Today is publication day. "Knausgård and the Autofiction Novel" is out - and even with a HUGE discount at checkout as part of SUNY Press' Holiday Sale.
Shockingly, many Danish supermarkets still have a section called “colonial” with goods from “former colonies.” Another example of how racism subtly is present everywhere in this country.
Instead of lamenting, or even complaining, that students do not always read for class, perhaps we should talk about non-punitive strategies that will ensure that they do (especially, perhaps, in large lecture classes). Share your suggestions here:
This is Kierkegaard's engagement ring. When he broke off the engagement with Regina, he had the ring changed, so the five diamonds would form a cross. He wore the ring for the rest of his life.
We tend to forget that New Criticism helped democratize literary studies. It put students from a less privileged background on the same playing field as those from a more privileged background.
My book on Knausgård and the autofiction novel has been accepted for publication (with broad approval and all) by SUNY Press. This would never have happened had it not been for
@RColesworthy
: the smartest, sharpest, sweetest, and most supportive editor out there. Am I happy? Yes.
Yesterday I learned that Dolly Parton wrote "Jolene" and "I Will Always Love You" on the same day. I just hope to write two sentences that I do not end up deleting in one day.
The problem is not that a number of newly tenured professors get $100,000 dollars. The problem is that higher ed in the US depends upon private donations. That's what we should be angry about and work to change, not individual donations.
Still one of the best explanations of the novel around:
"The novel is the epic of an age in which the extensive totality of life is no longer directly given, in which the immanence of meaning of life has become a problem, yet which still thinks in terms of totality."
Speaking of coffee in "My Struggle": A few years ago a reviewer in NY Times suggested that the amount of coffee consumed in Stieg Larsson Dragon Tatoo trilogy was unrealistic and spoke of "pathological coffee drinking."
Welcome to the realism of everyday Scandinavia.
A few years back, a friend of mine told me I was one of the few literary scholars he knew who actually read books for fun. Ever so often, I'm reminded of what he said. Surely he was wrong, right?. Literary scholars do read for fun, right?
My class this morning will be my last time teaching until January 2022. I have been awarded a fellowship at UW-Madison's Institute for Research in the Humanities in the Fall.
For me (a high-school drop-off and first gen), close reading, and the careful attention to the text, helped me assert my readings when I started studying in contrast to those who knew everything about the time period or the color of the writer's socks.
"He only saw me as he wanted to see me. It was as if he didn't know me. Reading what he wrote was like experiencing a loss. Today I believe he is one of those male writers who in reality can't write about women."
Linda Boström Knausgård on her ex-husband and "My Struggle."
As someone working in literary studies, but not in an English Department, I have never felt less part of a profession than after reading John Guillory's book. Again: the majority of literary studies at US universities happen at departments other than English and Com. Lit.
I'm terrified but also excited. As part of UW-Madison's First Book Program, I will meet on Zoom with a number of amazing scholars (Toril Moi, Arnaud Schmitt, Venkat Mani, Russ Castronovo, and Richard Goodkin) who will comment on and critique my MS later this morning).
I always find it problematic when early-career scholar is used synonymously with TT. It suggests a uniform trajectory that does not fit many of us. My first scholarly article was published in 2002, but I did not get a TT position in the US until 2017 when I was in my mid-40's.
17 years ago this weekend I married this incredible and amazing woman - and we celebrated our anniversary by doing what all middle class, midwestern, and middle aged couples seem to do: going to Costco.
Whenever I tell friends and colleagues about my experience on Twitter they look at me in disbelief. I tell about the community, support, encouragement, academic exchange, intellectual camaraderie, and even friendship. And for that experience, I thank YOU, my Twitter-friends.
On this day of the Noble Prize in Literature, it is worth reflecting: who never got the prize but absolutely should have?
I'll go first: Inger Christensen.
An important linguistic and cultural detail in My Struggle (that is missing in the English translation) is that Karl Ove speaks Norwegian to his kids but they answer him in Swedish.
I am so fucking tired of reading scholarly work that only seeks to identify the "blind spots" in literature. All it does is belittle the works in question and show the scholar as oh-so-smart. How about writing about what a literary work can do for a change?
This is not to gloss over the problematic aspects of New Criticism - and there are, indeed, many of those. Just to point out how it made generations of students who previously had been ostracized feel welcome in the literary classroom.
When Derrida is good is he beyond brilliant. This, perhaps, is the best (and most complex) definition of literature/literarity ever. But hard to contradict.
Submitted a draft of my full MS today to a group of amazing scholars that have agreed to read, comment, and discuss as part of UW-Madison's First Book Program. Never before have I seen the different chapters complied into one coherent whole. Happy, excited, and pretty nervous.
The University of Wisconsin Board of Regents approved increasing salary ranges for top positions. The pay range for the UW-Madison chancellor will increase 21.67 percent, while the range for the UW-Milwaukee chancellor will increase 32 percent.
One thing that continues to surprise me: that scholars who are nuanced readers of complex literary text are un-nuanced readers of the complexities of current events.
My next book is about the early fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen, it is in Danish, and will be published by Aarhus University Press in 2025 (I just got the contract).
Excited about today's graduate seminar where we will read and discuss the work of three spectacular scholars:
@carallewis
,
@V21collective
, and Caroline Levine.
@JordanSCarroll
@GhostingDani
I understand why it’s problematic but as someone who did his PhD outside the US, I would never, ever have gotten my current job if it wasn’t for that book. Just have having the campus visit explained, and know which questions to anticipate made a huge difference.
Before evil completely takes over this site, a shout-out to the community, camaraderie, friendship, help, and support that I have encountered here from fellow scholars and academics. Thank you.
I got excited when I saw this poster on campus until I realized it was me giving the talk. But “Claus Andersen” is to me a different person than “Claus Elholm Andersen,” which is my actual name.
Friends. We are academics. We all read books. But could we perhaps stop displaying our bookcases on Zoom? I assume I am not the only one spending far too much energy trying to identify which books I see in the background. It is simply too distracting.
Happy New Year to my Twitter friends. Thank you for your friendship, support, and encouragement in 2021. You made it all worth it. I wish the best for you, and for all of us, in 2022.
Great start to the week: an acceptance of an article based on amazing reader reports with only a few suggestions for improvement that I surely will follow.
At the age of 17, Knausgård began as a music critic in the local newspaper. In an interview with "our new music critics," he was asked about A-ha who was at the height of their fame: "I have a sense for them, but I don't like how they are being promoted."
Day three back in suburban SoCal, and it yet again becomes clear to me why Adorno and Horkheimer felt compelled to write their analysis of the culture industry here.
Tomorrow morning, I will present my new book length project on Hans Christian Andersen to an amazing group of Andersen scholars. I’m excited, yes, but mostly terrified.
Dramatic morning run ended with a visit to the ER, scrapes on knees and hands, and a nasty cut on my chin that needed to be glued. On the positive side: my presentation went really well.
This is me two years ago this very weekend. Stupid as I am, I signed up for the same race this year that will be taking place this coming Sunday. And the weather forecast for Sunday morning? Freezing and 1-3 inches of snow.
I honestly love it when the Nobel Prize is awarded to an author I haven't read or heard of. It's like being introduced to a stranger that you instantly know will become a good friend in the future.