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College of Arts & Sciences Alumni Association Vol. 21 • Summer 2005 News from the chair Departmental excellence endures, despite losses ast year I began this column with a passage from Samuel Beckett’s Lnovel The Unnamable: “I can’t go on, I’ll go on.” This sentiment, as you will recall, was motivated by the human losses we sustained with the passings of Albert Wertheim and Tim Wiles. And, as you will read in this issue, our friend and colleague Jim Jensen succumbed to a fatal infection as last year’s News in English was in press. The endurance of which Beckett speaks is, thus, still requisite; we often measure our time, it seems, much as Clov and Hamm do in Endgame — by loss. But, unlike them, we don’t lose our ide- als, and we celebrate our many victories as well. You will read of many such victories in Chair Stephen Watt meets with the editors of The News in English. the pages that follow: the accomplishments of our colleagues Judith Anderson, Tony participation in the national Carnegie Ini- tion, will reach completion in the coming Ardizzone, Scott Sanders, and others; the tiative on the Doctorate, is also undergoing year. hiring of truly wonderful new faculty; and a major revision, which includes the secur- There is, therefore, much to celebrate. the significant awards won by our graduate ing of support to reduce teaching loads We do go on, and we will persist in our students Kyle Dargan, Gina Brandolino, from 2-1 to 1-1 for many doctoral students efforts to deserve our reputation as one Melissa Jones, and Tobias Menely, among at crucial moments in their programs. This of the best English departments in the others. Melissa was awarded the first an- initiative, which also will motivate changes country. nual Albert Wertheim Memorial Prize, a in curriculum and the qualifying examina- — Stephen Watt gift made possible by the generosity of the Wertheim family and friends to help sup- port student research in drama and theater history (see “Student Notes” on page 10.) In tribute to Jim Jensen In many respects, then, 2004 was a great s the last issue of the News in English was in press, we all heard the surprising year for the department, for its faculty and Aand tragic news that Jim Jensen had succumbed to a fatal infection. He had just students. been in Bloomington to attend the memorial for his dear friend Albert Wertheim, Another development that will change and many of us shared meals and visited with Jim and Susan while they were here. the nature of the department is its winning It was the old Jim in attendance last spring: hale, hearty, jovial, and generous. These of funds from the campuswide Commit- were gifts he possessed in great abundance and shared with all of us, from the time ment to Excellence Initiative. Our propos- of his arrival in Indiana in 1966, after completing his doctoral degree at Cornell al, “Renewing Leadership in the Humani- University, until his retirement in 1998. Like Albert, Jim was so enormously kind ties,” received university funding, allowing to me when I first arrived in 1985, I shall never forget it, nor be able to express us to hire four senior faculty in the next adequately what his friendship over the years has meant to me. few years. Of course, we can never replace Last August, the Jensen family held a memorial for Jim for which Sean McDow- a Pat Brantlinger or Larry Clopper, but ell, one of Jim’s former students, wrote the lovely poem reproduced in this newslet- we can try our best to attract distinguished ter on page 2. It captures more gracefully than I ever could Jim’s great love of life teacher-scholars to the department. And we — and of his family and friends. I am pleased to share it with you. will do so. — SW The graduate program, as a result of our 1 Around English Bonding criticism and pop culture Rhode Island Passage Ian Fleming and James Bond: The Cultural For Jim Jensen Politics of 007, released in April by IU And those who knew him Press, is the product of the Ian Fleming conference that was held in Bloomington in I. Trompe-L’Oeil 2002 and hosted by the IU Department of He spoke of you more as celebrity than girl: English. Professor , an edi- Ed Comentale “She’s going to be an actress. Look how she holds tor of the book and author of one of its 15 essays, is satisfied with the way it success- expressions and emotes” — as if your face foretold fully straddles two camps. He explains that a multitude of talents time would unfurl. by applying critical theory to the analysis He acted, too: hunched his shoulders, bared his claws and of a celebrated pop culture icon, the book growled, a bear worth laughter and your apple-wedge grin. appeals to both scholars and Bond enthu- Later, we ploughed the waves, sea breezes tangled in siasts. your wispy hair, until he drove us to a strand. This serious look at Fleming’s work We strolled along your first New England shoreline reveals many perspectives of a hugely our feet muddy in sand. His hands cupping yours, you popular but also widely criticized character. stepped as if you couldn’t fall; he made us feel that too. Featuring what Comentale calls “smart es- But then my eyes awoke to gritty sunshine — says about many pertinent cultural topics,” wind, sand, salt, surf, and cries of gulls all fled from me. the book explores Bond’s not-so-notorious relationships, such as those with capitalism, Such times as these never were, nor would ever be. lesbianism, the Kennedys, and terrorism, rather than those with Solitaire or Tania II. Erasures Romanova. Ian Fleming and James Bond When rogue waves strike, they catch us unawares: covers the good, the bad, and the ugly of we may detect a swell but not its force; Bond, while affirming the relevance and they strip belongings, knock bodies off course, longevity of Fleming’s work. and leave behind a mess of losses, tears, and cares. Comentale has been pleased with the O father, friend, beloved, where have you gone? book’s good reviews from reputable schol- What wave has left us desolate? Where is ars, including Michael Bérubé, who says, the scholar who savored ideas? Where is “This is a compelling and important book the navy pilot who split wood at dawn? … [that] makes a significant contribution not only to studies of Bond and Ian Flem- These rooms contain echoes of the laughter ing, but also to studies of popular culture of him whose words beatified Handel, in general.” Initial sales indicate that the the connoisseur of wines we came to prize. public welcomes the work, and both Co- No more we’ll see his ruddy cheeks hereafter, mentale and Stephen Watt, another of the no more we’ll see his grin when lighting candles book’s editors, agree that they enjoyed the for meals, no more we’ll see his mischievous eyes. project enough to go for another round of Fleming discourse and shaken martinis. III. Life Study We can erect no better monument College English returns than to live well, a tribute surpassing stone. As of this fall, and continuing until 2011, Jim’s likes and dislikes permeate our own — the department will once again be head- all we need do is stoke new merriment. quarters for the distinguished journal Col- He taught us how: consider wine a food lege English. The editor will be Culbertson worth studying; laugh at human folly; Chair of Writing John Schilb. In the late read the great writers and those more jolly; 1970s and early ’80s, the journal was ed- simply remember, regardless of mood. ited here by Professor Don Gray, the first Reminisce with friends until the wee hours; Culbertson Chair. work with our hands; read for pleasure at night; Established in 1939 and now published ponder what is beauty and what is not. six times a year, College English is the of- Relate the stories of his life and ours ficial journal for the College Section of the together; seek the things that yield delight, National Council of Teachers of English. It has long been one of the most widely read for Jim would want us to, and he cannot. journals in our discipline, with a circula- — Sean McDowell (continued on page 3) 2 Recent faculty awards, books Judith Anderson (Warsaw: Cyklady, 2004; a revised and expanded version of his Award: Lifetime Achievement Award of the International book A Double Dying, in Polish translation). Spenser Society, 2004. Award: Presidential appointee to the Holocaust Memorial Tony Ardizzone Council (second year of five-year term). Award: Tracey M. Sonneborn Award, IU, May, 2005. Scott Sanders Richard Cecil Book: Bad Man Ballad (novel reprint), with a new afterword Book: Twenty-First-Century Blues (Carbondale: Southern Il- by the author (Bloomington: Indiana University Press). linois University Press, 2004. Award: 2004–05 literature fellowship from the National En- dowment for the Arts. Ed Comentale Books: Masses in Relation: Art, Production, and Politics in John Schilb Avant-Garde England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Book: Making Arguments About Literature, edited with Press, 2004); Ian Fleming and James John Clifford (Boston: Bedford/St. Bond: The Cultural Politics of 007, Martin’s, 2005; first published in No- Edward Comentale, Stephen Watt, and vember 2004). Skip Willman, eds. (Bloomington: Indi- Editorship: College English, 2006–11. ana University Press, 2005). Janet Sorensen Mary Favret Award: Fellowship, National Endow- Award: Fellowship at the National Hu- ment for the Humanities, 2004.