This paper analyses the category of space in Fanny Taillandier’s last novel Par les
écrans du monde. We argue that Taillandier tries to “make sense” of 9/11 terrorist attack
through a stylistic recomposition of the dimension of space, while situating it in a
“geometry of words” that makes it meaningful and human again. In effect, in Taillandie…[Read more]

This autoethnographic exploration, describes and reflects upon my attempt to crowdsource a modern myth on the origins of racism in America. It draws on my work in narrative studies with a special focus on stories and their role in human development. Part one is analysis of the ‘functions’ of story as both plot variables and sociological act…[Read more]

This article is a slightly revised version of a plenary panel address presented at the ‘Passages’ Symposium at the Sorbonne, Paris on the 12th of June 2019, in honor of the centenary of the birth of the American poet Robert Duncan. The article traces some of the mutual interest and influence between the poets Robert Duncan and Hilda Doolittle…[Read more]

This article appeared in the journal American Studies, 32.1 (Spring 1991): 85-100. The article examines a poetics of the mathematically sublime as it relates to the design and play of the American game of baseball. There is some commentary on literature and cultural sudies as well as the history and rules of baseball. There is no DOI for the…[Read more]

This commemorative and retrospective memoir examines events fifty years ago in the interests of tracking and placing the editorial ideals and dynamics of the journal “Works & Days”, founded in 1978 and published through 2019. The author was one of the original co-founders of the journal, as well as a contributor and member of the editorial board…[Read more]

This article is a sustained profile and study of prominent Northern Irish poet Sinead Morrissey’s complete run of work from the 1990s through 2018. The article examines closely the developing course of her poetry as well as the developing itinerary of her poetics, especially in the light of her transatlantic poetics as well as local and…[Read more]

Le livre constitue les actes du colloque qui s’est tenu en mai 2019 à la Università Cattolica du Sacré-Coeur de Milan.
Ce livre examine les relations que l’œuvre de Proust entretient avec l’histoire, avec la société de son temps et du nôtre, les conflits ouverts ou souterrains qu’elle révèle ou recèle, et, plus contemporainement, se demander s’i…[Read more]

Vladimir Nabokov’s “Lolita” is known for its seductive writing despite its destructive subject matter. How does this novel accomplish such a juxtaposition? How does the novel keep the reader interested despite Humber blatantly attacking Dolores Haze? This essay explores critically explores the technical method which Nabokov uses in “Lolita.” The…[Read more]

Many screen and stage adaptations of the classics are informed by a philosophical investment in literature’s reparative merit, a preconceived notion that performing the canon can make one a better person. Inspirational narratives, in particular, have instrumentalized the canon to serve socially reparative purposes. Social recuperation of disabled…[Read more]

The influential Tamil writer Pudumaippittan turned to the short story to theorize the relationship between literature and society in the late-colonial era. He used the genre’s brevity to compress his portrayals of well-known female types—such as widows, prostitutes, and goodwives—into singular emotional events. This enabled Pudumaippittan to evoke…[Read more]

Article My reply to Jacob Sanders’ (Communication Associate of WalletHub 818 18th Street NW Suite 1020 Washington ,DC 20005) “Media Inquiry on “Most & Least Diverse States in America”

Review of The Halberd at Red Cliff: Jian’an and the Three Kingdoms, by Xiaofei Tian (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Asia Center, 2018)

Shakespeare scholarship has long been interested in the temporal dynamics of The Winter’s Tale, and has often turned to melancholic or traumatic time frames to explain the thematic persistence of lost time in Shakespeare’s romance. In this chapter, I argue that dance provides a key interpretive framework for understanding the play’s interest in bo…[Read more]

Previous studies suggest that narrative fiction promotes social justice by increasing empathy, but critics have argued that the partiality of empathy severely limits its effectiveness as an engine of social justice, and that what needs to be developed is universal compassion rather than empathy. We created Compassion-Cultivating Pedagogy (CCP) to…[Read more]

The theme of waiting permeates two poems by the late Syrian poet Nizār Qabbānī. The verse in both poems ‘Waiting for Godot’, and ‘A television interview with an Arab Godot’, describes an arduous wait, at once distressing and unpredictable. In the first poem, the poet urges Godot to arrive, as the savior who will appear in the form of the Messia…[Read more]