Benjamin A. Railton's Blog, page 353
May 12, 2014
May 12, 2014: Spring 2014 Recaps: 21st Century Writing
[It’s exam week, the final act of the Spring 2014 semester! So in this week’s series, I’ll recap some of the best of my semester’s courses and conversations, leading up to a weekend post on my summer plans. Add your semester recaps, summer plans, or whatever else you want to share in comments, please!]
On a few exemplary papers from a fun semester of contemporary analysis.As I wrote at length in this semester preview post, I used a new syllabus for my Writing II course this spring, one analyzing our 21st century world and identities from a variety of angles. It worked really well, I’d say, and that can be concisely illustrated with an exemplary paper for each of the three relevant assignments (the fourth, a research paper, was more individually driven and less necessarily tied to the course content):1) Ad Analysis: For the first major assignment, the students chose an advertisement (in any medium) and both read it closely and put it in context of some other text or issue. In one of the best papers in the batch, a student worked with an interestingly progressive new Swiffer ad, one that portrays 21st century families in a variety of ways (including an amputee husband who does the majority of his family’s cleaning); he then contextualized it with a far more traditional, original Swiffer ad, developing compelling readings of gender, family, and society as a result.2) 21st Century Identities: For the second major assignment (revised and extended into another paper as well), the students considered both digital and off-line identities and issues, engaging with their own personal narratives as well as analytical lenses. One of my students, a second generation Arab American woman, wrote an incredibly nuanced and thoughtful paper on technology, media, and gender and identity in both Middle Eastern and American contexts, managing in just a few short pages to resist stereotyped or simplistic engagements with either cultural context. To say I learned a lot from her work would be an understatement.3) Comparative Film/TV Analysis: For the third major assignment, the students chose a visual text (either a film or episode of a TV show) and developed extended analyses, both focused on the one text and comparing it to a second such text. In one of the more original papers I’ve ever read, a student utilized an article we’d read on recent TV anti-heroes and compared the protagonist of the film American Beauty with more overt anti-heroes such as Dexter Morgan and Frank Underwood, arguing that the film’s seemingly heroic protagonist is actually more amoral and anti-heroic than the TV types. He changed my whole perspective on both the original film and the TV trope, and, like the class as a whole, made me think about our 21st century moment in the process.Next recap tomorrow,BenPS. How was your spring semester?
On a few exemplary papers from a fun semester of contemporary analysis.As I wrote at length in this semester preview post, I used a new syllabus for my Writing II course this spring, one analyzing our 21st century world and identities from a variety of angles. It worked really well, I’d say, and that can be concisely illustrated with an exemplary paper for each of the three relevant assignments (the fourth, a research paper, was more individually driven and less necessarily tied to the course content):1) Ad Analysis: For the first major assignment, the students chose an advertisement (in any medium) and both read it closely and put it in context of some other text or issue. In one of the best papers in the batch, a student worked with an interestingly progressive new Swiffer ad, one that portrays 21st century families in a variety of ways (including an amputee husband who does the majority of his family’s cleaning); he then contextualized it with a far more traditional, original Swiffer ad, developing compelling readings of gender, family, and society as a result.2) 21st Century Identities: For the second major assignment (revised and extended into another paper as well), the students considered both digital and off-line identities and issues, engaging with their own personal narratives as well as analytical lenses. One of my students, a second generation Arab American woman, wrote an incredibly nuanced and thoughtful paper on technology, media, and gender and identity in both Middle Eastern and American contexts, managing in just a few short pages to resist stereotyped or simplistic engagements with either cultural context. To say I learned a lot from her work would be an understatement.3) Comparative Film/TV Analysis: For the third major assignment, the students chose a visual text (either a film or episode of a TV show) and developed extended analyses, both focused on the one text and comparing it to a second such text. In one of the more original papers I’ve ever read, a student utilized an article we’d read on recent TV anti-heroes and compared the protagonist of the film American Beauty with more overt anti-heroes such as Dexter Morgan and Frank Underwood, arguing that the film’s seemingly heroic protagonist is actually more amoral and anti-heroic than the TV types. He changed my whole perspective on both the original film and the TV trope, and, like the class as a whole, made me think about our 21st century moment in the process.Next recap tomorrow,BenPS. How was your spring semester?
May 10, 2014
May 10-11, 2014: NeMLA Follow Ups: What’s Next
[About a month ago, I spent a wonderful weekend in Harrisburg for the 2014 Northeast MLA (NeMLA) Conference. As always, I came away inspired on a number of levels, and in this week’s series I’ve shared some of the conversations and voices that contributed to that inspiration. Now I’ll let you know how you can add your own voice and perspective to NeMLA as we move forward!]
Three great ways to get connected to NeMLA in the years to come.1) Run for the Board: The role in which I joined NeMLA’s Executive Board, 2nd Vice President, is elected annually, and I’d be happy to talk about it if you’re interested (it’s a four-year commitment that ends with a year as president). But we also have four other Board positions we’ll be electing this fall: Anglophone Literatures; Comparative Languages and Theory; Culture and Media Studies; and a new position, Member at Large for Professional Development (with a preference for a contingent or adjunct faculty member). If you want to hear more about, or self-nominate for, any of those, email me!2) Join Us in Toronto: The 2015 Conference will be held the first weekend in May in Toronto, and the deadline for abstract proposals will be September 30th, 2014. As always, there’s an incredibly diverse and inspiring collection of sessions on the CFP, and I’m sure you’ll be able to find something that speaks to your work and interests. So submit, and hopefully we’ll see you in Toronto next May!3) Help Me Plan Hartford: My conference as president will be the 2016 conference, which will be held in Hartford, Connecticut. I’ve written before about some of my central goals for that conference, and I’m very excited to be working with faculty and administrators at the University of Connecticut, the University of Hartford, and Trinity College, as well as staff at organizations like the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center. But I can’t emphasize enough how much I want the conference planning, like the conference itself, to be communal and crowd-sourced. So please let me know, here in comments or by email, if you have ideas and thoughts on how a conference like this can be as successful and meaningful as possible. Thanks!Next series starts Monday,BenPS. Questions or thoughts about these upcoming events? Lemme know!
Three great ways to get connected to NeMLA in the years to come.1) Run for the Board: The role in which I joined NeMLA’s Executive Board, 2nd Vice President, is elected annually, and I’d be happy to talk about it if you’re interested (it’s a four-year commitment that ends with a year as president). But we also have four other Board positions we’ll be electing this fall: Anglophone Literatures; Comparative Languages and Theory; Culture and Media Studies; and a new position, Member at Large for Professional Development (with a preference for a contingent or adjunct faculty member). If you want to hear more about, or self-nominate for, any of those, email me!2) Join Us in Toronto: The 2015 Conference will be held the first weekend in May in Toronto, and the deadline for abstract proposals will be September 30th, 2014. As always, there’s an incredibly diverse and inspiring collection of sessions on the CFP, and I’m sure you’ll be able to find something that speaks to your work and interests. So submit, and hopefully we’ll see you in Toronto next May!3) Help Me Plan Hartford: My conference as president will be the 2016 conference, which will be held in Hartford, Connecticut. I’ve written before about some of my central goals for that conference, and I’m very excited to be working with faculty and administrators at the University of Connecticut, the University of Hartford, and Trinity College, as well as staff at organizations like the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center. But I can’t emphasize enough how much I want the conference planning, like the conference itself, to be communal and crowd-sourced. So please let me know, here in comments or by email, if you have ideas and thoughts on how a conference like this can be as successful and meaningful as possible. Thanks!Next series starts Monday,BenPS. Questions or thoughts about these upcoming events? Lemme know!
May 9, 2014
May 9, 2014: NeMLA Follow Ups: George Saunders
[About a month ago, I spent a wonderful weekend in Harrisburg for the 2014 Northeast MLA (NeMLA) Conference. As always, I came away inspired on a number of levels, and in this series I’ll share some of the conversations and voices that contributed to that inspiration. And in the weekend post, I’ll let you know how you can add your own voice and perspective to NeMLA as we move forward!]
On the funny and inspiring event that helped open the conference.George Saunders is one of those contemporary authors I’ve wanted to read for a long time but just haven’t had the chance to dive into yet, so I was very excited when NeMLA landed him for our opening night creative reading and conversation. And he more than delivered, both in his reading (of part of the title story of his most recent collection, Tenth of December ) and in the lively, thoughtful, and very witty subsequent question and answer session. I can imagine such an event lessening my interest in a writer and his works, but this one did exactly the opposite: pushed Tenth to the top of my summer pleasure reading to-do list. One of NeMLA’s great strengths is that it includes such creative performances and connections alongside its scholarly ones, and this inspiring event illustrated precisely why that’s so important.Post on what’s next for NeMLA this weekend,BenPS. Thoughts on these topics? If you were at the conference, other NeMLA follow ups?
On the funny and inspiring event that helped open the conference.George Saunders is one of those contemporary authors I’ve wanted to read for a long time but just haven’t had the chance to dive into yet, so I was very excited when NeMLA landed him for our opening night creative reading and conversation. And he more than delivered, both in his reading (of part of the title story of his most recent collection, Tenth of December ) and in the lively, thoughtful, and very witty subsequent question and answer session. I can imagine such an event lessening my interest in a writer and his works, but this one did exactly the opposite: pushed Tenth to the top of my summer pleasure reading to-do list. One of NeMLA’s great strengths is that it includes such creative performances and connections alongside its scholarly ones, and this inspiring event illustrated precisely why that’s so important.Post on what’s next for NeMLA this weekend,BenPS. Thoughts on these topics? If you were at the conference, other NeMLA follow ups?
May 8, 2014
May 8, 2014: NeMLA Follow Ups: More Inspiring Voices
[About a month ago, I spent a wonderful weekend in Harrisburg for the 2014 Northeast MLA (NeMLA) Conference. As always, I came away inspired on a number of levels, and in this series I’ll share some of the conversations and voices that contributed to that inspiration. And in the weekend post, I’ll let you know how you can add your own voice and perspective to NeMLA as we move forward!]
On three of the many impressive and inspiring AmericanStudies panels I attended at NeMLA.1) Masculinity in the Transatlantic World: I attended this seminar to support my Fitchburg State colleague Michael Hoberman, who was talking about letters from an early American Jewish businessman to his son. But I was very impressed by all seven of the presenters and their distinct yet interconnected focal points: James Francis on political pamphlets and Christopher Marlowe; Ingrid Steiner on William Byrd II’s journals; Jackie Amorimon the Trinidadian novel Emmanuel Appadocca; Anthony Brano and Jarred Wiehe on Thomas Otway’s plays; and Liam Daley on King Lear. The seminar was transnational and interdisciplinary in the best ways, and I learned a great deal from the conversation.2) Race and Reception: My longtime Twitter buddy Luke Dietrichorganized and chaired this panel, and presented some of his very interesting research on Charles Chesnutt’s relationship with Houhgton Mifflin and the publishing industry. But the panel also featured Pierce Williamson technology, race and ethnicity, and America in Twain’s Connecticut Yankee; and Cecilia Cardenas-Navia on the histories, literatures, and controversial debates over melanin sciences and racial identities. Luke’s paper helped me continue to think about a topic that has interested me since my own dissertation work; the other two pushed my ideas in radically new directions. Pretty good conference combination!3) 21st Century Representations of Slavery: I’ll admit it: if you put 12 Years a Slave , Django Unchained , and David Bradley’s Chaneysville Incident in a paper title, as did Victoria Chevalier, I’m there. But Victoria’s provocative paper (which focused for time reasons mostly on 12 Years) was perfectly complemented by Joseph Vogelon the confessions of William Styron and Quentin Tarantino, Tristan Strikeron tradition and memory in August Wilson, and Nicholas Forster on slavery and place in Kendrick Lamar’s contemporary hip hop. Hard to imagine a more inspiring AmericanStudies quartet than those four papers!Last follow up tomorrow,BenPS. Thoughts on these topics? If you were at the conference, other NeMLA follow ups?
On three of the many impressive and inspiring AmericanStudies panels I attended at NeMLA.1) Masculinity in the Transatlantic World: I attended this seminar to support my Fitchburg State colleague Michael Hoberman, who was talking about letters from an early American Jewish businessman to his son. But I was very impressed by all seven of the presenters and their distinct yet interconnected focal points: James Francis on political pamphlets and Christopher Marlowe; Ingrid Steiner on William Byrd II’s journals; Jackie Amorimon the Trinidadian novel Emmanuel Appadocca; Anthony Brano and Jarred Wiehe on Thomas Otway’s plays; and Liam Daley on King Lear. The seminar was transnational and interdisciplinary in the best ways, and I learned a great deal from the conversation.2) Race and Reception: My longtime Twitter buddy Luke Dietrichorganized and chaired this panel, and presented some of his very interesting research on Charles Chesnutt’s relationship with Houhgton Mifflin and the publishing industry. But the panel also featured Pierce Williamson technology, race and ethnicity, and America in Twain’s Connecticut Yankee; and Cecilia Cardenas-Navia on the histories, literatures, and controversial debates over melanin sciences and racial identities. Luke’s paper helped me continue to think about a topic that has interested me since my own dissertation work; the other two pushed my ideas in radically new directions. Pretty good conference combination!3) 21st Century Representations of Slavery: I’ll admit it: if you put 12 Years a Slave , Django Unchained , and David Bradley’s Chaneysville Incident in a paper title, as did Victoria Chevalier, I’m there. But Victoria’s provocative paper (which focused for time reasons mostly on 12 Years) was perfectly complemented by Joseph Vogelon the confessions of William Styron and Quentin Tarantino, Tristan Strikeron tradition and memory in August Wilson, and Nicholas Forster on slavery and place in Kendrick Lamar’s contemporary hip hop. Hard to imagine a more inspiring AmericanStudies quartet than those four papers!Last follow up tomorrow,BenPS. Thoughts on these topics? If you were at the conference, other NeMLA follow ups?
May 7, 2014
May 7, 2014: NeMLA Follow Ups: Roundtable on Contingent Faculty
[About a month ago, I spent a wonderful weekend in Harrisburg for the 2014 Northeast MLA (NeMLA) Conference. As always, I came away inspired on a number of levels, and in this series I’ll share some of the conversations and voices that contributed to that inspiration. And in the weekend post, I’ll let you know how you can add your own voice and perspective to NeMLA as we move forward!]
On three meaningful ways to move forward with a crucial issue.I’ve written a couple times in this space about one of the most pressing and troubling issues in 21st century academia: the omnipresent use and abuse of adjunct and contingent faculty by our colleges and universities. There is no single or easy answer to that issue, of course—instead, I believe we need a number of related and concurrent steps and efforts, including the recent moves toward adjunct unionization but also and just as importantly including far greater awareness of and collective attention to the issue itself. And my NeMLA roundtable “What Can NeMLA Do to Better Serve Contingent Faculty?” illustrated three distinct benefits to such collective conversations:1) Sharing Individual Voices: First and foremost, the roundtable featured three incredibly thoughtful and impressive presentations, by Chiara de Santi of SUNY Fredonia, Tania Convertini of Dartmouth, and Patricia Johnson of Penn State Harrisburg. The three represented a range of experiences and roles, which is itself an important part of these conversations—but even more importantly, they grounded our conversation in specific perspectives and efforts, helping us build on that foundation toward proposed steps and solutions. Too often, these kinds of conversations happen in general or abstract terms, and such speakers help make sure we include concrete realities instead.2) Making Connections: We were also fortunate that the roundtable’s audience and conversation featured both the outgoing and the incoming president of NeMLA’s CAITY Cauc us, an organization dedicated to addressing these issues. There are many arguments in favor of adjunct unionization, but to my mind one of the most crucial is about community, about creating connections between individuals and institutions that can allow them to share resources and ideas in this too-often isolated profession. CAITY represents precisely such an existing community, and one to which I hope to better connect NeMLA as a whole in my upcoming year (2015-2016) as president.3) Taking a Stand: One of the more complex questions surrounding this issue is how, and perhaps even whether, tenure-track and tenured faculty can contribute to these efforts. We’ve seen one impressive recent answer at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where the full faculty went on strike in support of a contract that (among other issues) better serves contingent faculty. But I also believe that organizations like NeMLA have a significant voice and role to play, and thus that finding ways for NeMLA to take a stand in support of contingent faculty will again be central to my time in the organization’s leadership. I’m not sure yet what that will mean, but I have some ideas—waiving conference fees and offering travel support for contingent faculty, for example—and would love to hear more!Next follow up tomorrow,BenPS. Thoughts on these topics? If you were at the conference, other NeMLA follow ups?
On three meaningful ways to move forward with a crucial issue.I’ve written a couple times in this space about one of the most pressing and troubling issues in 21st century academia: the omnipresent use and abuse of adjunct and contingent faculty by our colleges and universities. There is no single or easy answer to that issue, of course—instead, I believe we need a number of related and concurrent steps and efforts, including the recent moves toward adjunct unionization but also and just as importantly including far greater awareness of and collective attention to the issue itself. And my NeMLA roundtable “What Can NeMLA Do to Better Serve Contingent Faculty?” illustrated three distinct benefits to such collective conversations:1) Sharing Individual Voices: First and foremost, the roundtable featured three incredibly thoughtful and impressive presentations, by Chiara de Santi of SUNY Fredonia, Tania Convertini of Dartmouth, and Patricia Johnson of Penn State Harrisburg. The three represented a range of experiences and roles, which is itself an important part of these conversations—but even more importantly, they grounded our conversation in specific perspectives and efforts, helping us build on that foundation toward proposed steps and solutions. Too often, these kinds of conversations happen in general or abstract terms, and such speakers help make sure we include concrete realities instead.2) Making Connections: We were also fortunate that the roundtable’s audience and conversation featured both the outgoing and the incoming president of NeMLA’s CAITY Cauc us, an organization dedicated to addressing these issues. There are many arguments in favor of adjunct unionization, but to my mind one of the most crucial is about community, about creating connections between individuals and institutions that can allow them to share resources and ideas in this too-often isolated profession. CAITY represents precisely such an existing community, and one to which I hope to better connect NeMLA as a whole in my upcoming year (2015-2016) as president.3) Taking a Stand: One of the more complex questions surrounding this issue is how, and perhaps even whether, tenure-track and tenured faculty can contribute to these efforts. We’ve seen one impressive recent answer at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where the full faculty went on strike in support of a contract that (among other issues) better serves contingent faculty. But I also believe that organizations like NeMLA have a significant voice and role to play, and thus that finding ways for NeMLA to take a stand in support of contingent faculty will again be central to my time in the organization’s leadership. I’m not sure yet what that will mean, but I have some ideas—waiving conference fees and offering travel support for contingent faculty, for example—and would love to hear more!Next follow up tomorrow,BenPS. Thoughts on these topics? If you were at the conference, other NeMLA follow ups?
May 6, 2014
May 6, 2014: NeMLA Follow Ups: The 21st Century Composition Classroom
[About a month ago, I spent a wonderful weekend in Harrisburg for the 2014 Northeast MLA (NeMLA) Conference. As always, I came away inspired on a number of levels, and in this series I’ll share some of the conversations and voices that contributed to that inspiration. And in the weekend post, I’ll let you know how you can add your own voice and perspective to NeMLA as we move forward!]
On two distinct but complementary visions for how to bring the classics into our 21st century classes.Besides my panel on reading the river, I also had the chance to chair two very interesting and salient roundtable discussions at the conference. The first (I’ll discuss the second in tomorrow’s post) focused on the question of whether and how we should bring classical rhetoric and concepts into contemporary composition courses, and thus on some of the most pressing questions facing all 21st century instructors: can and should we bridge the gap between our thoroughly digital-age students (this year’s first year students were probably born in 1996!) and pre-digital conversations and concepts; and if so, what are the most effective and meaningful ways to do so?While the roundtable’s two presenters agreed that we should try to bridge those gaps and make the classics part of our composition classes, they articulated two quite distinct perspectives on how we do so. Heather Urbanski, a colleague of mine at Fitchburg State University whose own work consistently analyzes our 21stcentury digital and multimedia age, made a compelling case for how rhetorical canons and concepts of memory have a significant place in our classes, but at the same time argued for updates to those concepts that redress their limitations and bring them into our own era more meaningfully. Gavin Hurley, who’s completing his PhD at the University of Rhode Island and whose work focuses on spirituality and rhetoric (both classical and contemporary), shared a far more overtly traditional and challenging part of his composition syllabus: his use of Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologica as both a reading and assignment prompt.As I come to the close of my first semester teaching a Writing II syllabus on 21st century identities (on which more in next week’s semester wrap-up series), I’ve been thinking a lot about the balance between engaging students where they are (which this class of mine has mostly done) and challenging them to go places they’re not as comfortable (which, I’ll admit, this class has not). I suppose my own instinct is that we have to start with the former, particularly in classes (such as first-year writing) that are driven more by the students’ skills and voices than by any particular content. But Gavin made a great case for the opposite, that by starting his semester with far more traditional and challenging texts, he pushes his students in ways that help them develop their writing and voices successfully, and prepares them to be more analytical and critical when they come up to contemporary texts and conversations toward the end of his syllabus. In any case, Heather and Gavin individually and collectively modeled how to think with complexity and nuance about these vital pedagogical balances and questions.Next follow up tomorrow,BenPS. Thoughts on these topics? If you were at the conference, other NeMLA follow ups?
On two distinct but complementary visions for how to bring the classics into our 21st century classes.Besides my panel on reading the river, I also had the chance to chair two very interesting and salient roundtable discussions at the conference. The first (I’ll discuss the second in tomorrow’s post) focused on the question of whether and how we should bring classical rhetoric and concepts into contemporary composition courses, and thus on some of the most pressing questions facing all 21st century instructors: can and should we bridge the gap between our thoroughly digital-age students (this year’s first year students were probably born in 1996!) and pre-digital conversations and concepts; and if so, what are the most effective and meaningful ways to do so?While the roundtable’s two presenters agreed that we should try to bridge those gaps and make the classics part of our composition classes, they articulated two quite distinct perspectives on how we do so. Heather Urbanski, a colleague of mine at Fitchburg State University whose own work consistently analyzes our 21stcentury digital and multimedia age, made a compelling case for how rhetorical canons and concepts of memory have a significant place in our classes, but at the same time argued for updates to those concepts that redress their limitations and bring them into our own era more meaningfully. Gavin Hurley, who’s completing his PhD at the University of Rhode Island and whose work focuses on spirituality and rhetoric (both classical and contemporary), shared a far more overtly traditional and challenging part of his composition syllabus: his use of Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologica as both a reading and assignment prompt.As I come to the close of my first semester teaching a Writing II syllabus on 21st century identities (on which more in next week’s semester wrap-up series), I’ve been thinking a lot about the balance between engaging students where they are (which this class of mine has mostly done) and challenging them to go places they’re not as comfortable (which, I’ll admit, this class has not). I suppose my own instinct is that we have to start with the former, particularly in classes (such as first-year writing) that are driven more by the students’ skills and voices than by any particular content. But Gavin made a great case for the opposite, that by starting his semester with far more traditional and challenging texts, he pushes his students in ways that help them develop their writing and voices successfully, and prepares them to be more analytical and critical when they come up to contemporary texts and conversations toward the end of his syllabus. In any case, Heather and Gavin individually and collectively modeled how to think with complexity and nuance about these vital pedagogical balances and questions.Next follow up tomorrow,BenPS. Thoughts on these topics? If you were at the conference, other NeMLA follow ups?
May 5, 2014
May 5, 2014: NeMLA Follow Ups: Reading American Rivers
[About a month ago, I spent a wonderful weekend in Harrisburg for the 2014 Northeast MLA (NeMLA) Conference. As always, I came away inspired on a number of levels, and in this series I’ll share some of the conversations and voices that contributed to that inspiration. And in the weekend post, I’ll let you know how you can add your own voice and perspective to NeMLA as we move forward!]
On the three impressive young scholars who comprised my panel “We’ve Known Rivers: Reading the River in American Literature and Culture.”1) Steven Hodin: A recent AmericanStudies PhD from, and Writing Program lecturer at, Boston University, Steve started off the panel with a paper on Emanuel Leutze’s Washington Crossing the Delaware , Eliza’s flight in Uncle Tom’s Cabin , and river crossings in antebellum American culture and mythology. Steve’s provocative link between the painting and novel (which both appeared in 1851) embodies the best kind of AmericanStudies scholarship, interdisciplinary and revelatory in what it helps us see about our past, community, and identity.2) Schuyler Chapman: Schuyler came to NeMLA a newly minted English PhD from the University of Pittsburgh, having just defended his dissertation on mariners and riverboatmen in 19th century American culture. For our panel he presented a compelling piece of that larger work, focused on Emil Klauprecht’s forgotten German American novel Cincinnati, or the Mysteries of the West (1854-1855), the Mike Fink legends, and the complex, liminal, vital identity of mid-19thcentury rivermen. 3) Wyatt Phillips: Wyatt received his PhD from NYU’s Cinema Studies program in 2013, for a project on genre in the early American film industry, and has been moving into his career as a Cinema, Culture, and AmericanStudies scholar since. He rounded off our panel by bringing into the 20th century, presenting an inspiringly interdisciplinary paper on rivers and dams, cultural memory and forgetting, and (it just so happened) my favorite American film, John Sayles’ Lone Star (alongside Deliverance, Wild River , and more).I look forward to seeing where these exemplary AmericanStudiers go next!Next follow up tomorrow,BenPS. Thoughts on these topics? If you were at the conference, other NeMLA follow ups?
On the three impressive young scholars who comprised my panel “We’ve Known Rivers: Reading the River in American Literature and Culture.”1) Steven Hodin: A recent AmericanStudies PhD from, and Writing Program lecturer at, Boston University, Steve started off the panel with a paper on Emanuel Leutze’s Washington Crossing the Delaware , Eliza’s flight in Uncle Tom’s Cabin , and river crossings in antebellum American culture and mythology. Steve’s provocative link between the painting and novel (which both appeared in 1851) embodies the best kind of AmericanStudies scholarship, interdisciplinary and revelatory in what it helps us see about our past, community, and identity.2) Schuyler Chapman: Schuyler came to NeMLA a newly minted English PhD from the University of Pittsburgh, having just defended his dissertation on mariners and riverboatmen in 19th century American culture. For our panel he presented a compelling piece of that larger work, focused on Emil Klauprecht’s forgotten German American novel Cincinnati, or the Mysteries of the West (1854-1855), the Mike Fink legends, and the complex, liminal, vital identity of mid-19thcentury rivermen. 3) Wyatt Phillips: Wyatt received his PhD from NYU’s Cinema Studies program in 2013, for a project on genre in the early American film industry, and has been moving into his career as a Cinema, Culture, and AmericanStudies scholar since. He rounded off our panel by bringing into the 20th century, presenting an inspiringly interdisciplinary paper on rivers and dams, cultural memory and forgetting, and (it just so happened) my favorite American film, John Sayles’ Lone Star (alongside Deliverance, Wild River , and more).I look forward to seeing where these exemplary AmericanStudiers go next!Next follow up tomorrow,BenPS. Thoughts on these topics? If you were at the conference, other NeMLA follow ups?
May 3, 2014
May 3-4, 2014: April 2014 Recap
[A recap of the month that was in AmericanStudying.]
March 31: Baseball Stories: Play for a Kingdom: An Opening Day series on baseball and America starts with the Civil War novel and the sport’s contested origins.April 1: Baseball Stories: The Given Day: The series continues with the historical novel that helps us AmericanStudy Babe Ruth, symbolism, and race in America.April 2: Baseball Stories: Field of Dreams and The Brothers K: Divisive decades and histories and whether baseball can bring us back together, as the series rolls on.April 3: Baseball Stories: South Street: Pessimism, optimism, realism, and baseball stories.April 4: Baseball Stories: Boston Strong: The series concludes with the communal roles, and limits, of sports in the aftermath of tragedy.April 5-6: Link-tastic Baseball Stories: A handful of great baseball writers and blogs to help us continue AmericanStudying the sport and its stories.April 7: New AmericanStudies Books: The Dream of the Great American Novel: A series on exciting new AmericanStudies publications begins with a book that aims really high.April 8: New AmericanStudies Books: The Negro in Illinois: The series continues with a long-awaited publication and what it adds to our conversations.April 9: New AmericanStudies Books: Viewing America: A new book that takes 21st century American TV as seriously as it deserves, as the series rolls on.April 10: New AmericanStudies Books: Failure and the American Writer: The next book in the evolving, exemplary career of one of our most interesting AmericanStudiers.April 11: New AmericanStudies Books: Aggressive Fictions: The series concludes with a description of a new book that perfectly captures my public scholarly goals.April 12-13: Crowd-sourced AmericanStudies Books: Fellow AmericanStudiers share books—scholarly and creative, new and classic—that have inspired them.April 14: Animated History: Doctor Propaganda: A series on American animation begins with the surprising starting points of one of our greatest animators and storytellers.April 15: Animated History: Peter Pan: The series continues with one of the most overtly racist animated sequences, and whether and how we should engage with it.April 16: Animated History: The Princess and the Frog: Race, representation, and seeing ourselves and our histories onscreen, as the series rolls on.April 17: Animated History: Frozen: Disney’s newest blockbluster and challenges to our expectations, less and more successful.April 18: Animated History: The Lego Movie: The series concludes with a recent film that helps us explore the contradictions of childhood, consumerism, and culture.April 19-20: Animated History: AnneMarie Donahue’s Guest Post: My most recent Guest Post rounds off the series by highlighting an American animator whose complex and controversial works we should better remember.April 21: Patriot’s Day Special Post: My annual reflection on the easier and harder forms of patriotism kicks off a series on genuine American patriots.April 22: How Would a Patriot Act?: Squanto: The series continues with my nominee for a 17th century genuine American patriot.April 23: How Would a Patriot Act?: Quock Walker: My 18th century nominee for a genuine patriot, as the series rolls on.April 24: How Would a Patriot Act?: Yung Wing: One of my very favorite Americans is also my nominee for a 19th century genuine patriot.April 25: How Would a Patriot Act?: César Chávez: The series concludes with my 20thcentury nominee for a genuine American patriot.April 26-27: How Would a Patriot Act?: You: But wait, the series is rounded off with a post on how you can add your voice to my AmericanStudying!April 28: Reading New England Women: Catharine Maria Sedgwick: A series on authors and works we should all be reading starts with a very modern story about women and writing.April 29: Reading New England Women: Elizabeth Stoddard: The series continues with a messy, compelling novel that’s got it all, and then some.April 30: Reading New England Women: Elizabeth Stuart Phelps: The fictional woman we should all get to know, and those she should have, as the series rolls on.May 1: Reading New England Women: Mary Wilkins Freeman: The funny, fantastic, and deeply human story that demonstrates just how broad local fiction could be.May 2: Reading New England Women: Sarah Orne Jewett: The series concludes with one of the most famous 19th century New England woman writers, and the work of hers that should still be better known.Next series starts Monday,BenPS. Topics you’d like to see addressed in this space? Guest Posts you’d like to write? Lemme know!
March 31: Baseball Stories: Play for a Kingdom: An Opening Day series on baseball and America starts with the Civil War novel and the sport’s contested origins.April 1: Baseball Stories: The Given Day: The series continues with the historical novel that helps us AmericanStudy Babe Ruth, symbolism, and race in America.April 2: Baseball Stories: Field of Dreams and The Brothers K: Divisive decades and histories and whether baseball can bring us back together, as the series rolls on.April 3: Baseball Stories: South Street: Pessimism, optimism, realism, and baseball stories.April 4: Baseball Stories: Boston Strong: The series concludes with the communal roles, and limits, of sports in the aftermath of tragedy.April 5-6: Link-tastic Baseball Stories: A handful of great baseball writers and blogs to help us continue AmericanStudying the sport and its stories.April 7: New AmericanStudies Books: The Dream of the Great American Novel: A series on exciting new AmericanStudies publications begins with a book that aims really high.April 8: New AmericanStudies Books: The Negro in Illinois: The series continues with a long-awaited publication and what it adds to our conversations.April 9: New AmericanStudies Books: Viewing America: A new book that takes 21st century American TV as seriously as it deserves, as the series rolls on.April 10: New AmericanStudies Books: Failure and the American Writer: The next book in the evolving, exemplary career of one of our most interesting AmericanStudiers.April 11: New AmericanStudies Books: Aggressive Fictions: The series concludes with a description of a new book that perfectly captures my public scholarly goals.April 12-13: Crowd-sourced AmericanStudies Books: Fellow AmericanStudiers share books—scholarly and creative, new and classic—that have inspired them.April 14: Animated History: Doctor Propaganda: A series on American animation begins with the surprising starting points of one of our greatest animators and storytellers.April 15: Animated History: Peter Pan: The series continues with one of the most overtly racist animated sequences, and whether and how we should engage with it.April 16: Animated History: The Princess and the Frog: Race, representation, and seeing ourselves and our histories onscreen, as the series rolls on.April 17: Animated History: Frozen: Disney’s newest blockbluster and challenges to our expectations, less and more successful.April 18: Animated History: The Lego Movie: The series concludes with a recent film that helps us explore the contradictions of childhood, consumerism, and culture.April 19-20: Animated History: AnneMarie Donahue’s Guest Post: My most recent Guest Post rounds off the series by highlighting an American animator whose complex and controversial works we should better remember.April 21: Patriot’s Day Special Post: My annual reflection on the easier and harder forms of patriotism kicks off a series on genuine American patriots.April 22: How Would a Patriot Act?: Squanto: The series continues with my nominee for a 17th century genuine American patriot.April 23: How Would a Patriot Act?: Quock Walker: My 18th century nominee for a genuine patriot, as the series rolls on.April 24: How Would a Patriot Act?: Yung Wing: One of my very favorite Americans is also my nominee for a 19th century genuine patriot.April 25: How Would a Patriot Act?: César Chávez: The series concludes with my 20thcentury nominee for a genuine American patriot.April 26-27: How Would a Patriot Act?: You: But wait, the series is rounded off with a post on how you can add your voice to my AmericanStudying!April 28: Reading New England Women: Catharine Maria Sedgwick: A series on authors and works we should all be reading starts with a very modern story about women and writing.April 29: Reading New England Women: Elizabeth Stoddard: The series continues with a messy, compelling novel that’s got it all, and then some.April 30: Reading New England Women: Elizabeth Stuart Phelps: The fictional woman we should all get to know, and those she should have, as the series rolls on.May 1: Reading New England Women: Mary Wilkins Freeman: The funny, fantastic, and deeply human story that demonstrates just how broad local fiction could be.May 2: Reading New England Women: Sarah Orne Jewett: The series concludes with one of the most famous 19th century New England woman writers, and the work of hers that should still be better known.Next series starts Monday,BenPS. Topics you’d like to see addressed in this space? Guest Posts you’d like to write? Lemme know!
May 2, 2014
May 2, 2014: Reading New England Women: Sarah Orne Jewett
[Many of the writers and works that have been “re-discovered” in the academy over the last few decades remain largely and unfortunately unread in our broader society. That’s definitely true for a great many of the wonderful New England women writers we’ve brought back into the canon. So this week, I’ll highlight an exemplary work by five such New England women writers. Check ‘em out!]
On why even an author we do know could use some more collective attention.If there’s one 19th century New England woman writer with whom 21st century Americans have some familiarity—well, I guess it’d be Emily Dickinson. But not far below the Belle of Amherst in our collective consciousness can be found Sarah Orne Jewett, whose short story cycle The Country of the Pointed Firs (1896) is certainly the most famous work of New England regionalist writing, and whose story “A White Heron”(1886) was part of my middle school reading list back in the day (and showed up again as a passage on, as I remember it, the SAT II English reading analysis section). Given that those two relatively well-known works are two more than the other four authors I’ve highlighted in this week’s series have, combined, in our current collective canon, it would seem greedy of me to ask for us to read more Jewett as well.But I am asking, and for a specific work: Jewett’s novel A Country Doctor (1884). I wrote about Doctorpreviously in this space, as part of a post on the striking spate of “woman doctor” works and characters within the five years between 1881 and 1886. Jewett’s Doctor Nan Prince is very much in conversation with those other works and characters (likely overtly so, as Henry James named his woman doctor character Dr. Prance in a bookpublished two years after Jewett’s novel), but I would also argue that Jewett’s novel stands out for one particular (and very salient to this week’s series) reason: it represents, from its title on, a unique combination of New England local color and feminism, of tradition and progress, the past and the future. That is, Dr. Nan Prince achieves her personal and professional dreams not by leaving her small New England local community (one in which her dying mother had abandoned her as an infant) but indeed by returning to it, and becoming at the novel’s end a practicing country doctor within that space.While those qualities make Jewett’s novel unique, impressive, and well worth our reading on its own terms, they also reflect another way to look at New England women’s writing and regionalism more generally. It’s easy, and not inaccurate, to see such writing as deeply rooted in the past, in the traditions and histories that constitute local communities and limit (or at least delineate) the lives and identities of those who live within them. But such a view minimizes, if it does not miss entirely, the ways in which change and growth occur at least as much for such individuals and communities as they do for more obviously modern ones like the 19th century’s rapidly evolving cities. Indeed, what links all of the authors and works I’ve highlighted this week is precisely such intersections of history and future, of tradition and progress, of heritage and change, for all of their focal characters and for the communities—theirs and ours—with which they engage. April Recap this weekend,BenPS. What do you think? Other under-read writers or works you’d share?
On why even an author we do know could use some more collective attention.If there’s one 19th century New England woman writer with whom 21st century Americans have some familiarity—well, I guess it’d be Emily Dickinson. But not far below the Belle of Amherst in our collective consciousness can be found Sarah Orne Jewett, whose short story cycle The Country of the Pointed Firs (1896) is certainly the most famous work of New England regionalist writing, and whose story “A White Heron”(1886) was part of my middle school reading list back in the day (and showed up again as a passage on, as I remember it, the SAT II English reading analysis section). Given that those two relatively well-known works are two more than the other four authors I’ve highlighted in this week’s series have, combined, in our current collective canon, it would seem greedy of me to ask for us to read more Jewett as well.But I am asking, and for a specific work: Jewett’s novel A Country Doctor (1884). I wrote about Doctorpreviously in this space, as part of a post on the striking spate of “woman doctor” works and characters within the five years between 1881 and 1886. Jewett’s Doctor Nan Prince is very much in conversation with those other works and characters (likely overtly so, as Henry James named his woman doctor character Dr. Prance in a bookpublished two years after Jewett’s novel), but I would also argue that Jewett’s novel stands out for one particular (and very salient to this week’s series) reason: it represents, from its title on, a unique combination of New England local color and feminism, of tradition and progress, the past and the future. That is, Dr. Nan Prince achieves her personal and professional dreams not by leaving her small New England local community (one in which her dying mother had abandoned her as an infant) but indeed by returning to it, and becoming at the novel’s end a practicing country doctor within that space.While those qualities make Jewett’s novel unique, impressive, and well worth our reading on its own terms, they also reflect another way to look at New England women’s writing and regionalism more generally. It’s easy, and not inaccurate, to see such writing as deeply rooted in the past, in the traditions and histories that constitute local communities and limit (or at least delineate) the lives and identities of those who live within them. But such a view minimizes, if it does not miss entirely, the ways in which change and growth occur at least as much for such individuals and communities as they do for more obviously modern ones like the 19th century’s rapidly evolving cities. Indeed, what links all of the authors and works I’ve highlighted this week is precisely such intersections of history and future, of tradition and progress, of heritage and change, for all of their focal characters and for the communities—theirs and ours—with which they engage. April Recap this weekend,BenPS. What do you think? Other under-read writers or works you’d share?
May 1, 2014
May 1, 2014: Reading New England Women: Mary Wilkins Freeman
[Many of the writers and works that have been “re-discovered” in the academy over the last few decades remain largely and unfortunately unread in our broader society. That’s definitely true for a great many of the wonderful New England women writers we’ve brought back into the canon. So this week, I’ll highlight an exemplary work by five such New England women writers. Check ‘em out!]
On the story that’s funny, wise, and anything but narrow.For a long time, late 19th century local color writing—and specifically women’s local color writing—and even more specifically New England women’s local color writing—was dismissed by many scholars as narrow and parochial, historically and socially representative but not particularly significant in broader, lasting, literary terms. Over the last few decades, many scholars have pushed back on those ideas, seeking to redefine the writing as “regionalist” rather than local color and to recover and re-read many of the individual authors and works within that tradition. Yet outside of academia, I don’t know that such efforts have led to nearly enough public consciousness of these writers—and if I were to make the case for why they should, I might well start with the very talented New England regionalist Mary E. Wilkins Freeman (1852-1930).Freeman’s prolific career and prodigious talents were certainly recognized in her own era, as she was awarded the 1925 William Dean Howells Medal for distinction in fiction and in the following year became part of the first group of women elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters. While she began her career writing children’s stories, and published works in multiple genres, it was her local color short stories for adults, collected in volumes including A Humble Romance and Other Stories (1887), A New England Nun and Other Stories (1891), Silence and Other Stories (1898), and The Givers (1904), that most established her reputation and these culminating accomplishments. And yet in the half-century after her death those same stories came to many scholars to represent Freeman’s limited scope, interests, and talents, and thus to categorize her as precisely an example of a once hugely successful local color writer whose works now retain only historical or social interest.I could push back on those ideas and make the case for Freeman in any number of ways (as have many of the scholars I mentioned in my first paragraph), but I don’t know that there’s a better way to do so than to ask you to read my favorite Freeman story, “The Revolt of Mother” (1890). “Revolt” has all the hallmarks of New England local color, from its setting on a New England farm to its characters’ dialect voices; like most local fiction more broadly, the story’s tone is mostly light and witty, with surprising character and plot twists leading to an unexpected conclusion. None of those are bad things nor disqualify the work from literary significance, of course—in fact, they make it engaging for readers, a goal of just about any author in any genre. But Freeman’s story is at the same time deeply wise in its portrayals of every member of its focal family, individually, as a community, and in their histories and evolving present and future identities. It reveals a great deal about its particular historical and social setting, about gender and marriage, about parenting and generational change, and about human nature at its most flawed and its most hopeful. In short, it does just about everything great literature and art can do, and does it all well.Last writer and work tomorrow,BenPS. What do you think? Other under-read writers or works you’d share?
On the story that’s funny, wise, and anything but narrow.For a long time, late 19th century local color writing—and specifically women’s local color writing—and even more specifically New England women’s local color writing—was dismissed by many scholars as narrow and parochial, historically and socially representative but not particularly significant in broader, lasting, literary terms. Over the last few decades, many scholars have pushed back on those ideas, seeking to redefine the writing as “regionalist” rather than local color and to recover and re-read many of the individual authors and works within that tradition. Yet outside of academia, I don’t know that such efforts have led to nearly enough public consciousness of these writers—and if I were to make the case for why they should, I might well start with the very talented New England regionalist Mary E. Wilkins Freeman (1852-1930).Freeman’s prolific career and prodigious talents were certainly recognized in her own era, as she was awarded the 1925 William Dean Howells Medal for distinction in fiction and in the following year became part of the first group of women elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters. While she began her career writing children’s stories, and published works in multiple genres, it was her local color short stories for adults, collected in volumes including A Humble Romance and Other Stories (1887), A New England Nun and Other Stories (1891), Silence and Other Stories (1898), and The Givers (1904), that most established her reputation and these culminating accomplishments. And yet in the half-century after her death those same stories came to many scholars to represent Freeman’s limited scope, interests, and talents, and thus to categorize her as precisely an example of a once hugely successful local color writer whose works now retain only historical or social interest.I could push back on those ideas and make the case for Freeman in any number of ways (as have many of the scholars I mentioned in my first paragraph), but I don’t know that there’s a better way to do so than to ask you to read my favorite Freeman story, “The Revolt of Mother” (1890). “Revolt” has all the hallmarks of New England local color, from its setting on a New England farm to its characters’ dialect voices; like most local fiction more broadly, the story’s tone is mostly light and witty, with surprising character and plot twists leading to an unexpected conclusion. None of those are bad things nor disqualify the work from literary significance, of course—in fact, they make it engaging for readers, a goal of just about any author in any genre. But Freeman’s story is at the same time deeply wise in its portrayals of every member of its focal family, individually, as a community, and in their histories and evolving present and future identities. It reveals a great deal about its particular historical and social setting, about gender and marriage, about parenting and generational change, and about human nature at its most flawed and its most hopeful. In short, it does just about everything great literature and art can do, and does it all well.Last writer and work tomorrow,BenPS. What do you think? Other under-read writers or works you’d share?
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