A Poet’s Perspective
Pulitzer Prize-winning professor is passionate about poetry and mentoring students.
Zach Whalen Presents Paper at Society for Literature, Science and the Arts
Zach Whalen, assistant professor in the Department of English, Linguistics and Communication, presented a paper at the recent Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts conference, held this year in Milwaukee, Wis. The presentation, “A Counterfactual Historiography of Three Game Platforms,” challenged the received metanarrative of game console generations. By way of a close reading of three less well-known consoles — Channel F, Vectrex and Virtual Boy — the paper explores the implications of an alternate history for video game devices.
Claudia Emerson Honored as Woman of Distinction
Arrington Distinguished Chair of Poetry and Professor of English Claudia Emerson was named one of seven “Women of Distinction” of 2012 by the Girl Scouts of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Emerson received the award during a ceremony on Wednesday, Sept. 26. The girl scouting review committee chose the “Women of Distinction” based on their ability to serve as examples of courage, confidence and character. Emerson’s award focused on her accomplishments in culture and communication.
Gary Richards Presents at Conference in D.C.
On Sunday, August 5, Gary Richards, assistant professor of English, presented a paper, “Statues, Stories, and Hominy Grits: The Light in the Piazza, Grey Gardens, and the Complicating of the United States South in the Contemporary American Musical,” at the Association for Theatre in Higher Education Conference in Washington, D.C. The paper was part of a panel entitled “Broadway Musicals as Sites of American Identities and American Histories.”
Richards also was the University of Mary Washington’s chapter delegate to the Forty-Third Triennial Council of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, which met in Palm Beach, Fla., Thursday, August 2 through Saturday, August 4.
Richard Finkelstein’s Article on Shakespeare Appears in Journal
Richard Finkelstein, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and professor of English, published “The Comedy of Errors and the Theology of Things” in the spring issue of Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900.
The article looks at both theological and mercantile traditions to argue that Shakespeare sees participation in the marketplace as redemptive.
Steve Watkins’ Novel Named to “Best Books” List
Professor of English Steve Watkins’ 2011 young adult novel “What Comes After” has been named to Bank Street’s list of 2012 Best Books of the Year. “What Comes After” is one of 46 books in the category for children older than 14-years-old.
The Bank Street College of Education chose the books for the annual list based on several criteria, including literary quality and the potential emotional impact of the books on young readers. Bank Street is a private institution composed of children’s programs, a graduate school and a research and policy initiative.
Watkins’ novel also is a finalist for the 2012-2013 Georgia Peach Book Award, given by the Georgia Library Media Association, Georgia Library Association, Georgia Public Library Service and the Georgia Education Association. Watkins is one of 20 nominees in the teen readers category. Teens will read and rate the books to determine the winner of the award, which will be announced in April 2013.
Gary Richards Presents at Southern Literature Conference
Gary Richards, assistant professor of English, presented a paper, “Where The Wind Done Gone Done Went: An Unauthorized Anniversary Parody,” at the Society for the Study of Southern Literature Conference in Nashville, Tenn., held Thursday, March 29 through Saturday, March 31. A member of the SSSL Executive Committee, Richards also was part of the four-person program committee for the conference.
Richards facilitated the Breakfast Book Club discussion of Tennessee Williams’s short fiction at the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival in New Orleans, La., held Wednesday, March 21 through Sunday, March 25.
Zach Whalen Gives Scholarly Presentations at Two Conferences
Zach Whalen, assistant professor in the Department of English, Linguistics and Communication, recently gave presentations at major conferences. First, at the 2012 convention of the Modern Language Association, Whalen contributed his paper to a session on “Close Playing: Literary Methods and Video Game Studies.” Whalen’s paper, “Close Enough,” adopts the literary model of close reading toward understanding the physical technology of videogame screens.
And at the 2012 conference of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies, Whalen chaired a session on “Code Studies and Videogames” and presented his own paper, “‘//create magnetic children’: Videogame Code as Critical Paratext,” a comparative analysis of the source code of two art games.
Eric Lorentzen Gives Scholarly Talk at Conference
Eric G. Lorentzen, associate professor of English, gave a scholarly talk on Friday, March 16 at the Northeastern Modern Language Association annual conference entitled “‘You ask rather too many questions’: Co-Opting the Catechistic Method in Jane Eyre.”
Chris Foss is Featured Panelist at Conference
Chris Foss, associate professor of English, is a featured panelist at the Plenary Kickoff Workshop on Thursday, March 22 for the Cripples, Idiots, Lepers, and Freaks: Extraordinary Bodies/Extraordinary Minds conference at CUNY (City University of New York).
The workshop is titled, “Constructions of Autism: Theorizing Voice and Identity ‘On the Spectrum,” and Foss is one of four autism studies scholars presenting work-in-progress and discussing the place of autism in both academia and society.
He also will participate in the conference’s Disability and Pedagogy roundtable that day with six other disability studies instructors.
The conference is co-sponsored by the CUNY Graduate Center Ph.D. Program in English, the English Student Association, The Center for the Study of Women and Society, The Mellon Committee for Interdisciplinary Science Studies, the Doctoral Students’ Council, The Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies and The Center for the Humanities.