“Blessed be the fruit”: Adaptations and Appropriations of The Handmaid’s Tale

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Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel The Handmaid’s Tale has received many accolades. Among others, it was nominated for the Booker Prize and won the Arthur C. Clarke Award. Now our Graduate Track in British and American Literature has selected it as our focus for the 2018-2019 academic year, following on last year’s celebration of the bicentenary … Continue reading “Blessed be the fruit”: Adaptations and Appropriations of The Handmaid’s Tale

The National Book Award’s Fiction Longlist

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Two writers who recently visited Kansas State made the 10-writer longlist for the 2018 National Book Award in Fiction. Hell yeah, I cheered. Rebecca Makkai visited Kansas State in March of 2012. At that point, I considered her one of the modern masters of the short story (I'm not alone in that assessment: her stories once … Continue reading The National Book Award’s Fiction Longlist

Banned Books Week

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Of course, I like to read — I'm an English major — but it might surprise you that many of my favorite books have been banned, challenged in libraries, and even made recurring appearances on the American Library Association’s yearly lists of the 10 most banned or challenged books. Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird … Continue reading Banned Books Week

Summer Study in Ecuador

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Over the summer I went to the Equator where the sun rises straight up and twelve hours later it sets straight down, like it really means it. Always. I went to the ancient city of Quito, high in the Andes, where a Franciscan church from the brutal Spanish colonial period lies above an Incan temple … Continue reading Summer Study in Ecuador

How I Spent My Summer: Part 2

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Editors' note: We asked some English Department faculty members to share one, or some, of their summer adventures — academic or otherwise. Here's Part 2 (of 2), answering the age-old essay prompt: "How did you spend your summer vacation?" At the end of June, a record number of K-State English faculty, current graduate students, and … Continue reading How I Spent My Summer: Part 2

How I Spent My Summer: Part 1

Posted on by englishkstate

Editors' note: We asked some English Department faculty members to share one, or some, of their summer adventures — academic or otherwise. Here's Part 1 (of 2), answering the age-old essay prompt: "How did you spend your summer vacation?"   There are two things my 4-year-old miniature Schnauzer Dates does well. One is barking at … Continue reading How I Spent My Summer: Part 1

Digital Mitford: The Mary Russell Mitford Archive

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  There’s a popular British TV quiz show called Pointless. Contestants win by coming up with answers to general knowledge questions that no one else thought of (or at least not the hundred random people interviewed by BBC television researchers). If asked to name a nineteenth-century woman writer, I’m pretty sure I could win a … Continue reading Digital Mitford: The Mary Russell Mitford Archive

Summer Relocations II

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The relocation of Counseling Services to Sunset Avenue not only prompted discoveries in offices long-occupied by English Department faculty in Eisenhower Hall and Leasure Hall, as documented in last week's post. The move also made visible original features of the building known first as the Student Health Center and then as Lafene until, in 2004, … Continue reading Summer Relocations II

Three Areas for Quiet Study

Posted on by englishkstate

For many of us, it's a strange situation: The new semester has begun, but Hale Library, which suffered catastrophic fire-related damage this summer, is closed. There's no studying in the Great Room, no access to most of the collections, not even a single Einstein's bagel in sight. It's sad and even disorienting. The library is … Continue reading Three Areas for Quiet Study