Dear Jeremy,

thank you so much!

I feel very grateful and slightly guilty to have provoked such a detailed response. I had a look at some of the lists you suggest, and, of course, I have my own favorites (some of which you mention), but I was curious to see what people here in the MLA forum would say…

P.S. Among the books I haven’t read yet,…[Read more]

Literary scholarship for book-loving non-academics? That is a really interesting (and quite broad) challenge. I like the idea of promoting literary criticism to a broad audience — whether through public reviews or through holiday gift-giving.

It occurs to me that the top social book platforms on the web may already have an approximate answer to…[Read more]

James Woods would seem to fill your bill.  HOW FICTION WORKS is the more “litcrit,” to invoke your categorization,  and THE FUN STUFF has gestures to other arts/performance.  Both are wonderfully readable.

Sharon Shaloo, Mass Center for the Book

not a litcrit book, alas — still, thank you!

Dear Alexandra,

I like the idea of your post. One book that comes to mind is A Brave Vessel, by Hobson Woodward. It doesn’t have the pop-currency potential as Will of the World, but it’s approachable for normal people interested in The Tempest and the Sea Venture’s wreck on Bermuda.

Great!

Dear Rhea Riegel:

Taking into consideration the powerful topic of “The World Upside-Down”, I’ll go ahead and submit my proposal in English. Thanks.

Hi Massimilla – I hoped to meet with the conference committee before answering your question, but neither do I want to keep you waiting. I won’t be able to connect with the committee quickly enough, so I would say that you should go ahead and submit your abstract as you want to present it, but also to note whether or not you would be willing to…[Read more]

Hi, my topic would be around Álvaro Cunqueiro, a Spanish A-vanguard author, who practices Magical Realism and who grounds his work into the World-up Side Down, parody, irony and humor (Bakhtin, etc.). Do you accept abstract (and paper) in Spanish? Thanks. Massimilla Pialorsi-Lewis.

Hi Marilyn – it is an interdisciplinary conference so politics is fine. The session that is open for paper submissions is “Carnival and Satire” so if your topic fits that, we would welcome your abstract. Either way, we hope you can attend the conference in April!

I have a political topic for a “world upside down.”
It has nothing to do with literature but with political stances taken by literary organizations that I believe are unnecessarily naive and misguided.

Marilyn Shapiro