The Eighteenth Century in Film and Television 2000-2015
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017
Summary: This book analyzes early twenty-first century film and television’s fascination with representing the Anglo-American eighteenth century. Grounded in cultural studies, film studies, and adaptation theory, the book examines how these works represented the eighteenth century to assuage anxieties about values, systems, and institutions at the start of a new millennium. More information on the book Representing The Eighteenth Century in Film and Television 2000-2015 »
Author: Russell Sbriglia, Ph.D.,
Title: Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Literature but Were Afraid to Ask Žižek
Publisher: Duke University Press, 2017
Summary: Challenging the widely-held assumption that Slavoj Žižek's work is far more germane to film and cultural studies than to literary studies, this volume demonstrates the importance of Žižek to literary criticism and theory. The contributors show how Žižek's practice of reading theory and literature through one another allows him to critique, complicate, and advance the understanding of Lacanian psychoanalysis and German Idealism, thereby urging a rethinking of historicity and universality. More information on the book Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Literature but Were Afraid to Ask Žižek »
Title: Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Literature but Were Afraid to Ask Žižek
Publisher: Duke University Press, 2017
Summary: Challenging the widely-held assumption that Slavoj Žižek's work is far more germane to film and cultural studies than to literary studies, this volume demonstrates the importance of Žižek to literary criticism and theory. The contributors show how Žižek's practice of reading theory and literature through one another allows him to critique, complicate, and advance the understanding of Lacanian psychoanalysis and German Idealism, thereby urging a rethinking of historicity and universality. More information on the book Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Literature but Were Afraid to Ask Žižek »
Author: Jeffrey Gray
Title: Chaos, A Fable. Translated from Rodrigo Rey Rosa (Una Fábula Asiatica).
Publisher: Amazon Crossing, 2016.
Summary: A provocative morality tale that moves with the visceral rhythms of a high-tech thriller, Chaos, A Fable is a spare and stunning triumph from one of the most celebrated Latin American authors of his generation.
Mexican author Rubirosa is attending a book fair in Tangier when he reconnects with an old acquaintance, a Moroccan artist who asks one favor of his visiting friend: to access the puzzling files on a memory card. It could help fulfill the destiny of his son Abdelkrim. It could also unwittingly draw both men into irreversible events already in motion on distant shores.
In America, Abdelkrim, a brilliant aspiring astronaut deemed “too Muslim” for citizenship, has teamed up with an equally gifted young prodigy, a witness to the plight of Syrian refugees. Together, the foreign students share a vision of altering the world’s geopolitical landscape to end human suffering with a nearly inconceivable blueprint. And they can turn theory to reality. They can bring about change. But only through a technological apocalypse can there be redemption―by unleashing total chaos. More information on the book Chaos, A Fable »
Title: Chaos, A Fable. Translated from Rodrigo Rey Rosa (Una Fábula Asiatica).
Publisher: Amazon Crossing, 2016.
Summary: A provocative morality tale that moves with the visceral rhythms of a high-tech thriller, Chaos, A Fable is a spare and stunning triumph from one of the most celebrated Latin American authors of his generation.
Mexican author Rubirosa is attending a book fair in Tangier when he reconnects with an old acquaintance, a Moroccan artist who asks one favor of his visiting friend: to access the puzzling files on a memory card. It could help fulfill the destiny of his son Abdelkrim. It could also unwittingly draw both men into irreversible events already in motion on distant shores.
In America, Abdelkrim, a brilliant aspiring astronaut deemed “too Muslim” for citizenship, has teamed up with an equally gifted young prodigy, a witness to the plight of Syrian refugees. Together, the foreign students share a vision of altering the world’s geopolitical landscape to end human suffering with a nearly inconceivable blueprint. And they can turn theory to reality. They can bring about change. But only through a technological apocalypse can there be redemption―by unleashing total chaos. More information on the book Chaos, A Fable »
Author: Nancy Enright Ph.D.
Title: Catholic Literature and Film Incarnational Love and Suffering
Publisher: Lexington Press of Rowman and Littlefield, Nov. 2016
Catholic Literature and Film: Incarnational Love and Suffering is meant to be considered as a work of literary criticism, not film adaptation studies. In it, the author explores six literary works dealing with Catholic themes and the film versions of these works. The discussion of the films is at the service of analyzing the texts. Underlying all the discussions is an incarnational, sacramental view of the texts, which links to my interpretation of the film versions of them. More information on the book Catholic Literature and Film Incarnational Love and Suffering »
Title: Catholic Literature and Film Incarnational Love and Suffering
Publisher: Lexington Press of Rowman and Littlefield, Nov. 2016
Catholic Literature and Film: Incarnational Love and Suffering is meant to be considered as a work of literary criticism, not film adaptation studies. In it, the author explores six literary works dealing with Catholic themes and the film versions of these works. The discussion of the films is at the service of analyzing the texts. Underlying all the discussions is an incarnational, sacramental view of the texts, which links to my interpretation of the film versions of them. More information on the book Catholic Literature and Film Incarnational Love and Suffering »
Author: Mary Balkun, Ph.D. and Susan C. Imbaratto, Ph.D., Eds.
Title: Women’s Narratives of the Early Americas and the Formation of Empire
Publisher: Palgrave, 2016
Summary: The essays in this collection examine the connections between the forces of empire and women's lives in the early Americas, in particular the ways their narratives contributed to empire formation. Focusing on the female body as a site of contestation, the essays describe acts of bravery, subversion, and survival expressed in a variety of genres, including the saga, letter, diary, captivity narrative, travel narrative, verse, sentimental novel, and autobiography. More information on the book Women’s Narratives of the Early Americas and the Formation of Empire »
Title: Women’s Narratives of the Early Americas and the Formation of Empire
Publisher: Palgrave, 2016
Summary: The essays in this collection examine the connections between the forces of empire and women's lives in the early Americas, in particular the ways their narratives contributed to empire formation. Focusing on the female body as a site of contestation, the essays describe acts of bravery, subversion, and survival expressed in a variety of genres, including the saga, letter, diary, captivity narrative, travel narrative, verse, sentimental novel, and autobiography. More information on the book Women’s Narratives of the Early Americas and the Formation of Empire »
Author: Jeffrey Gray
Title: The News from Poems: Essays on the New American Poetry of Engagement, ed. with Ann Keniston
Publisher: University of Michigan Press, 2016.
Summary: The News from Poems examines a subgenre of recent American poetry that closely engages with contemporary political and social issues. This “engaged” poetry features a range of aesthetics and focuses on public topics from climate change, to the aftermath of recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, to the increasing corporatization of U.S. culture. The News from Poems brings together newly commissioned essays by eminent poets and scholars of poetry and serves as a companion volume to an earlier anthology of engaged poetry compiled by the editors. Essays by Bob Perelman, Steven Gould Axelrod, Tony Hoagland, Eleanor Wilner, and others reveal how recent poetry has redefined our ideas of politics, authorship, identity, and poetics. The volume showcases the diversity of contemporary American poetry, discussing mainstream and experimental poets, including some whose work has sparked significant controversy. These and other poets of our time, the volume suggests, are engaged not only with public events and topics but also with new ways of imagining subjectivity, otherness, and poetry itself. More information on the book The News from Poems: Essays on the New American Poetry of Engagement »
Title: The News from Poems: Essays on the New American Poetry of Engagement, ed. with Ann Keniston
Publisher: University of Michigan Press, 2016.
Summary: The News from Poems examines a subgenre of recent American poetry that closely engages with contemporary political and social issues. This “engaged” poetry features a range of aesthetics and focuses on public topics from climate change, to the aftermath of recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, to the increasing corporatization of U.S. culture. The News from Poems brings together newly commissioned essays by eminent poets and scholars of poetry and serves as a companion volume to an earlier anthology of engaged poetry compiled by the editors. Essays by Bob Perelman, Steven Gould Axelrod, Tony Hoagland, Eleanor Wilner, and others reveal how recent poetry has redefined our ideas of politics, authorship, identity, and poetics. The volume showcases the diversity of contemporary American poetry, discussing mainstream and experimental poets, including some whose work has sparked significant controversy. These and other poets of our time, the volume suggests, are engaged not only with public events and topics but also with new ways of imagining subjectivity, otherness, and poetry itself. More information on the book The News from Poems: Essays on the New American Poetry of Engagement »
Author: Donovan Sherman Ph.D.
Title: Second Death Theatricalities of the Soul in Shakespeare's Drama
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press, 2016
Summary: Second Death seeks to revitalize our understanding of the soul as a philosophically profound, theoretically radical, and ultimately—and counterintuitively—theatrically realized concept. The book contends that the work of Shakespeare, when closely read alongside early modern cultural and religious writings, helps us understand the soul's historical placement as a powerful paradox: it was essential to establishing humanity but resistant to clear representation. More information on the book Second Death Theatricalities of the Soul in Shakespeare's Drama »
Title: Second Death Theatricalities of the Soul in Shakespeare's Drama
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press, 2016
Summary: Second Death seeks to revitalize our understanding of the soul as a philosophically profound, theoretically radical, and ultimately—and counterintuitively—theatrically realized concept. The book contends that the work of Shakespeare, when closely read alongside early modern cultural and religious writings, helps us understand the soul's historical placement as a powerful paradox: it was essential to establishing humanity but resistant to clear representation. More information on the book Second Death Theatricalities of the Soul in Shakespeare's Drama »
Author: Simone A. James Alexander
Title: African Diasporic Women's Narratives: Politics of Resistance, Survival, and Citizenship
Publisher: University Press of Florida, 2016
Summary: A multifaceted contribution to studies of gender, race, sexuality, and disability issues, African Diasporic Women's Narratives engages a range of issues as it grapples with the complex interconnectedness of geography, citizenship, and nationalism. More information the book African Diasporic Women's Narratives: Politics of Resistance, Survival, and Citizenship »
Title: African Diasporic Women's Narratives: Politics of Resistance, Survival, and Citizenship
Publisher: University Press of Florida, 2016
Summary: A multifaceted contribution to studies of gender, race, sexuality, and disability issues, African Diasporic Women's Narratives engages a range of issues as it grapples with the complex interconnectedness of geography, citizenship, and nationalism. More information the book African Diasporic Women's Narratives: Politics of Resistance, Survival, and Citizenship »
Author: Martha C. Carpentier, Ph.D.
Title: Joycean Legacies
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015
Summary: These twelve essays analyze the complex pleasures and problems of engaging with James Joyce for subsequent writers, discussing Joyce's textual, stylistic, formal, generic, and biographical influence on an intriguing selection of Irish, British, American, and postcolonial writers from the 1940s to the twenty-first century. More information on the book Joycean Legacies »
Title: Joycean Legacies
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015
Summary: These twelve essays analyze the complex pleasures and problems of engaging with James Joyce for subsequent writers, discussing Joyce's textual, stylistic, formal, generic, and biographical influence on an intriguing selection of Irish, British, American, and postcolonial writers from the 1940s to the twenty-first century. More information on the book Joycean Legacies »
Author: Martha C. Carpentier, Ph.D.
Title: On Susan Glaspell’s Trifles and "A Jury of Her Peers": Centennial Essays, Interviews and Adaptations
Publisher: McFarland, 2015
Summary: On a wharf in Provincetown, Massachusetts, where Greenwich Village bohemians gathered in the summer of 1916, Susan Glaspell was inspired by a sensational murder trial to write Trifles, a play about two women who hide a Midwestern farm wife's motive for murdering her abusive husband. Following successful productions of the play, Glaspell became the "mother of American drama." Her short story version of Trifles, "A Jury of Her Peers," reached an unprecedented one million readers in 1917. More information on the book On Susan Glaspell’s Trifles and "A Jury of Her Peers": Centennial Essays, Interviews and Adaptations »
Title: On Susan Glaspell’s Trifles and "A Jury of Her Peers": Centennial Essays, Interviews and Adaptations
Publisher: McFarland, 2015
Summary: On a wharf in Provincetown, Massachusetts, where Greenwich Village bohemians gathered in the summer of 1916, Susan Glaspell was inspired by a sensational murder trial to write Trifles, a play about two women who hide a Midwestern farm wife's motive for murdering her abusive husband. Following successful productions of the play, Glaspell became the "mother of American drama." Her short story version of Trifles, "A Jury of Her Peers," reached an unprecedented one million readers in 1917. More information on the book On Susan Glaspell’s Trifles and "A Jury of Her Peers": Centennial Essays, Interviews and Adaptations »
Author: Mary Balkun, Ph.D.; and James McCorkle, Ph.D., Eds.
Title: American Poets and Poetry: From the Colonial Era to the Present [2 volumes]
Publisher: Greenwood, 2015
Summary: American poetry springs up out of all walks of life; its poems are "maternal as well as paternal…stuff'd with the stuff that is coarse and stuff'd with the stuff that is fine," as Walt Whitman wrote, adding "Of every hue and caste am I, of every rank and religion." More information on the book American Poets and Poetry: From the Colonial Era to the Present »
Title: American Poets and Poetry: From the Colonial Era to the Present [2 volumes]
Publisher: Greenwood, 2015
Summary: American poetry springs up out of all walks of life; its poems are "maternal as well as paternal…stuff'd with the stuff that is coarse and stuff'd with the stuff that is fine," as Walt Whitman wrote, adding "Of every hue and caste am I, of every rank and religion." More information on the book American Poets and Poetry: From the Colonial Era to the Present »
Editor: Nancy Enright, Ph.D.
Title: Community: A Reader for Writers
Publisher: Oxford, Dec. 2015
Summary: Nancy Enright's Community: A Reader for Writers explores the theme of writing as community through a variety of readings organized around the communities out of which they arose. The selections-spanning from familial and cultural to economic and artistic-all attest to the text's underlying message that writing, when seen as an act of community, becomes essentially a dialogue, linking the writer with others who have written in the past and will write in the future. More information on the book Community: A Reader for Writers »
Title: Community: A Reader for Writers
Publisher: Oxford, Dec. 2015
Summary: Nancy Enright's Community: A Reader for Writers explores the theme of writing as community through a variety of readings organized around the communities out of which they arose. The selections-spanning from familial and cultural to economic and artistic-all attest to the text's underlying message that writing, when seen as an act of community, becomes essentially a dialogue, linking the writer with others who have written in the past and will write in the future. More information on the book Community: A Reader for Writers »
Author: Karen Gevirtz, Ph.D.
Title: Gender and Space in British Literature, 1660–1820
Publisher: Routledge, 2014
Summary: Between 1660 and 1820, Great Britain experienced significant structural transformations in class, politics, economy, print, and writing that produced new and varied spaces and with them, new and reconfigured concepts of gender. In mapping the relationship between gender and space in British literature of the period, this collection defines, charts, and explores new cartographies, both geographic and figurative. More information on the book Gender and Space in British Literature, 1660–1820 »
Title: Gender and Space in British Literature, 1660–1820
Publisher: Routledge, 2014
Summary: Between 1660 and 1820, Great Britain experienced significant structural transformations in class, politics, economy, print, and writing that produced new and varied spaces and with them, new and reconfigured concepts of gender. In mapping the relationship between gender and space in British literature of the period, this collection defines, charts, and explores new cartographies, both geographic and figurative. More information on the book Gender and Space in British Literature, 1660–1820 »
Author: Karen Gevirtz, Ph.D.
Title: Women, the Novel, and Natural Philosophy, 1660–1727
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan US, 2014
Summary: This book shows how early women novelists from Aphra Behn to Mary Davys drew on debates about the self generated by the 'scientific' revolution to establish the novel as a genre. Fascinated by the problematic idea of a unified self underpinning modes of thinking, female novelists innovated narrative structures to interrogate this idea. More information on the book Women, the Novel, and Natural Philosophy, 1660–1727 »
Title: Women, the Novel, and Natural Philosophy, 1660–1727
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan US, 2014
Summary: This book shows how early women novelists from Aphra Behn to Mary Davys drew on debates about the self generated by the 'scientific' revolution to establish the novel as a genre. Fascinated by the problematic idea of a unified self underpinning modes of thinking, female novelists innovated narrative structures to interrogate this idea. More information on the book Women, the Novel, and Natural Philosophy, 1660–1727 »
Author: Nathan Oates, Ph.D.
Title: The Empty House
Publisher: Lost Horse Press, 2013
Summary: From the northern wilderness of Alaska to the mountains of Guatemala, from rural Ireland to war-torn Haiti and beyond, the characters in these award-winning stories travel with dreams of escape but find themselves ensnared by cultural misunderstandings, political strife, and the weight of family: a professor heads to Ireland with his wife and children, hoping to mend his broken marriage; a father and son find themselves caught up in a near civil war in Haiti; a young man travels to Guatemala, trying to understand what happened to his brother who disappeared there years before. These characters walk the fine line between safety and danger, good and evil, life and death, and on their way find their truest selves revealed. More information on the book The Empty House »
Title: The Empty House
Publisher: Lost Horse Press, 2013
Summary: From the northern wilderness of Alaska to the mountains of Guatemala, from rural Ireland to war-torn Haiti and beyond, the characters in these award-winning stories travel with dreams of escape but find themselves ensnared by cultural misunderstandings, political strife, and the weight of family: a professor heads to Ireland with his wife and children, hoping to mend his broken marriage; a father and son find themselves caught up in a near civil war in Haiti; a young man travels to Guatemala, trying to understand what happened to his brother who disappeared there years before. These characters walk the fine line between safety and danger, good and evil, life and death, and on their way find their truest selves revealed. More information on the book The Empty House »
Author: Simone A. James Alexander
Title: Feminist and Critical Perspectives on Caribbean Mothering
Publisher: Africa World Press, Inc., 2013
Summary: Mothering has been a recurring theme in the work of many women writers and Caribbean women writers are no exception. Furthering this dialogue, Feminist and Critical Perspectives on Caribbean Mothering not only accentuates the varied representations of mothering and motherhood but also challenges traditional interpretations of mothering. More information on the book Feminist and Critical Perspectives on Caribbean Mothering »
Title: Feminist and Critical Perspectives on Caribbean Mothering
Publisher: Africa World Press, Inc., 2013
Summary: Mothering has been a recurring theme in the work of many women writers and Caribbean women writers are no exception. Furthering this dialogue, Feminist and Critical Perspectives on Caribbean Mothering not only accentuates the varied representations of mothering and motherhood but also challenges traditional interpretations of mothering. More information on the book Feminist and Critical Perspectives on Caribbean Mothering »
Translator: Jeffrey Gray, Ph.D.
Title: The African Shore (The Margellos World Republic of Letters)
Publisher: Yale University Press, 2013
Summary: In the vein of the writings of Paul Bowles, Paul Theroux, and V. S. Naipaul, The African Shore marks a major new installment in the genre of dystopic travel fiction. Rodrigo Rey Rosa, prominent in today's Guatemalan literary world and an author of growing international reputation, presents a tale of alienation, misrecognition, and intrigue set in and around Tangier. More information on the book The African Shore (The Margellos World Republic of Letters) »
Title: The African Shore (The Margellos World Republic of Letters)
Publisher: Yale University Press, 2013
Summary: In the vein of the writings of Paul Bowles, Paul Theroux, and V. S. Naipaul, The African Shore marks a major new installment in the genre of dystopic travel fiction. Rodrigo Rey Rosa, prominent in today's Guatemalan literary world and an author of growing international reputation, presents a tale of alienation, misrecognition, and intrigue set in and around Tangier. More information on the book The African Shore (The Margellos World Republic of Letters) »
Author: Jeffrey Gray
Title: The New American Poetry of Engagement: A 21st Century Anthology, ed. with Ann Keniston.
Publisher: McFarland Press, 2012,
Summary: This anthology of poetry collects 21st century American works by both established and emerging poets that deal with the public events, government policies, ecological and political threats, economic uncertainties, and large-scale violence that have largely defined the century to date. But these 138 poems by 50 poets do not simply describe, lament, or bear witness to contemporary events; they also explore the linguistic, temporal, and imaginative problems involved in doing so. In this way, the anthology offers a comprehensive look at contemporary American poetry, demonstrating that poets are moving at once toward a new engagement with public concerns and toward a focus on the problems of representation. A detailed introduction by the editors along with poetics statements by many of the poets add depth and context to a book that will appeal to anyone interested in the state and evolution of contemporary American poetry. More information on the book The New American Poetry of Engagement: A 21st Century Anthology »
Title: The New American Poetry of Engagement: A 21st Century Anthology, ed. with Ann Keniston.
Publisher: McFarland Press, 2012,
Summary: This anthology of poetry collects 21st century American works by both established and emerging poets that deal with the public events, government policies, ecological and political threats, economic uncertainties, and large-scale violence that have largely defined the century to date. But these 138 poems by 50 poets do not simply describe, lament, or bear witness to contemporary events; they also explore the linguistic, temporal, and imaginative problems involved in doing so. In this way, the anthology offers a comprehensive look at contemporary American poetry, demonstrating that poets are moving at once toward a new engagement with public concerns and toward a focus on the problems of representation. A detailed introduction by the editors along with poetics statements by many of the poets add depth and context to a book that will appeal to anyone interested in the state and evolution of contemporary American poetry. More information on the book The New American Poetry of Engagement: A 21st Century Anthology »
Author: Mark Svenvold
Title: Empire Burlesque
Publisher: Ohio State University Press, 2007
Summary: Empire Burlesque begins with a romp through the Journals of Lewis and Clark and ends with cameo appearances by Ambrose Bierce, Marianne Moore, Ezra Pound (in drag), Andy Warhol, and even King Kong. Mark Svenvold was inspired to this approach, which he describes as that of a “clown lost in the Library of Babel,” by the letters of Jules Laforgue, who believed clowns had achieved true wisdom. With this collection the author shares Ezra Poundian-inflected poems that are funny, that are as serious as they come, and that realign the personal with the historical. More information on the book Empire Burlesque »
Title: Empire Burlesque
Publisher: Ohio State University Press, 2007
Summary: Empire Burlesque begins with a romp through the Journals of Lewis and Clark and ends with cameo appearances by Ambrose Bierce, Marianne Moore, Ezra Pound (in drag), Andy Warhol, and even King Kong. Mark Svenvold was inspired to this approach, which he describes as that of a “clown lost in the Library of Babel,” by the letters of Jules Laforgue, who believed clowns had achieved true wisdom. With this collection the author shares Ezra Poundian-inflected poems that are funny, that are as serious as they come, and that realign the personal with the historical. More information on the book Empire Burlesque »
Author: Mary Balkun, Ph.D.
Title: The American Counterfeit: Authenticity and Identity in American Literature and Culture
Publisher: U of Alabama P, 2006
Summary: Focusing on texts written between 1880 and 1930, Mary McAleer Balkun explores the concept of the "counterfeit," both in terms of material goods and invented identities, and the ways that the acquisition of objects came to define individuals in American culture and literature. Counterfeiting is, in one sense, about the creation of something that appears authentic—an invented self, a museum display, a forged work of art. But the counterfeit can also be a means by which the authentic is measured, thereby creating our conception of the true or real. More information on the book The American Counterfeit: Authenticity and Identity in American Literature and Culture »
Title: The American Counterfeit: Authenticity and Identity in American Literature and Culture
Publisher: U of Alabama P, 2006
Summary: Focusing on texts written between 1880 and 1930, Mary McAleer Balkun explores the concept of the "counterfeit," both in terms of material goods and invented identities, and the ways that the acquisition of objects came to define individuals in American culture and literature. Counterfeiting is, in one sense, about the creation of something that appears authentic—an invented self, a museum display, a forged work of art. But the counterfeit can also be a means by which the authentic is measured, thereby creating our conception of the true or real. More information on the book The American Counterfeit: Authenticity and Identity in American Literature and Culture »
Author: Mary Balkun, Ph.D.
Title: Literature: A Prentice Hall Pocket Reader
Publisher: Longman, 2004/2006
Summary: Each essay in this literature pocket reader has withstood the test of time and teaching, making it the perfect companion for any writing course. More information on the book Literature: A Prentice Hall Pocket Reader »
Title: Literature: A Prentice Hall Pocket Reader
Publisher: Longman, 2004/2006
Summary: Each essay in this literature pocket reader has withstood the test of time and teaching, making it the perfect companion for any writing course. More information on the book Literature: A Prentice Hall Pocket Reader »
Author: Karen Gevirtz, Ph.D.
Title: Life After Death: Widows And The English Novel, Defoe To Austen
Publisher: University of Delaware Press, November 1, 2005
Summary: Life after Death shows how representations of the widow in the eighteenth-century novel express attitudes toward emerging capitalism and women's participation in it. Authors responded to the century's instability by using widows, who had the right to act economically and self-interestedly, to teach women that virtue meant foregoing the opportunities that the changing economy offered. Novelists thus helped to create expectations for women that linger today, and established the novel as a cultural arbiter. More information on the book Life After Death: Widows And The English Novel, Defoe To Austen »
Title: Life After Death: Widows And The English Novel, Defoe To Austen
Publisher: University of Delaware Press, November 1, 2005
Summary: Life after Death shows how representations of the widow in the eighteenth-century novel express attitudes toward emerging capitalism and women's participation in it. Authors responded to the century's instability by using widows, who had the right to act economically and self-interestedly, to teach women that virtue meant foregoing the opportunities that the changing economy offered. Novelists thus helped to create expectations for women that linger today, and established the novel as a cultural arbiter. More information on the book Life After Death: Widows And The English Novel, Defoe To Austen »
Author: Mary Balkun, Ph.D.; and James McCorkle, Ph.D., Eds.
Title: The Greenwood Encyclopedia of American Poets and Poetry [5 volumes]
Publisher: Greenwood, 2005
Summary: The most comprehensive reference on American poetry ever assembled, this encyclopedia includes more than 900 alphabetically arranged entries, contributed by approximately 350 scholars. Written for students and general readers, the set covers poetry from the colonial era to the present, devoting special attention to contemporary poets and their works. Multicultural in scope, the encyclopedia covers poets, genres, critics, poetic terms, and movements. Its entries range from Caribbean to Confessional Poetry, from Dada to Eco-poetics, from Gay and Lesbian Poetry to Literary Magazines, New Formalism, and more. More information on the book The Greenwood Encyclopedia of American Poets and Poetry »
Title: The Greenwood Encyclopedia of American Poets and Poetry [5 volumes]
Publisher: Greenwood, 2005
Summary: The most comprehensive reference on American poetry ever assembled, this encyclopedia includes more than 900 alphabetically arranged entries, contributed by approximately 350 scholars. Written for students and general readers, the set covers poetry from the colonial era to the present, devoting special attention to contemporary poets and their works. Multicultural in scope, the encyclopedia covers poets, genres, critics, poetic terms, and movements. Its entries range from Caribbean to Confessional Poetry, from Dada to Eco-poetics, from Gay and Lesbian Poetry to Literary Magazines, New Formalism, and more. More information on the book The Greenwood Encyclopedia of American Poets and Poetry »
Author: Jeffrey Gray, Ph.D.
Title: Mastery's End: Travel and Postwar American Poetry
Publisher: University of Georgia Press, 2005
Summary: Focusing on lyric poetry, Mastery's End looks at important, yet neglected, issues of subjectivity in post-World War II travel literature. Jeffrey Gray departs from related studies in two regards: nearly all recent scholarly books on the literature of travel have dealt with pre-twentieth-century periods, and all are concerned with narrative genres. Gray questions whether the postcolonial theoretical model of travel as mastery, hegemony, and exploitation still applies. More information on the book Mastery's End: Travel and Postwar American Poetry »
Title: Mastery's End: Travel and Postwar American Poetry
Publisher: University of Georgia Press, 2005
Summary: Focusing on lyric poetry, Mastery's End looks at important, yet neglected, issues of subjectivity in post-World War II travel literature. Jeffrey Gray departs from related studies in two regards: nearly all recent scholarly books on the literature of travel have dealt with pre-twentieth-century periods, and all are concerned with narrative genres. Gray questions whether the postcolonial theoretical model of travel as mastery, hegemony, and exploitation still applies. More information on the book Mastery's End: Travel and Postwar American Poetry »
Author: Mark Svenvold
Title: Big Weather: Chasing Tornadoes in the Heart of America
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company, 2005
Summary: Big Weather is about tornado chasers and the culture of catastrophilia. More information on the book Big Weather: Chasing Tornadoes in the Heart of America »
Title: Big Weather: Chasing Tornadoes in the Heart of America
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company, 2005
Summary: Big Weather is about tornado chasers and the culture of catastrophilia. More information on the book Big Weather: Chasing Tornadoes in the Heart of America »
Author: Angela Jane Weisl, Ph.D.
Title: The Persistence of Medievalism
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan US, 2003
Summary: The Persistence of Medievalism seeks to examine the ways medieval genre shapes contemporary public culture. Through an exploration of several contemporary cultural phenomena, this book reveals the narrative underpinnings of public discourse. The ways these particular forms of storytelling shape our assumptions are examined by Weisl through a series of examples that demonstrate the intrinsic ways medievalism persists in the modern world, thus perpetuating archaic ideas of gender, ideology, and doctrine. More information on the book The Persistence of Medievalism »
Title: The Persistence of Medievalism
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan US, 2003
Summary: The Persistence of Medievalism seeks to examine the ways medieval genre shapes contemporary public culture. Through an exploration of several contemporary cultural phenomena, this book reveals the narrative underpinnings of public discourse. The ways these particular forms of storytelling shape our assumptions are examined by Weisl through a series of examples that demonstrate the intrinsic ways medievalism persists in the modern world, thus perpetuating archaic ideas of gender, ideology, and doctrine. More information on the book The Persistence of Medievalism »
Author: Mark Svenvold
Title: Elmer McCurdy: The Misadventures in Life and Afterlife of An American Outlaw
Publisher: Basic Books, 2003
Summary: This is the story of Elmer McCurdy, a failed plumber from Bangor, Maine, who drifted west to become a failed outlaw. He arrived in Oklahoma a few decades after the golden age of outlaws and attempted to resurrect the lost art of train robbing. In 1911, after a short spree of comically bungled robberies, a sheriff's posse caught up with him and shot him dead. In death, Elmer McCurdy accidentally found fame. More information on the book Elmer McCurdy: The Misadventures in Life and Afterlife of An American Outlaw »
Title: Elmer McCurdy: The Misadventures in Life and Afterlife of An American Outlaw
Publisher: Basic Books, 2003
Summary: This is the story of Elmer McCurdy, a failed plumber from Bangor, Maine, who drifted west to become a failed outlaw. He arrived in Oklahoma a few decades after the golden age of outlaws and attempted to resurrect the lost art of train robbing. In 1911, after a short spree of comically bungled robberies, a sheriff's posse caught up with him and shot him dead. In death, Elmer McCurdy accidentally found fame. More information on the book Elmer McCurdy: The Misadventures in Life and Afterlife of An American Outlaw »
Author: Angela Jane Weisl, Ph.D.
Title: Medievalisms: Making the Past in the Present
Publisher: Routledge, 2003
Summary: From King Arthur and Robin Hood, through to video games and jousting-themed restaurants, medieval culture continues to surround us and has retained a strong influence on literature and culture throughout the ages. More information on the book Medievalisms: Making the Past in the Present »
Title: Medievalisms: Making the Past in the Present
Publisher: Routledge, 2003
Summary: From King Arthur and Robin Hood, through to video games and jousting-themed restaurants, medieval culture continues to surround us and has retained a strong influence on literature and culture throughout the ages. More information on the book Medievalisms: Making the Past in the Present »
Author: Simone A. James Alexander
Title: Mother Imagery in the Novels of Afro-Caribbean Women
Publisher: University of Missouri, 2001
Summary: Focusing on specific texts by Jamaica Kincaid, Maryse Condé, and Paule Marshall, this fascinating study explores the intricate trichotomous relationship between the mother (biological or surrogate), the motherlands Africa and the Caribbean, and the mothercountry represented by England, France, and/or North America. The mother-daughter relationships in the works discussed address the complex, conflicting notions of motherhood that exist within this trichotomy. More information on the book Mother Imagery in the Novels of Afro-Caribbean Women »
Title: Mother Imagery in the Novels of Afro-Caribbean Women
Publisher: University of Missouri, 2001
Summary: Focusing on specific texts by Jamaica Kincaid, Maryse Condé, and Paule Marshall, this fascinating study explores the intricate trichotomous relationship between the mother (biological or surrogate), the motherlands Africa and the Caribbean, and the mothercountry represented by England, France, and/or North America. The mother-daughter relationships in the works discussed address the complex, conflicting notions of motherhood that exist within this trichotomy. More information on the book Mother Imagery in the Novels of Afro-Caribbean Women »