(Photo by Hongqi Zhang) If you post a question like “Who is African?” on Twitter, your timeline will immediately become bombarded both with hot takes about what constitutes the African identity on one hand and a big earful of insults from individuals who don’t think that the question should exist at all. Yet, no matter … Continue reading Move over Afropolitans, We are Going Old School
Kudzu Vines (photo) Southern Literature: the hallowed playground of venerated authors such William Faulkner, Eudora Welty, and Flannery O’Connor. Their novels and short stories have created such a comprehensive and detailed landscape that when we revisit texts such as The Sound and the Fury or Wise Blood, our minds cannot help but conjure images of … Continue reading Bless Your Heart, Regionalism and Southern Literature Just Ain’t the Same Thing
Hailee Steinfeld as Emily Dickinson (left) and Ella Hunt as Sue Gilbert (right) in Dickinson (image: Apple TV+) If Emily Dickinson were alive today, she’d definitely be a Swiftie. Fans of Taylor Swift praise the poetic descriptions of love, heartbreak, and longing that appear in her latest album, evermore, and Taylor’s narrative songwriting is both … Continue reading Taylor Swift’s evermore (Emily Dickinson’s Version)
Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) Today we share the final entry selected for publication from an assignment in ENGL 801 “Introduction to Graduate Studies”: a piece of public scholarship (700-1,000 words) which tailors an academic paper and its scholarly intervention of 10-12 … Continue reading Really, It’s in Your Best Interest to Join Captain Jack in a Life of Piracy
Cover for the online journal Fleas on the Dog, where Ania Payne's work appears. Each month during the academic year, we assemble a newsletter of the department's recent publications, presentations, announcements, and awards. As COVID-19 continues, we continue to direct energies towards teaching fall courses and to supporting others during the pandemic. We're … Continue reading November 2021 Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity
Today we share the third of four pieces of public writing selected for publication from an assignment in ENGL 801 “Introduction to Graduate Studies”: a piece of public scholarship (700-1,000 words) which tailors an academic paper and its scholarly intervention of 10-12 pages for a general-interest audience. Read more about the assignment and the first … Continue reading Sex List
Ahmed Adly, “Human Skull in Black -- Proud of Death” (2019) Today we share the second of four pieces of public writing selected for publication from an assignment in ENGL 801 “Introduction to Graduate Studies”: a piece of public scholarship (700-1,000 words) which tailors an academic paper and its scholarly intervention of 10-12 pages for … Continue reading Death and the Afterlife in Ecclesiastes and Hamlet
A tree from Over the Garden Wall (Episode 1 “The Old Grist Mill”) In ENGL 801 "Introduction to Graduate Studies," a required course for incoming M.A. students, we have always asked our graduate students to develop an original contribution to a current scholarly conversation about a literary or cultural text. Starting last year, we added … Continue reading Over the Garden Wall is Trying to Scare Your Kids, and That’s Not a Bad Thing
Jefferson Storms (MA '22) A couple constants in my life are a love of story and a drive to understand the people around me in all their depth, complexity, and even their contradictions—and especially to understand people who are different from me or whose perspectives challenge mine. So graduate work in literature and cultural studies … Continue reading Grad Student Spotlight: Jefferson Storms
Cover for Dust Off the Medal: Rediscovering Children's Literature at the Newbery Centennial (Routledge, 2021), where Anne Phillips' and Greg Eiselein's work appears. Each month during the academic year, we assemble a newsletter of the department's recent publications, presentations, announcements, and awards. As COVID-19 continues, we continue to direct energies towards teaching fall … Continue reading October 2021 Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity
K-State English 