May 18, 2008
My panel proposal for NeMLA 2009 was accepted! I’m soliciting submissions. Here is the call for papers:
Call for Papers
“City Scene: Boston and Film”
40th Anniversary Convention, Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA)
Feb. 26-March 1, 2009
Hyatt Regency - Boston, Massachusetts
Boston has been the setting for many successful films (Good Will Hunting, Gone Baby Gone, The Friends of Eddie Coyle, The Boston Strangler) and television series (Boston Legal, Cheers, Spenser for Hire, St. Elsewhere, Crossing Jordan). This panel examines how Boston and its rich history and culture are represented in film, television and video. Papers are welcome on any filmic aspect of Boston, from the idealistic cradle of liberty in Glory to the corrupt rats’ nest of The Departed. Send abstracts and a brief CV to Emily Hegarty at Emily.Hegarty@ncc.edu
Deadline: September 15, 2008
Please include with your abstract:
Name and Affiliation
Email address
Postal address
Telephone number
A/V requirements (if any; $10 handling fee)
The complete Call for Papers for the 2009 Convention will be posted in June: www.nemla.org.
Interested participants may submit abstracts to more than one NeMLA panel; however panelists can only present one paper. Convention participants may present a paper at a panel or seminar and also present at a creative session or participate in a roundtable.
April 30, 2008
Gary Snyder has won the $100,000 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize for 2008. The prestigious prize is awarded annually to a living American poet whose work warrants extraordinary recognition. The 2007 winner was Lucille Clifton.
April 29, 2008
William Pannapacker aka Thomas H. Benton writes a regular column for the Chronicle of Higher Education. I am usually underwhelmed. But today I was offended. In an essay musing about careerist name changes, he writes:
I wonder if there might be some advantages to giving devotional names to academics — at the time of tenure — the way the Roman Catholic Church does with priests and nuns, such as “Sister Mary Francis of the Five Wounds.” I could become “Professor William of the 1855 Leaves.” Or perhaps, following some Native American customs, we could have professional names granted to us by our colleagues: “Professor Drives-a-Volvo”; “Professor Went-to-Harvard”; “Professor Gives-All-As,” and so on.
Such stunning ignorance and disrespect. You would think that the Chronicle editors, at least, knew better than this.
April 26, 2008
Besides being a great American novelist, Edith Wharton was also noted for her taste in landscape architecture and interior design. It is especially troubling then to consider the perilous situation of The Mount, the country estate she designed in Lenox, Massachusetts in 1901. Although it was not her permanent residence, Wharton wrote several novels at The Mount, including The House of Mirth. Its Massachusetts location no doubt inspired the settings for Ethan Frome and Summer. That being said, Wharton was a definitive New York City writer, and 80% of the support for The Mount comes from New Yorkers.
In recent years, The Mount has served as a tourist attraction and literary shrine, drawing 30,000 visitors a year. The institution borrowed heavily in 2005 to purchase Wharton’s 2,600-volume library from a British collector, and has not been able to get back on solid footing following a decade’s worth of restoration work on the mansion and grounds. Their creditors have already granted several extensions and have insisted on a change in leadership. Local opinions about the mismanagement of The Mount seem heated. Some feel the recent management snubbed Massachusetts neighbors in its pursuit of New York money. Others are replaying even earlier management controversies, accusing an early conservator of unauthorized use of Wharton’s bedroom! (See unsubstantiated comments in local newspaper.) The estate is now facing foreclosure and must raise three million dollars by the end of May in order to stay open.
So far The Mount has raised over $800,000. Major donors have included the National Endowment for the Humanities and Michael Eisner. Perhaps Yale would like to chip in, since they hold Wharton’s papers and gave her an honorary doctorate. Though of course Yale might be the anonymous donor who has promised to match the $3 million, if it’s raised. Go here to donate.
April 24, 2008
Frantically grading, but I paused to notice the spring blooms on campus.
And a closeup:
April 16, 2008
My paper, “Native and Nation: Gary Snyder’s Indigenous Poetry,” went like this: Snyder is well known for his poetic claims to a “Native American” identity, and his appropriations from Native American culture have been controversial in the past. Snyder seemed almost to be responding to the controversy when he wrote more autobiographically about his own heritage in the 1980s. His most recent work, however, reasserts his Native status with a vengeance, in service to an anti-immigrant stance that does not sit well with Snyder’s progressive reputation.) This is an ongoing revision of the paper I gave last fall at the Text-Landscape-Identity conference in England. I liked the papers of everyone on my panel. Brandon Fastman (UC Santa Barbara) read Native American stereotypes through the lens of globalization, which produced different results than the colonial lens. Benjamin Priest (Univ. at Buffalo) gave an insightful paper on Mary Austin and Josh Weinstein (Virginia Wesleyan) spoke brilliantly on Barry Lopez.
Other highlights of the convention:
- Leah Bayens (U of Kentucky) gave a wonderful presentation about narratives of mountaintop removal mining, and also publicized this wonderful website where you can see which mountain was destroyed to create your electricity.
- Angela B. Fulk (Buffalo State) shared an insightful and personal paper on resurrection in Harry Potter fanfiction.
- Keri Cronin (Brock U) looked at wildlife dioramas and “the greening of curatorial practices.” Ooh, she has a blog.
- The keynote address was Alexis DeVeaux speaking on “Geographies of Difference: Race, Language, and Imagination.” She called for more critical whiteness studies.
- There was a useful and practical discussion at the panel on “Rethinking the Survey Course.”
The food was delicious and the people were friendly. Buffalo was cold but I suppose that can’t be helped.
April 10, 2008
Ooh, cliché heading. I’m leaving today for the Northeast Modern Language Association Convention in Buffalo where, the internet says, it’s going to rain rain rain. I’m delivering a paper tentatively titled “Native to the Land: Gary Snyder’s Indigenous Poetry.” Must now rush to pack and feed cats and head to airport to check my bag with its dangerous liquids.
