Discussion with Caroline Levine (Feb 18)

Our first meeting of the semester is a special one: Prof. Caroline Levine of Wisconsin-Madison will be joining us and sharing some of her most recent work. The meeting will be held on Thursday, Feb. 18, starting at 8 pm. We will be discussing the following readings (available on e-reserves, attached to this email, or in the folder in EB 211).

• Caroline Levine, work in progress, "Reassembling the Formal"
• Levine, “Strategic Formalism: Toward a New Method in Cultural Studies”

Recommended:

• Levine, “Formal Pasts and Formal Possibilities in Victorian Studies”
• Franco Moretti, “The Slaughterhouse of Literature”

In addition to the readings, we will also be discussing our upcoming April grad conference.

What I've Been Reading: This Thursday (11/12)

Our next meeting is this Thursday, November 12th, at 8:00 pm. We'll have a relaxed "What I've been reading" discussion.

Liz Hoeim will tell us about "The English Jacobin Novel on Rights, Property and the Law: Critiquing the Contract" by Nancy Johnson. Tania Lown-Hecht will discuss Galt-Harpham’s “Shadow of Ethics,” and Cecily Garber will talk about Scarry’s “On Beauty and Being Just.”

Select extracts from these works will be available in the BMG folder in room 211 and on e-reserves within the next few days.
If you're reading anything interesting, feel free to share or circulate books at the meeting.

Please email the organizers for directions.

pic by MorBCN

New Formalism: October Discussion

Just a reminder that our next meeting will be this Thursday, October 8, at 8 PM. We will be discussing the following readings, available online, on e-reserves, and in our folder in room 211.

• Wolfson, Susan. "Reading for Form." Modern Language Quarterly 61.1 (Mar. 2000): 1-16.
• Kaufman, Robert. "Everybody Hates Kant: Blakean Formalism and the Symmetries of Laura Moriarty." Modern Language Quarterly 61.1 (Mar. 2000): 131-155.
• Hansen, Jim. "Formalism and Its Malcontents: Benjamin and de Man on the Function of Allegory." New Literary History 35.4 (Autumn 2004): 663-683.

If you have not already received the location and directions by email, please contact us.

Also, please remember to send us any suggestions you may have for keynote speakers for the spring conference (thanks for those we've received); we'll discuss these at the meeting.

New Formalism: September Discussion

Our next event will take place on Thursday, Sept. 17, at 8pm, location to follow by email.

We will discuss the following readings:

• Marjorie Levinson's “What is New Formalism,” in PMLA 122.2 (2007). Levinson's original article with appendices remains available online.
• Garrett Stewart's “The Foreign Offices of British Fiction,” in MLQ 61.1 (2000), an issue devoted to formalism.
  

Readings will be available on e-reserve soon and copies are in the BMG folder near the copier in room 211.

We hope to see you next week!