November 11, 2009
Vol. 12 no.7
English Channel
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
12/02/09 CLA Reads! The Sharpshooter Blues in Literary Context
3:00 PM at Tichenor 310 (CLA Dean's Conference Room)
The Sharpshooter Blues in Literary Context, Sunny Stalter, Chantel Acevedo, Alicia Carroll, Department of ENglish
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12/04/09 CLA Reads! End of Semester Party and Next Steps
4:00 PM at Tichenor 310 (CLA Dean's Conference Room)
End of Semester Party and next Steps, Moderator Constance Relihan, CLA Dean's office.
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Jon Bolton Reports from Reading...
I just returned from an interesting event--The Bernard Spencer Centennial Conference--at the University of Reading, which holds the papers of this neglected poet of the '30s-early '60s. I spoke on the undergraduate literary culture of Oxford when Spencer was there in the late '20s, co-editing the journals Oxford Poetry, with Stephen Spender, and Sir Galahad, with Louis MacNeice. I attempted to change commonplace characterizations of that literary culture that have long described Oxford aesthetes of the time as being under the spell of Eliot and Auden. Through his friendship with Clere Parsons, who died tragically in 1931, and the Franco-American writer, Edouard Roditi, Spencer was part of a group of young writers whose ideas about verse were strongly informed by French and American avante garde writers like Hart Crane and e.e. cummings. Spencer would become very much an Audenesque writer of the '30s, but would return to his symbolist roots in his mature verse. A definite highlight of the conference was meeting Spencer's son Piers, a London osteopath and a huge Neil Young fan, and his widow, Ann Humphreys.
Stewart Whittemore Signs Contract for TPC Manuscript
Stewart Whittemore has just signed an advance contract with Texas Tech University Press to publish his book Writing Memory: Technical Communication and the Construction of Organizational Knowledge as part of its Press Series in Technical Communication and Rhetoric.
Chantel Acevedo Publishes Short Story and Works to Bring Writer’s Conference to Auburn
Chantel Acevedo’s short story, "Prayers to San Luis Beltran" was recently accepted in Arts and Letters: Journal of Contemporary Cultures. Her monologue, entitled "Cuban Girls Don't Go Away for College," will be performed by The Krane, a dramatic arts company in Miami, Florida, as part of a production called "Shake it Up," a series of original monologues inspired by Shakespeare's Falstaff. The link is here: http://www.thekrane.com/index.html
In other news, Chantel is working with Jay Lamar from the Center of the Arts and Humanities to bring a writer's conference to Auburn in the fall of 2010. The focus of the conference is meant to change every year, and so the launching theme will be "The Child on the Page: Writing For and About Children." The prolific, critically acclaimed, bestselling author of novels for adults and children, Julianna Baggott, will be the keynote speaker. Other writers on board so far are the English Department's own Peter Huggins, whose most recent middle grades book, In the Company of Owls, was published by NewSouth Books last fall, as well as Auburn alum, Rachel Hawkins, author of the forthcoming Young Adult series, Hex Hall, published by Hyperion. The conference will feature a day of workshop for aspiring writers, a day of readings and panel discussions by published authors, a book sale, lunch and dinner. We encourage members of the English department get involved in the conference in ways large and small. Everyone is welcome to take part!
Alicia Carroll Publishes Article in Victorian Review
Alicia Carroll announces that her article “The Greening of Mary De Morgan,” will appear in a special issue of Victorian Review: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Victorian Studies. The journal publishes research articles on all aspects of Victorian literature, history, science, arts, and culture, and this issue will be dedicated to research on “Natural Environments.” The issue will appear in Fall of 2010.
Kimberly Jack Presents Conference Paper on the Medieval Poem Cleanness
Kimberly Jack traveled to Nashville to attend the SEMA (South Eastern Medieval Association) conference at Vanderbilt University the weekend of October 17. She presented a paper entitled "Seeing One's Soul: The Body and Dress in Cleanness" on the 14th c. Middle English poem's treatment of the limitations of knowledge gained through visual perception. Cleanness, a lesser known work likely by the author of Pearl and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, presents a practical application of this question in the form of unclean priests who might corrupt the Eucharist by touching the Host during Mass. Kimberly argues that the poem answers this concern through a series of biblical narratives which establish and explore a metaphorical relationship between the external signs of the body and clothing, and the internal signified of the soul.
Rhonda Powers Publishes Article in Association of Core Texts and Courses Book
Rhonda Powers’ article, “‘I know now how history is made’: Wole Soyinka and the Drama of Existence” appears in Substance, Judgment and Evaluation: Seeking the Worth of a Liberal Arts, Core Text Education. Ed. J. Scott Lee, et.al.
Call for Papers: Women’s Studies Graduate Research Symposium
The Women’s Studies Program will be hosting its Graduate Research Symposium on Saturday, December 5, 2009. Graduate and upper-level undergraduate students (with a letter of support from a faculty member) are invited to submit 10-20 page papers on topics related to women’s studies, and a $250 prize will be awarded for the best paper. The submission deadline is November 16, 2009; entries can be submitted to Dr. Traci O’Brien, Haley Center 6030, or Denise Guidry, Haley Center 9030. One copy should also be submitted to the open Blackboard page “Women’s Studies – Graduate Symposium” on AU’s Blackboard system. Questions should be directed to Dr. Tiffany Thomas, 844-6195 or Dr. Ruth Crocker, 844-1974.
Meet The Undergrads!
More than 300 students currently major in English at Auburn University, and they are a diverse group of individuals with a variety of interests and talents. The English Channel is proud to feature some of our outstanding students who help make the English Department dynamic and interesting.
Sarah Jo Turrittin, Senior
Creative writer Sarah Jo Turritin has gone elsewhere to find inspiration – she is studying abroad in Italy this semester to continue to broaden her horizons. In addition to her study abroad experience, Sarah Jo goes to Korea for the summers, where her mother is from, and where her parents currently live. Sarah Jo hails from a military family and has lived many places, but Auburn enabled her to get back to her roots; her father is an Auburn alum, and Sarah Jo is the seventh person in her family to attend the university. Thwarted by allergies to cats and dogs, she eschewed vet school for the English major, as she loves to write fiction in a number of genres. A self-described bookworm, she reads in a variety of genres as well, including the Twilight novels, romance novels, historical fiction, mysteries, and classical literature. Sarah Jo enjoys the English department because the teachers are “friendly, open, and willing to work with you.”