Recently, the paperback version of Professor Emeritus James McGowan’s translation of Charles Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du Mal got a literal facelift and a new ISBN. Oxford University Press opted for a racier cover of the work, which, in his introduction, Jonathan Culler called “the most celebrated collection of verse in the history of modern poetry.” Since McGowan’s new translation appeared in 1993 it’s been a steady seller in the Oxford World’s Classics series. Les Fleurs du Mal, an acknowledged classic of French literature, contains 101 poems, many of which inspired debates on morality. It was published in 1857, 10 years before the poet’s death.
This past weekend, three English department faculty were on the program at three different events. Professor Joanne Diaz presented a paper on “‘The Rufull Register of mischief and mishap’: Penance and Juridical Testimony in The Mirror for Magistrates” at the First Annual Law and Literature Symposium, sponsored by the Villanova University (Pennsylvania) School of Law and Department of English. Meanwhile, yours truly presented a paper on “The Not-So-Great Diver: Intrusions (Authorial and Otherwise) in Tender Is the Night” at the 10th International F. Scott Fitzgerald Conference in Baltimore. And Professor Robert C. Bray, author of the award-winning biography Peter Cartwright, Legendary Frontier Preacher, delivered the Peter Cartwright Memorial Sermon at the United Methodist Church named for him in Pleasant Plains, Illinois. This October 10-13, Professor Dan Terkla’s paper on “The Duchy of Cornwall and Hereford Mappaemundi: Heritage, Patronage, and Commemoration” will be presented at the 50th Anniversary Meeting of the Society for the History of Discoveries in Raleigh, North Carolina.
They may be CCIW rivals, but when it comes to writing they’re just another opportunity . . . and the editors of the North Central Review have written to say that they welcome submissions from undergraduate writers everywhere. The Review only publishes undergraduate writers, and students must include proof of undergraduate status (photocopy of student ID without the number). With every submission of fiction, poetry, drama, creative non-fiction, or mixed-genre pieces, students should also include their name, mailing address, email address, and phone number. Submissions should include no more than five poems and two prose pieces; prose submissions should not exceed 5000 words each. For more details, see their Web site. Deadline for the fall issue is OCTOBER 15, while the deadline for spring is FEBRUARY 15. Send submissions via mail (North Central Review, CM#235, North Central College, 30 N. Brainard St., Naperville, IL 60540) or email (nccreview {at} noctrl(.)edu).
Sigma Tau Delta has announced their schedule for the Fifth Annual Muse Undergraduate Literary Conference, which will be held this Saturday, October 3, at the Center for Natural Science, Illinois Wesleyan University:
Registration, Atrium (8:30a.m.-1:00p.m.)
Session I (9:30-10:45a.m.)
Room E103: Race and Ethnic Identity. Presenters: Korey Williams, “Claude McKay and Langson Hughes Discuss America: A Two-Part Study on Poetic Turns”; Diane Kevin, “Her Silence Shouts: A Comparison of Margaret and Alice in Octavia E. Butler’s Kindred”; Mike Whitfield, “Dysfunctional Dads: Native American Fathers in Life and Literature”
Room E104: The Big Picture: Applying Literary Theory. Presenters: Laura Spradlin, “The Use and Implications of Foreshadowing as a Deictic POP”; Linda Martin, “Re-Thinking Conceptual Metaphor”; Angela Lee “The Imperialistic Quest: Exploring Conrad’s Heart of Darkness through Archetypal and Post-Colonial Theories”
Session II (11:00a.m.-12:15p.m.)
Room E103: Sexuality and Identity Formation. Presenters: Amy Glaves, “‘A Figure with Full Breasts and Male Genitals’: Jack Gladney’s Bi-gendered Identity in Don DeLillo’s White Noise”; Anne Marquette, “Boys to Men: Nameless Narrators and the Men They Become”; Kerry Devitt, “Boy Meets Boy: Not Just Another Love Story”
Room E104: Revisiting Ancient and Medieval Texts. Presenters: Kate Norcross, “Crossing Over: Assimilating Opposites in Riddle 26”; Scott Schneider, “Poisoned Grails: Sipping the Wine of Civilized Greed”; Lydia Martin, “‘I, Who Am Dead, Must Guide Him Here Below’: Virgil as a Guide in Dante’s Inferno.”
Lunch, E103 (12:15-1:00p.m.)
KEYNOTE ADDRESS, C101 (1:00-2:15p.m.): Dr. Eric Rabkin (University of Michigan), “The Nature of Character: Science Fiction Speaks of the Soul”
Panel Presentations (2:30-3:30p.m.)
Room E108: Teaching and Education in English. Panelists: Casey Kelley, Tara Hohulin, Tyler McWhorter, Jared Johnson
Room E106: English Graduate School and Academia. Panelists: Prof. Chris Breu, Jenna Goldsmith, Jane Carman, Catherine Ratliff
Room E105: Technical Writing and Publishing. Panelists: Sarah Haberstich, Dr. Gerald Savage, Godwin Agboka
Session III (3:45-5:00pm)
Room E103: Literature Interacts With the World. Presenters: Natalie Lalagos, “Lending the World a Paintbrush”; Marie Huey, “The Meaningful Balance of Being”; Jonathan Gerard, “A Damnable Life”
Room E104: Writing the Self: Autobiography. Presenters: Travis Williams, “Building Bridges through Images in Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home”; Peter Vrousouris, “Dispatches and the Problem(s) with Autobiography”; Ashley Jaconetti, “Making a New Pact: Discrepancies and Limitations of Autobiography Exposed in A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius”
IWU students may attend free, but should RSVP to muselitconf {at} gmail(.)com.
The 19th Annual University of St. Francis Undergraduate Conference on English Language and Literature will be held on March 19-20, 2010 at the University of St. Francis in Joliet, Illinois, and organizers are looking for students to present papers.
Submit complete papers (preferably) or abstracts on any topic in English studies, including writing, linguistics, film, theory, British/American/Commonwealth literatures, and literature in translation. Papers are limited to a 20-minute presentation (8-12 pages). Authors of the papers are obliged to present in person. The deadline is December 15, 2009, and there are two ways to submit: By mail, send proposals to: Dr. Marcia Smith Marzec, ELL Conference, Dept. of English, Univ. of St. Francis, 500 Wilcox St., Joliet, IL 60435. By email, send papers or abstracts as an attachment to mmarzec {at} stfrancis(.)edu.
Sigma Tau Delta will sponsor its Fifth Annual MUSE Undergraduate Literary Conference on Saturday, October 3, 2009. Students who are presenting papers have already been notified of their acceptance, but you don’t have to present a paper to attend. RSVP to muselitconf {at} gmail(.)com to be able to attend all the student presentations, panels, and keynote speech. It’s free for IWU students, but you do need to reserve space.
This year’s keynote speaker is Dr. Eric Rabkin, who teaches Science Fiction at the University of Michigan and maintains the award-winning University of Michigan Fantasy and Science Fiction Web Site. The title of his talk is “The Nature of Character: Science Fiction Speaks of the Soul.”
Three panels on Graduate School, English Education, and Technical Writing and Publishing will allow students to access basic information that can help them when it comes time to take that next step, and maybe even do a little networking. Students presenting papers from from a number of universities.
Tomorrow, Thursday, September 24, at 8 p.m. at the Hansen Student Center, Professor Michael Theune and Chip Corwin (’05, currently Adjunct Instructor of English at Heartland Community College) will present new creative works, including their latest project, The Divine Pregunta.
Saturday, September 26, in Beckman Auditorium of Ames Library there will be a double-feature for the writing community. First, leaders of the writing organizations on campus (Lyrical Graffiti, Tributaries, and Pseudonym Required), will read/perform their own work. Then the movie Dead Poets Society will be shown. Doors open at 6:30 p.m, and the film will be shown at approximately 7:45 or 8 p.m.
Both events are free and open to the public, so majors can bring friends or dates.
The deadline is fast approaching for the Fall for the Book Poetry Contest, which offers a first prize of a $50 gift certificate to Barnes & Noble and second and third prize memberships/subscriptions to The Writer’s Center and Poet Lore Magazine, co-sponsors of the contest along with Fall for the Book.
The deadline is September 30, and the guidelines are simple: write a poem of 60 lines or less in which you incorporate a quote from one Fall for the Book 2009 author into the poem. Email your poem as an MS Word attachment (.rtf or .doc) to fftbcontest {at} gmail(.)com and include your name, contact information, and source of the quote in the body of the email, but leave your name and contact information off the actual poem. Submissions will be read anonymously.
Streamlines: An Undergraduate Conference Celebrating Language, Literature, and Writing, is calling for conference paper proposals. Hosted by Clarke College, Loras College and the University of Dubuque, the conference provides students with another opportunity to present their work at a gathering of their peers. The conference will be held Saturday, November 14, 2009, and a $20 registration fee includes lunch.
To submit a proposal, use the online submission form to send a 300-word abstract by Friday, October 14, 2009. You’ll be asked to send the complete paper to Breyen Strickler, Assistant Professor of English at Loras College (breyen.strickler {at} loras(.)edu). Panel submissions are also encouraged. Participants will be notified of selection by Friday, October 23. Suggested panel/presentation topics in English, French, or Spanish are: American literature, British literature, global/world literature, modern languages, linguistics, creative writing, rhetoric, women’s studies, literary studies, women’s literature, literary theory, and teaching language/literature/writing. For more information see the Streamlines Web site.
Student writers have until Wednesday, September 23 to submit short stories and poems for the first round of Pseudonym Required, “a community for writers intent on developing their technique.” Send submissions to: Pseudonym.required {at} gmail(.)com or contact Nathan Butters (nbutters {at} iwu(.)edu) for additional information.
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