New Courses New Directions
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AN ANNUAL PUBLICATION FOR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF MICHIGAN ENGLISH www.lsa.umich.edu/english NEW COURSES NEW DIRECTIONS 2014 ALUMNI NEWSLETTER PLEASE HELP SUPPORT MICHIGAN ENGLISH POSTAGE-PAID ENVELOPE INSIDE A NOTE from the As I enter my last year as Chair of this remark- two creative writers. The scholars are Madhumita able Department (not to mention my 29th Lahiri, who comes to us from the University CHAIR year on the faculty), it is tempting to reflect of Warwick in the United Kingdom, and is a on the various changes the Department has specialist in postcolonial literature and world undergone. Almost every year, the Department literature; and Walter Cohen, who comes to has welcomed new faculty, and said farewell us from Cornell University, and is a specialist to others. Change is indeed the norm, and the in Renaissance and European literature. The lifeblood, of English Departments. Maintaining creative writers are Kirstin Quade and Tarfia the Department’s excellence in research and Faizullah, who will be joining the Helen Zell teaching has been made somewhat tougher by Writers’ Program as the Nicholas Delbanco Vis- the challenges and constraints facing all humani- iting Professor in Fiction and Poetry, respectively. ties departments in public institutions of higher Please be sure to read their profiles in this issue. education. But it has been made much easier Each will bring vital new energies and perspec- by the enthusiastic support we receive from our tives to the Department. amazing alums. As always, the awards of our lauded faculty First the losses: Alan Wald, the H. Chandler are too numerous to mention, but three deserve MICHAEL Davis Collegiate Professor of English Literature special notice here: Linda Gregerson, a poet SCHOENFELDT and in the Program in American Culture, has as well as a scholar, has been elected to the DEPARTMENT CHAIR retired. He is the leading cultural historian of American Academy of Arts and Sciences Class the United States Literary Left in the mid-20th of 2014; Lorna Goodison, poet, fiction writer, century, and the author of eight books. While we and memoirist, was awarded the Commander expect him to continue (or even accelerate) his of the Order of Distinction by the Jamaican remarkable productivity, we know that his pres- Government for her service to literature; and ence will be missed deeply in the classroom. Khaled Mattawa, poet, scholar, and translator, It is with great sadness that I report the death was appointed one of two new chancellors to the of Professor Russell Fraser, former Chair of the Academy of American Poets and was awarded Department, and the author of twenty (!) books. a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship. You can He made his reputation in Shakespeare and get a taste of the wonderful work of Lorna and Renaissance literature, but his abundant interests Khaled later in this issue. ranged widely, and his last book, published in Having endured the winter of the polar 2013, was a study of the influence of religion and vortex, my colleagues and I are warmed by art on Central Asian societies. His passionate, your professional successes and your substantial articulate commitment to literature, and to the affection for the Department. We love to hear Department, is profiled later in this issue. from you about what you have done with your And it is with almost unspeakable sadness that degree from our Department. Without your help I report the untimely death of our brilliant col- and support, we would not be able to recruit league, Patsy Yaeger. A pioneering feminist liter- and retain the best faculty, who will continue to ary critic who specialized in Southern literature, develop innovative courses and programs of the gender, and material culture, Patsy managed to kind surveyed in this issue of the newsletter in light up every room she entered. The world is order to provide the best education imaginable darker without her. for our students. And now the gains: It is with great pleasure that I note four new colleagues who are joining the Department. We welcome two scholars and The U‑M English Alumni Newsletter is The University of Michigan, as an equal opportunity/affirmative published once a year by the Department of English Language action employer, complies with all applicable federal and state laws and Literature, University of Michigan, 3187 Angell Hall, Ann regarding nondiscrimination and affirmative action. The University of Arbor, MI 48109‑1003 Michigan is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all persons and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, FOLLOW US: Editor: Laurence Goldstein age, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender Creative Direction: Anthony Cece expression, disability, religion, height, weight, or veteran status in UMichEnglish Design: Linette Lao employment, educational programs and activities, and admissions. The Regents of the University of Michigan: Inquiries or complaints may be addressed to the Senior Director for @UM_English Mark J. Bernstein, Julia Donovan Darlow, Laurence B. Deitch, Institutional Equity, and Title IX/Section 504/ADA Coordinator, Office 02 Autumn 2013 U‑M Department of ShaunaEnglish Ryder Diggs, Denise Ilitch, Andrea Fischer Newman, of Institutional Equity, 2072 Administrative Services Building, Ann www.lsa.umich.edu/english Andrew C. Richner, Katherine E. White, Mark S. Schlissel (ex Arbor, Michigan 48109‑1432, 734‑763‑0235, TTY 734‑647‑1388. officio) For other University of Michigan information call 734‑764‑1817. SPECIAL SECTION NEW COURSES > NEW DIRECTIONS by Michael Byers When we begin, a few of them know a Instead, we go to the end result — the falling corpse. few things: How do you make it sound like a body’s really falling? How 1. They know they can say “Thehadow S knows!” and does a body hit the floor? We break into groups to figure then cackle. this out. Their only prop: an empty cardboard box from 2. They know the ragnetD theme —“Dum da dum the English Department copy room. It’s all they need, but dum”— but maybe not where it comes from. they don’t know how to use it. 3. They know something about The War of the Worlds Do you throw the box on the ground? Put something in broadcast. the box and shake? Hit the box with something? They’re 4. They know, the Lone Ranger something-something- delighted. They’re hooked. something? Maybe? And suddenly they want to know everything. 5. Oh, wait, Superman, right? Was Superman on the As I tell my students, my expertise in midcentury Ameri- radio? can radio drama and comedy comes not from any scholarly work on my part, but from enthusiasm. I’m a fan. I became They’ve seen a photograph of a family gathered around hooked early in life, listening on weekends, late at night, to an enormous appliance, chins on their hands. But it’s a long a nostalgia show aimed at listeners thirty years my senior, time gone, this life, when all you did was listen. It’s hard to and I’ve never stopped. In this new era of satellite radio imagine. So this is a course on the history of radio drama and podcasts — and with the Internet Archive to draw and comedy? And we’re supposed to actually put on a show from — anybody can listen to any show at any time. of our own at the end of the semester? Because there are so many shows (examples of hundreds The students are game, they’re interested — but they don’t and hundreds of distinct programs survive, and many of know much. these program runs are years-long), a question arises as to So during the first class, we do something simple. organization and approach. How do you write a syllabus We turn off all our electronic devices. We power down. And that will even begin to capture the vastness of this material? we start to listen. I bring in a big wooden box and pair of To proceed chronologically doesn’t work, because many hard-soled shoes. And we try to walk. And in order to learn of these shows existed for a large chunk of the period we how to walk — rather, to sound like we’re walking — we consider (1930-1962). Yet to consider a sophisticated propo- have to listen to the way we actually move. Does our heel sition like Gunsmoke before we consider something much hit first? Our toe? What about when we’re going upstairs? less worldly — say, Chandu the Magician — seems wrong as Downstairs? (We dispatch a few researchers to the stairwell well. to see what each of these footfalls sounds like.) What about So we proceed by genre, although these genres are also, when we’re standing around talking? Are we really just to a degree, ideas. And within each genre, we move more or standing still, or are we, very minutely, shifting our weight, less chronologically. So we begin with private eyes, because sliding our feet ever so slightly . everybody loves a good detective story. Hey, The Adventures It’s harder than it seems. of Philip Marlowe. The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe. Next, we try to kill somebody. We meet Jack Webb for the first time in Pat Novak for Hire. Gunshots, I tell them, were notoriously hard to repro- Everything sounds cozily familiar. We know these charac- duce. The best way to make it sound like you’re firing a gun? ters from movies, from detective novels. We know what the Fire a starter’s pistol. 1940s were like, don’t we? Black-and-white, wartime, all Yeah, we don’t do that. those dresses and hats. Nothing surprising here.