David Kipen, representing the National Endowment for the Arts, travelled to this year’s Modern Language Association Convention to promote The Big Read, a NEA program which combats declining reading habits by enlisting members of the community to read a piece of literature simultaneously
Search Result
Shakespeare’s Feminist Critics
The tragedy of too many college courses on William Shakespeare these days is that students may be learning more about literary criticism than the Bard himself.
McCarthy Unplugged
The academic antipathy toward Joe McCarthy was in full swing at this year’s Modern Language Association (MLA) Convention.
Of Monsters, Moms, and Metal Men
What do psychology, Jurassic Park, Star Trek, and Rouben Mamoulian’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde have in common? They represent lessons in developmental miscarriages, deadly toilet training, and inflamed bestial passions, according to three professors.
Animalistic Shakespeares Explored
Not only did the Bard speak to human nature and love, but he also spoke to philosophy, epistemology, and sociology, according to four Modern Language Association (MLA) scholars speaking at a panel arranged by the Division on Shakespeare.
The Wondering Wanderer
Members of the Ivory Tower, some of whom remain ardent Marxists themselves, maintain that McCarthyite “hysteria” suppressed free expression in the 1950s and led to the unjustified blacklisting of those with socialist sentiments.
Red Badge of Courage
Just as students sporting t-shirts of Che Guevara are often ignorant of his bloody revolutionary record, so too it seems that champions of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade suffer from a peculiar form of “historical amnesia” promoted by academics and activists alike.
Professors Heart Obama (Again)
January 20th is Inauguration Day for President Barack Obama, and Professor Andrew William Smith will certainly be among those celebrating this historic occasion.
Literary Deficiencies Identified
Professor Walter Benn Michaels recently argued that teaching social justice to rich students was hypocritical in the face of ongoing economic disparities between college students and the poorer populations who, he asserts, can’t get access to these schools.
Virtually Gay Ghettos
At this year’s Modern Language Association (MLA) Convention, two panelists diverged on whether new media aids or undermines the process of gay liberation.