Literary Matters a THE NEWSLETTER OF THE ASSOCIATION OF LITERARY SCHOLARS, CRITICS, AND WRITERS Aut nuntiare aut delectare VOLUME 3.3 SUMMER 2010 Inside this issue 2 The President’s Column: ALSCW and MLA 4 News and Announcements: We are pleased to announce that Generous Gift; Broadsides Arrive; FORUM 4: Literary Study in Grades 9, Twain and Tolstoy at the Editorial Institute 10, and 11: A National Survey by Sandra 5 Zagajewski-Cavanagh Broadside Stotsky is now in production! 6 More News and Announcements: see review on page 14 VSC-ALSCW Forum; Next Boston Local Meeting; Hotel Reservations for Conference 2010 From The Editor 7 New Publications by Members 8 Neglected Authors Column: Dick Barnes by Mike Smolinsky With the lull of summer, the vacation season 9 President’s Column P.S. - On Wind and the slowing of life on university campuses, I had anticipated that this issue would be a short one. As you 10 Spotlight on Norman Fruman will notice, I was wrong. The number and variety of items by Roy Winnick included in this installment of Literary Matters attest to 13 Poem by Alicia Suskin Ostriker the vitality of the ALSCW’s engagement with the worlds of literature—of reading and writing and teaching— 14 Close Reading and the Findings of FORUM 4 and to the ceaseless activity that characterizes the by Helaine Smith Association’s membership. Now more than ever our 16 Conference 2010 Preview digital format is a benefit, since it allows us to bring all of this exciting news to you in one, jam-packed summer 24 ALSCW Members Voice Their Support: issue. Letters from David D and Susan Wolfson 27 Welcome, New Members! The ALSCW has indeed been busy. Among the results of its endeavors: a beautiful broadside, featuring Adam Zagajewski’s poem “Piano Lesson” and its English translation by Clare Cavanagh, has been produced and will soon be available; the fourth WWW.BU.EDU/LITERARY edition of our special topics publication Forum is set for release later this month; and plans are being finalized for this fall’s annual conference—our seventeenth—in On the web Princeton, New Jersey. This issue of Literary Matters features contributions that spotlight these and many other facets Join the ALSCW the life of the ALSCW. As the Association prepares to Register for the Conference release Forum 4, a national survey directed by Councilor Sandra Stotsky that (in part) documents the decline Donate of close reading and analytical writing in the high school classroom, Helaine Smith contributes an article Read about our local events (continued on page 3) SUMMER 2010 1 Ricks, I published “Empson’s Pregrancy” in Literary From The Editor (continued from page 1) The President’s Column: Imagination (2004), and rejoined ALSC in 2007, serving on the conference committee for the 2008 gathering in reflecting on her own use of these tools in teachingThe Philadelphia, agreeing to stand for executive office. Odyssey. In her President’s Column, Susan Wolfson ALSCW and MLA summarizes a series of upcoming events to be jointly I rehearse this history to emphasize my productive sponsored by the ALSCW and the MLA. (One of the and pleasurable involvement in both Associations. Several fruits of this collaboration will be a renewed discussion y uSan olfSon B S W of our longtime members, including Rosanna Warren, of the state of Comparative Literature programs; the Christopher Ricks, Marjorie Perloff, Michael Wood, Phillis Association’s concern for this issue is also reflected in (Association of Literary Scholars and Critics) first convened Levin, Adelaide Russo, and our next President, Greg the letters from Susan and from new member David Beginning at the ALSCW Conference, in the early 1990s to form an organization to highlight Delanty, are also members of MLA. My hope is that Damrosch regarding the closing of the University of Princeton, November 2010 literary concerns during a time when academic and others may find enjoyment in both worlds, not only for the Toronto’s Centre for Comparative Literature, reprinted professional discussion seemed increasingly suspicious valuable differences but also for what we share, converse on pages 24-25). Our “Neglected Authors” column Continuing at the MLA Convention, of these. It wasn’t just a devotion to literary values that about, collaborate on—especially with departments of returns with a look at poet Dick Barnes by Michael Los Angeles, January 2011 distinguished the ALSC, but also its inclusion of those literature and the humanities in general under pressure Smolinsky, and Roy Winnick, newly elected Councilor involved with teaching, writing about, and translating pre- to account for their necessity in an era of information- for 2011, contributes a fascinating biographical profile Modern (classical) literature and, beyond academia, the oriented and economic mandates. on Coleridge scholar and longtime ALSC supporter world of scholars, editors, and writers (poets, essayists, Norman Fruman. I recognize that the founders of the ALSC were novelists, journalists, dramatists). We recently formalized energized by opposition to the MLA, but I believe this to Finally, in this summer issue of LM you will this last commitment with the addition W (for Writers) in have been only a first step. This bridging initiative is a get a sneak peek at the fall conference, organized this our expanded name. venture into expanding our range. Both Associations have year by conference chair David Mikics. See pages 16- I’m glad not only to be President of the ALSCW but evolved over the last two decades. If it seemed, back 18 for a preliminary schedule, summaries of panels also to have been an active member of MLA for decades, in the 1990s, that the array was (on the one side) “far and seminars, profiles of keynote speakers Paul ever since graduate school. In the MLA, and especially at reading,” “theory,” and socio-political critique, and (on Muldoon and Joyce Carol Oates, and information its annual convention, I met my bookshelf, formed valued the other side) “close reading,” “literary criticism,” and about registration and accommodations at Princeton. “literary writing,” this difference was never so polarized Start making plans now to join us in November in New OUR ASSOCIATIONS: professional relationships and found lifelong colleagues, made friends, learned from the meetings I attended and as to eclipse our shared commitment to whatever kinds Jersey! a the publications I read, and the several committees on of attention improve reading, teaching, writing, editing— THE ASSOCIATION OF LITERARY SCHOLARS, - Leslie Harkema which I served. At conventions, I’ve auditioned work that enriching our professional conversations and collegial CRITICS, AND WRITERS & THE MODERN LANGUAGE learning from one another. Marjorie Perloff is not only ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA developed into publications. I’ve served on executive committees and have helped arranged convention past president of the MLA, but innovated what is now meetings--from special sessions, to division meetings, to an MLA Convention event: a pan-convention theme to a general Forum. I’ve published in PMLA and have learned which all association entities, special sessions, and allied associations are invited to contribute. The event she ALLIANCES & COLLABORATIONS from many of its essays, and served several times as an advisory. With a warm invitation from Clare Cavanagh, organized was “The Sound of Poetry”—an audition close Our conference in Princeton will continue the our immediate Past President, I joined the ALSC in 2000 to the heart of the ALSCW. valuable, and crucial, work of our Association. It will also and presented a paper on Charlotte Smith at the Chicago I’m honored to be President of the ALSCW. I enjoy serve as the occasion to launch my Presidential initiative, conference that year, where I was delighted not only to its membership, conversations, and the conferences in collaboration with officers of the MLA, to bring our two meet Clare, but also to find myself in conversation with Call For Submissions that bring my fields of expertise into contact with fields associations into conversation on and about our common classicist Richard Thomas about Virgilian poetry that not ordinarily joined to it--expert scholarship in classical ground. As some may remember, the (then) ALSC interested us both. Then, encouraged by Christopher literature and the vibrant world of contemporary creative Pusteblume is a journal of translation run writing. When I was elected Vice President, I was entirely by Boston University students. We delighted when Rosemary Feal, Executive Director of the are looking for original translations into LITERARY MATTERS MLA, and Russell Berman, MLA President, responded English of poetry, prose, or drama; book with enthusiasm to my inquiry about exploring positive reviews and essays that deal with translation Editor Literary Matters is published and distributed relations between our two Associations, in which we are or translated works; artwork and photography. Leslie Harkema quarterly by the Association of Literary Scholars, The Association of Literary Scholars, Critics, and all members. The bridging meetings are the fruits of our Critics, and Writers (ALSCW), 650 Beacon Street, Writers (ALSCW) promotes excellence in literary several conversations. Before I describe these meetings Design, Layout, and Suite 510, Boston, MA 02215. Tel: 617-358-1990; in more detail, I’m pleased to note that conversation is Translators must secure the rights for criticism and scholarship, and works to ensure that Production Manager fax: 617-358-1995; [email protected]; already developing about another bridging initiative for the republication of the original work. www.bu.edu/literary. Katherine Hala literature thrives in both scholarly and creative envi- a jointly sponsored Forum for the 2012 or 2013 MLA Please attach the original along with your Literary Matters is provided to all ALSCW members. ronments. We encourage the reading and writing of convention, tentatively “What is the future of Comparative Editorial Assistant Membership dues start at $37 for the first year ($32 translation.