Recent Achievements

Recent Achievements in English (Fall 2013):

 Dennis Allen presented two papers recently, “Midnight in Paris: The Repression of Temporality in Modernist Cartography,” American Comparative Literature Association, April 4-7, 2013, Toronto, and  “Speculating on Queer Theory,” MMLA, Nov. 8-11, 2012, Cincinnati.

Rudy Almasy presented a paper on John Knox the Early Years at one of the sessions sponsored by the Society for Reformation Research at the May International Congress on Medieval Studies.  He's also been selected as a reviewer for ALAN Picks Online.  And Almasy is now certified as a QM (Quality Matters) peer reviewer.  Finally, Rudy has a chapter on Richard Hooker in the recently published Oxford Handbook on English Prose 1500-1640, edited by Andrew Hatfield.

In May, Sandy Baldwin took four PhD students to the University of Bangor, Wales, where they presented research and participated in meetings on the British Council-funded project "Computer Gaming Across Cultures." In August, Baldwin took three MFA students to the University of Bergen, Norway, where they participated in an intensive short course (co-taught by Baldwin) on "Collaborative Creativity in New Media" (sponsored by the government of Norway). In July, Baldwin published "The Idiocy of the Digital Literary" in Digital Humanities Quarterly 7:1.

David Beach wrote and directed the short play Say Hi to Mick Jagger which took first place at M. T. Pockets Ten-Minute Play Festival.  He also directed Glenn Clifton's short play Souvenir in the Ten-Minute Festival, directed Fully Committed in June and will directed Art in September.  He also published the first edition of My Morgantown.

Cari Carpenter was invited to speak to the Society for the Study of Women Writers Midatlantic Study Group in Washington, DC this September about her edited collection Selected Writings of Victoria Woodhull: Suffrage, Free Love, and Eugenics (U Nebraska, 2010).

Patrick Conner published "The Exeter Book" in Medieval Studies: Oxford Bibliographies. Ed. Paul E. Szarmach. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. [Completed article of 12,300 words with embedded links to many items named therein is out now from OUP] http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/obo/page/medieval-studies.

Conner's theatrical credits include the following:  Select Theatre: Head Priest, Oedipus Rex (Throughline Theater); Friar Laurence, Romeo and Juliet (South Park [PA] Theatre); Pat also functioned as dramaturg for both of these productions.   

Lowell Duckert’s article "Exit, Pursued by a Polar Bear (More to Follow)" was published in Upstart: A Journal of English Renaissance Studies (Clemson University Press).  Full URL if anyone's interested: http://www.clemson.edu/upstart/Essays/exit-pursued-by-a-polar-bear/exit-pursued-by-a-polar-bear.xhtml.  Lowell and Jeffrey Jerome Cohen signed a contract with University of Minnesota Press for a collection of essays they're editing together, Elemental Ecocriticism.  Lowell will contribute "Earth" and co-write the introduction.  And finally, Lowell served a plenary speaker at the 30th Alabama Symposium on English and American Literature, and gave papers at two conferences: the International Congress on Medieval Studies and the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment.

Katie Fallon’s essay, "Rebirth," is in the fall's issue of River Teeth. It's about vultures and babies, but don't worry--no babies are eaten by vultures in the essay!

Melissa Ferrone’s essay, "An Unusual Thing" was published in Brevity's May issue.

WVU alumnus Robert Long Foreman has received a Pushcart Prize and is scheduled to be published in this year's Pushcart Prize edition. http://therankings.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/pushcart-2014-scan.pdf

Marilyn Francus published a brief essay entitled "Shaping a Legacy: Alicia Lefanu's Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Mrs.Frances Sheridan" in The Female Spectator (Volume 17, Winter 2013). Marilyn presented three papers in July 2013: "Trying to Set the Record Straight: Alicia Lefanu, Frances Burney D'Arblay, and the Limits of Family Biography" at the Chawton House Library 10th Anniversary Conference in Chawton, UK; "Austen in Cyberspace: The Lizzie Bennet Diaries" at the Locations in Austen Conference, which was held at the University of Hertfordshire; and "Learning to Mother: Frances Burney Becomes a Parent," at the 5th International Conference of the Burney Society of Great Britain, at the University of Cambridge.

Kirk Hazen had a Research Experience for Undergraduates proposal funded by the National Science Foundation. This grant will support Emily Vandevender, a Foundation Scholar, for the 2013-2012 year while she does research with the West Virginia Dialect Project.  

Kirk also has had a co-edited book published by Wiley-Blackwell. The book, Research Methods in Sociolinguistics: A Practical Guide, is a comprehensive how-to book for sociolinguistic researchers and students, and Kirk was very fortunate to work with his co-editor, Janet Holmes (Victoria University of Wellington, NZ). The 21 authors in the book come from a wide-range of countries, including Finland, South Africa, New Zealand, Germany, England, Switzerland, the US, and even Canada.

John Jones' article "Networked Activism, Hybrid Structures, and Networked Power" was published in August by Currents in Electronic Literacy.  His article "Switching in Twitter's Hashtag Exchanges"  has passed the editing stage for the Journal of Business and Technical Communication and is now available in the journal's Online First section ahead of its print publication.   

Xin Tian Koh’s poem "Sea Burial" appears in the Seminary Ridge Review's Autumn issue this year.  

Renée K. Nicholson’s book of poems Roundabout Directions to Lincoln Center will be published Spring 2014 by Urban Farmhouse Press (in Indianapolis).   

Renée also recently started writing a weekly column for the career advice and employment resource Career Thoughts. She also accepted a position as Teaching Assistant Professor in the Multidisciplinary Studies Program at WVU starting with the 2013-2014 academic year. SummerBooks, the book podcast she co-created and co-hosts with Natalie Sypolt, was featured at the Press 53 Gathering of Writers in early August 2013 and will be featured at the Winter Wheat Writing Conference sponsored by Mid American Review in November 2013.

Sadie Shorr-Parks’s essay "The Language of Boxes" is in the next issue of Defunct.

Tom Sura published “Reconsidering Our Products: The Use of Engagement Portfolios in Service Learning Courses” in the journal WPA: Writing Program Administration 36.2 (2013): 59-74.  

Natalie Sypolt has been asked to be the guest prose editor of the journal Banango Street Literature.  The issue will be out sometime this month.  Natalie has also been added to the book review staff of Fjords Review.  Her story "Watching" was a finalist in the fiction contest (judged by Chris Offutt) and will be published in the magazine this fall. Additionally, Natalie will be teaching an Appalachian Literature class for WVU Extended Learning this October.

Harrington Weihl will present his paper “The Horror of the New: Tradition And Novelty in H.P. Lovecraft’s The Call of Cthulhu” at the 2013 Midwest MLA Convention in Milwaukee in November.  He also has two entries -- Elizabeth Bowen and Henry James -- forthcoming in the Routledge Encyclopedia of Modernism, and a book review -- Antonio Negri's Trilogy of Resistance -- forthcoming in The Marx and Philosophy Review of Books.

Clint Wilson reports the following recent publications: 

"A Good Shave" (July 2013) - Short Story, Print and Digital Whisperings Magazine (Vol 2, Iss 2); "Blood & Belief" (March 2013) - Essay, Digital only
Curator Magazine; "Glass Fire" (December 2012) - A Poem Series, Print only
The Poetry Bus (Vol 1, Iss 4)

The Comparative Drama Conference, 2014

38th Comparative Drama Conference Call For Papers Baltimore, MD April 3 – 5, 2014

2014 Keynote Event A Conversation with David Henry Hwang On 4 April 2014, the Comparative Drama Conference will welcome playwright David Henry Hwang for a stimulating conversation about contemporary theatre, followed by Q & A with the audience. Few writers have turned issues around ethnicity and identity into a widely acclaimed and award-winning career like David Henry Hwang. The Chinese American playwright, described by the New York Times as "a true original" and by TIME magazine as "the first important dramatist of American public life since Arthur Miller," is best known as the author of M. Butterfly, which won a Tony Award, Drama Desk Award, John Gassner Award, and Outer Critics Circle Award, and was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Other plays from his 30 year career include Golden Child (Obie Award, three Tony nominations), Yellow Face (Obie Award, Pulitzer finalist), FOB (Obie Award), and Chinglish (Drama Desk Nomination, named Best New American Play by TIME magazine). Currently, Hwang is the Residency One Playwright at the Signature Theatre in New York City, with a new play, Kung Fu, premiering in May 2014. Call for Papers Submission Deadline: 3 December 2013 Papers reporting on new research and development in any aspect of drama are invited for the 38th Comparative Drama Conference hosted by Stevenson University in Baltimore, MD, April 3-5, 2014. Papers may be comparative across nationalities, periods and disciplines; and may deal with any issue in dramatic literature, criticism, theory, and performance, or any method of historiography, translation, or production. Learn More... 38th Comparative Drama Conference The Comparative Drama Conference is an international, interdisciplinary conference founded by Dr. Karelisa Hartigan at the University of Florida in 1977. Every year, approximately 175 scholars are invited to present and discuss their work in the field of drama. The conference draws participants from both the Humanities and the Arts. The papers delivered range over the entire field of theatre research and production. Over the past 37 years, participants have come from 32 nations and all 50 states. Each year a distinguished theatre scholar or artist is invited to address the participants in a plenary session. Conference Registration Pre-registration The 2014 pre-registration fees are valid until February 28, 2014, and are as follows: Presenter, Reader or Presenter Session Chair: $99 for faculty members, $89 for graduate students Non-presenter Session Chair: $79 Guest: $69 Student Guest: $39 One-day guest passes: $30 ($20 for students) The pre-registration fee for categories 1 – 4 covers all conference events and services, including a copy of the conference Programs and Abstracts book, a copy of the current edition of Text and Presentation, admission to all conference events and the conference reception, and a ticket to a local performance yet to be determined. One-day passes include conference admission only (including plenaries and keynote event). Presenters are required to pre-register. Those whose papers are accepted are expected to attend the conference; papers are not read in absentia. Submitters of abstracts are also advised to apply for travel funds from their home institutions as early as possible. International attendees please visit our website for further instructions. Registration after February 28: For those who wish to register after February 28 or at the conference, the fees increase to $109 / $99, $89, $79, and $49. One-day pass fees remain the same. DOWNLOAD: Registration Form Conference Hotels The Pier 5 Hotel is the conference site, and The Admiral Fell Inn, which is a 15- to 20-minute complimentary shuttle ride away, is also providing attendees with a conference discount: Pier 5: $149 per night plus tax for up to four. Admiral Fell Inn: $129 per night plus tax for up to four, continental breakfast included. All reservations must be made on an individual basis by February 28, 2014 to receive the discount. Call Harbor Magic Hotels at 866-583-4162 to make your reservation. Please be sure to ask for the Comparative Drama Conference discount. Pre-organized Panels Pre-organized panels will also be considered. A pre-organized panel should include three papers. Each paper should be 15 minutes in length. Learn More... Plenaries Each year at the CDC, a major scholar in drama and/or theatre addresses the conference on a topic of general interest. The Comparative Drama Conference welcomed Edward Albee, winner of three Pulitzer Prizes and four Tony Awards, including a Tony for Lifetime Achievement, as our Keynote Speaker in 2013. The 2012 Keynote Event was A Conversation with Paula Vogel, a Q & A session with award-winning playwright and educator Paula Vogel. Learn More... Staged Readings The conference board invites proposals for staged readings of new plays. 2-4 new plays will have staged readings during the course of the conference. Each staged reading will also feature a talkback with the audience led by a dramaturg. Learn More... Text & Presentation For 31 years, The Comparative Drama Conference Series has been publishing the best papers presented at its annual meetings, keeping readers current in scholarship and performance aesthetics in drama internationally. Learn More... Constantinidis Award The Philadelphia Constantinidis Essay in Critical Theory Award will be given to the best comparative essay on any aspect and period of Greek drama or theatre that was published in English in any journal or anthology in any country between January 1 and December 31 in the prior year. Learn More... Any Questions? Please visit our website or email us at cdc@stevenson.edu.

The Faculty Research Colloquium

The Department of English presents:

 

The Faculty Research Colloquium

 

 

Earth

 

by Lowell Duckert

 

 

This presentation confronts one of the gravest environmental issues today, mountaintop removal mining in West Virginia and Appalachia, on unlikely ground: sixteenth- and seventeenth-century notions of the “prospect.” Derived from the Latin prospectare and prospicere, the “prospect” was more than a mining term; it could denote that which faces forward in time and space, the relative senses of such, or a view itself. But “prospect” could also describe an action – to face forward, to situate, and the anticipated results of such. I will focus on one earthy text in particular, John Milton’s Paradise Lost (1667/74), not just to show how mining has devastating ecological consequences (it does), but also, and more importantly, to argue that mining is an ecotheoretical means of conceptualizing different “prospect[s] wide / And various” (5.88-9), a way of wondering about better futures on and with the Earth/earth. Earth faces the human in prospective directions; the look downward is simultaneously a look forward in time. Borrowing a phrase from Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari who believe mines are non-teleological “lines of flight” that transport bodies across “smooth spaces” of becoming, I believe that mines of flight have the ability to create nature-culture assemblages of desire in addition to socio-economic squalor, environmental sickness, and geological ruin. Coalfield sociologist Rebecca R. Scott has recently examined the (illogical) “logic of extraction” that perpetuates the environmental injustices of MTR. My hope is that the early modern “prospect” alters contemporary debates that harmfully divide humans from the landscape and pit economic interests against environmental ones—offering us, instead, prospective futures in which the lives of both humans and nonhumans are mutually enriched.

 

September 25, 2013

2:30 p.m., 130 Colson Hall

 

 

 

 

 

Newberry Library Fellowships!

Midwest Modern Language Association   Department of English, Loyola University Chicago   1032 W. Sheridan Road | Chicago, Illinois 60660   phone 773.508.6083 | fax 773.508.6062   email: mmla@luc.edu | www.luc.edu/mmla

Dear Friends, Applications are now being accepted for the annual Midwest Modern Language Association Short-Term Fellowship at the Newberry Library. The fellowship provides support for one month in residence at the Newberry and a $2000 stipend. At the Newberry's request, applicants must live outside the Chicago area and hold a doctorate or be enrolled in a PhD program. They should also anticipate a specific need for the Newberry collections and foresee making use of them during their one month of residence. An applicant's M/MLA membership must be current at the time of application and through the period of the fellowship, and must be completed without interruption during the following year. Applications must be received by January 15, 2014.  For application procedures, visit the Newberry’s website, http://www.newberry.org/short-term-fellowships. This is a wonderful opportunity for our members, and an opportunity to interest new members.  I’d urge all eligible students and post-docs to apply—please bring this to the attention of your students and colleagues. Best wishes, Jack Cragwall Associate Professor of English Loyola University Chicago Executive Director and Editor Midwest Modern Language Association

Calliope Informational Meeting

Contact: Mary Ann Samyn, 304-293-9730

Calliope, WVU’s Literary Magazine, to Host Informational Meeting

A meeting of undergraduate students interested in working on Calliope, WVU's award-winning undergraduate literary magazine, will be held on Tuesday, September 17, at 7:00 p.m. in room 130 of Colson Hall. Calliope’s editor-in-chief, Caleb Stacy, and faculty advisor, Mary Ann Samyn, will talk with students interested in editorial positions (managing editor, fiction editor, poetry editor, etc.) as well as students interested in contributing in other ways to the editorial and publication process. No experience is necessary! Enthusiasm is a plus!

Students who are not able to attend the meeting but would like to be on the Calliope staff should email or call the magazine's faculty sponsor, Mary Ann Samyn, at maryann.samyn@mail.wvu.edu /304-293-9730.

Questions should be addressed to Professor Samyn.

Otter Nonsense

Graduate alumna Kerry Hogan (Kerry Hughes as was) has called the Tenants' attention to Discourse on the Otter, a Tumblr blog that, um, enlivens quotations from contemporary theory, as demonstrated by this gem derived from Judith Butler:

The Tenants are particularly taken by the quote from Richard Nixon, but we'll let you discover that for yourselves. Thanks to Kerry for giving us a good laugh at the start of the school year.

Cheat River Review

---Cheat River Review is the MFA program's new online literary journal. But you already knew about that, right? In any case, here's the very pretty web site... take a look and help us spread the word, ok?

Virginia Butts Sturm Creative Writing Scholarship

English majors who are currently pursuing the Creative Writing Concentration and have completed at least three credit hours in the concentration are encouraged to apply for the Virginia Butts Sturm Creative Writing Scholarship. 

 To apply for the $1000 scholarship, students should submit a writing sample and their name, address, telephone number, and email address to Marsha Bissett, 100 Colson Hall by Monday, September 9.  The writing sample should consist of either 5-10 poems or one work of fiction or creative nonfiction, with a maximum 25 pages.

 The recipient of this scholarship will be notified after September 23 and will receive the scholarship in the following spring semester.  The public announcement of the recipient will be at the evening reading of the 2013 Virginia Butts Sturm Writer in Residence, Janisse Ray.  That reading is scheduled for Monday, September 30, at 7:30 p.m. in the Gold Ballroom, WVU Mountainlair. 

 Although any West Virginia University student, regardless of major, can pursue a Creative Writing Concentration, this scholarship may only be awarded to a student majoring in English as stipulated by the benefactors.  Past recipients include Caleb Stacy (2013-14); Emily Isaacs (2012-13); Kimberly Nold (2011-12); Brandy Hoover (2009-10); Kelly Sundberg (2008-09); Marit Ericson (2007-08); Nick Gaudio (2006-07); Sarah Whitney Holmes (2005-06); Aaron Flanagan (2004-05); Tricia Almase (2003-04); Abigail Aikens (2002-03); Natalie Sypolt (2001-02); Jessica Harriman (2000-01); Ann Marie Lavorata (1999-2000); Nicole Sheets (1998-99); Scott Matthews (1997-98); Adriane Schramm (1996-97);  Ruth Ann Schmitt (1995-96); and Michael Thobois (1994-95).

Virginia Butts Sturm Workshop

The Department of English announces

Janisse Ray

2013 Virginia Butts Sturm Writer in Residence 

Through the generosity of the Sturm endowment, students at West Virginia University are given the opportunity to study for one week with a nationally renowned visiting writer in a workshop setting.  Janisse Ray, author of The Seed Underground and Ecology of a Cracker Childhood, is the writer selected to lead the 2013 Virginia Butts Sturm Writer-in-Residence Workshop, which is scheduled for September 30-October 4.

The Sturm Residency sponsors the writer in a free public reading, which will be held on Monday, September 30, at 7:30 p.m. in the Gold Ballroom, WVU Mountainlair.

Janisse Ray is a writer, naturalist, and activist. Her publications include five books of literary nonfiction and a collection of poetry. In a starred review, Publishers Weekly called Ray’s most recent book, The Seed Underground: A Growing Revolution to Save Food, an “enchanting narrative—part memoir, part botany primer, part political manifesto.” The Seed Underground has won several awards including the Nautilus Gold Book Award Better Books for a Better World in the Green Living Category, the American Horticultural Society Book Award, and the American Society of Journalists and Authors Arlene Eisenberg Award for Writing that Makes a Difference. Her highly acclaimed Ecology of a Cracker Childhood was a New York Times Notable Book and won the Southern Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction in 2000. Ray holds an MFA from the University of Montana, and she is on the faculty of Chatham University’s low-residency MFA program. She lives on a farm in Southern Georgia.

 How to Apply for the Workshop:

 Students interested in being considered for the Sturm Residency should submit 10-15 typed pages of nonfiction to Marsha Bissett in the Department of English (room 100, Colson Hall) by Monday, September 2, 2013.  With the entry, students will be asked to complete a Manuscript Submission Form, which will list name, address, telephone number and other information.  Students may also email their entry as a single attachment to marsha.bissett@mail.wvu.edu. Within the body of the email, please include your name, address, and telephone number. Please note: anyone enrolled as a student at WVU is eligible to participate in the Sturm Writer-in-Residence Workshop.

 The 12 students selected for the workshop will be notified by September 16th. If selected, students are required to attend the Monday, September 30, evening public reading.  Janisse Ray will then meet with them Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings from 7:00 – 10:00 p.m.  An optional, closing event is held on Friday.  Students who complete the workshop will receive one hour of English credit.

 Questions?  Contact Professor Mary Ann Samyn at 293-9730 or maryann.samyn@mail.wvu.edu.

MFA Annual Rooftop Reading

by Rebecca Doverspike

On the last Thursday before before the start of the Fall 2013 semester, we held our 3rd annual Rooftop Reading at Cafe Montmarte atop Hotel Morgan. Such a reading began, thanks to our COW predecessors, during my first year entering the MFA program and it was such a wonderful welcoming that it turned into tradition. We couldn’t have asked for clearer weather—light blue skies and a sun setting just a little faster than during the heart of summer—as we heard from 3rd and 2nd years as well as some brave 1st years. Thanks to Cafe Montmarte for hosting, all the COW officers (especially President Hannah McPherson) for putting on the event, everyone who attended and those who read, and, to our ever-encouraging faculty. It was wonderful to reunite and meet new faces, and geared us all up for an energetic and productive year. Below are some photos (all courtesy of Fiction Professor Glenn Taylor):

MFA Director Mary Ann Samyn and English Chair Jim Harms (both fantastic poetry professors), ready to listen.

2nd year nonfiction writer, Sadie, gives us witty and thought-provoking insight as she ponders how childhood experiences shape a person.

 2nd year MFA, Xin Tian, reading her ever-eloquent poetry.

2nd year poet and CRR Editor, Patric, reading powerful words involving loss and bus rides (sometimes interwoven).

2nd year MFA and COW President Hannah McPherson reading some thoughtful creative nonfiction about her time in Turkey.

Writers come in all heights! From front to back: Sadie, Morgan, Mari, and John.

Some old and new MFAs chatting after the reading.