Archive for ‘Faculty Publications’

Recently Published Authors

0 Commentsby   |  10.24.14  |  Announcements, Faculty Publications

Congratulations to Sherry and Sarah for their recent publications in CCTE Studies! Be sure to commend them on their great work next time you see them.

Featured articles:

“Where are the Horse and the Rider?”: An Approach to Using J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings to Teach Medieval Literature in the British Literature Survey Classroom by Sherry Rankin

“Where two raging fires meet together”: Constructed Gender Performances of Kate and Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew by Sarah Eason

Dr. Paul Varner’s new book: New Wests and Post-Wests

0 Commentsby   |  11.25.13  |  Faculty Publications

9781443849647

“In this collection, we see critical approaches to a New West, a West that is a state of mind, not a geographical place but a mythic space with no boundaries and no political inevitabilities. These New Western studies accept the idea of a West that includes Canada, Mexico, Alaska, and, in the case of the US, every geographic and historical point west of the historic founding settlements. The West we study today is a post-West, an idea of the West past the traditional views of an old West dominated by white US nationalism and gendered as uncompromisingly masculine. The idea itself of a single West no longer holds validity. We now understand that all renderings of the West are renderings of multiple Wests; Wests constructed by American nationalists, Wests constructed by EuroAmerican writers and filmmakers, Wests constructed by native peoples, or Wests constructed outside the geographical boundaries of the US.” — (from the cover notes)

 

 

 

Announcing Dr. Moore’s Publication on Black Rage

0 Commentsby   |  10.01.13  |  Faculty Publications

Click on link below to view the poster.

Dr. Steven Moore Publication

Congratulation to Dr. Steven Moore for his new publication The Cry of Black Rage

Now available at Barnes and Noble and Amazon.com

Dr. Beatriz Walker’s Story Published in Popular Bilingual Anthology

0 Commentsby   |  07.01.13  |  Faculty Publications

Screen shot 2013-07-01 at 2.28.56 PMDr. Beatriz Walker of the Department of Language and Literature has published her immigrant story in the bilingual Anthology “Dejame que te cuente” Volume II, edited by Dr. Ana Gonzalez of Texas Lutheran University. The Anthology is a collection of stories of immigrants from the Spanish Speaking world all of whom are now educators in the United States. This Anthology was presented at the Millennium Hotel on June 16, 2013 in Cincinnati, Ohio among a large group of educators meeting for the annual ETS/AP Reading week. “Dejame que te Cuente /Let me tell you” is available through Amazon.com.

 

Paul Varner Keeps Publishing Away!

0 Commentsby   |  10.03.11  |  Faculty Publications

Dr. Paul Varner spent last year seeing his Historical Dictionary of Westerns in Literature (Scarecrow Press, 2010) all the way through the publishing process.

Now he’s working on another, the Historical Dictionary of the Literature of the Beat Generation, coming from Scarecrow Press in 2012. He’s teaching a class on the topic this year, too, giving some lucky students a preview of his work on the post-WWII counterculture. I hope he doesn’t mind if the thought makes me want to buy a beret and read some poetry.

But then, as soon as he finishes working on the Beat Generation, he’s signed another contract—he’ll be writing on The American West in Film and Literature, a book to be published by Cambridge Scholar’s Press.

Thanks for keeping us on our toes, Paul, and for leading the way in scholarship. We’re excited to see your books take shape!


Cole Bennett’s Book Project!

0 Commentsby   |  09.27.11  |  Faculty Publications

Our beloved interim department chair, Cole Bennett, has been contracted to revise the next edition of Pearson/Longman’s Analyzing English Grammar, the textbook he’s been using for years in his Advanced Grammar courses.

Given recent evidence that using complex grammar contributes to mental health, Cole is giving us all the gift of more effective communication and clear thinking in our old age. Way to be a hero, Cole!

Watch for the 7th edition of the book, coming soon!

 

Shelly Sanders’ Summer 2011

0 Commentsby   |  09.18.11  |  Faculty Publications

Now that the temperatures have plummeted into the 90s for our Texas fall (and despite the irony, we’re grateful!), it seems like a good time to celebrate some of our faculty accomplishments from the summer—starting with Shelly Sanders, assistant professor, specializing in creative writing, young adult literature, and sports literature.

Most of us know that Shelly is getting ready for the arrival of baby Heath Nathan Sanders, due in early October! She’s excited to introduce him to the department, and we’re so looking forward to meeting him.

But even while she’s been preparing for Heath, Shelly’s also been creating in other ways:

With the support of an ACU Summer Stipend, she’s been working on a project to help solidify and increase the sustainability of the Community Writers Workshop (a free, month-long writing workshop for members of the Abilene community). Her project is titled, “Incorporating Service Learning and Undergraduate Workshops at ACU into the Community Writers Workshop.” We’re really impressed with and grateful for all Shelly does to engage creative writing throughout the city.

She’s also had two pieces accepted for publication in Aethlon: The Journal of Sport Literature, so soon we’ll be able to read even more of her great work in print:

1. “Bodies in Accelerated Motion” is a short story about a lonely young woman who attempts to show hospitality to her friend and running partner, only to relive the night when she was left in the dust during a charity 5K and berated further by a drunk imbecile who looks remarkably like Albert Einstein.

Image from a production of "The Cuban Swimmer," taken from the Santa Fe Sentinel at http://santafesentinel.org/2010/04/06/santa-fe-takes-to-the-stage/.

2. “‘Mi Carne, Mi Sangre, Mis Ilusiones’: The Collision of Words and Worlds in Milcha Sanchez-Scott’s The Cuban Swimmer” is a critical paper centered on Hispanic playwright Sanchez-Scott’s 1985 experimental one-act play The Cuban Swimmer. I explore the way that the teenage swimmer Margarita’s physical body collides with the world of lo real marivolloso (the marvelous real), a term coined by Cuban essayist Alejo Carpentier, and how the miracle at the end of the play helps Margarita escape her father’s obsession with her mental concentration. Ultimately, breaking from the world of the present athletic struggle and into an alternate world of marvelous physicality—of dolphins, fish and her blood-drinking ancestor—resurrects her body in a new form that ripples with the play’s Latin Catholic imagery.

Congratulations on a wonderful summer, Shelly. We’re proud to know you!

Prof. Haley Wins Kelton Prize

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0 Commentsby   |  11.13.10  |  Faculty Publications

Writer in residence and creative writing professor Al Haley has been named the winner of the fourth annual writing competition sponsored by Angelo State University and the Concho River Review in honor of famed western writer Elmer Kelton.

Three passions come together--hours spent reading, writing, and listening to music.

 

The competition this year was open to entries in the genre of creative nonfiction. Al’s winning piece, “Hemingway Summer Jazz,” is his prose reflection upon his favorite activity, reading.

“I tried to express as best I could the frustration I have with so many books I have stacked up, ready to read and yet there’s so little time to sit down and turn the pages,” Al says.

In the 4500-word piece Al reveals that once he’s into summer he side-steps his long list of “need to reads” and always re-reads a book by a favorite author. For a long time that author has been Ernest Hemingway.

“I know Hemingway is not academically fashionable,” Al says, “but there’s something about the slow pace of his writing that coincides with my summer mood.”

He adds, “The main thing I was trying to do wasn’t to single out one writer for praise, but to remind myself, and others, about how there’s nothing like eyes meeting text inked onto the page. In this age of screens large and small competing for our attention, I think somebody has to stand up and say, you know, you’re missing out on an entire body, mind, and soul experience  if you’re not doing some old school reading.”

As a result of his win, Al will receive a small cash prize, his piece will be published in the next issue of Concho River River, and he has been invited to read at the Angelo State Writer’s Conference which will be held Feb. 17-18, 2011.

This installment of  the Writer’s Conference will feature Art Spiegelman who is widely regarded as the father of the literary graphic novel with his books Maus  I and II (1986, 1992). Since San Angelo is only a 50-minute drive from Abilene, Al encourages English majors to make the trek.

“You don’t get to meet a world famous writer every day,” he says. “You ought to hear him and then have him autograph a book for you.”

For those that don’t know, Al is currently involved in a personal challenge he calls The Van Winkle Proejct and is abstaining from all news, weather, sports and entertainment, except for what can be experienced first-hand. Al says it’s all right for him know about the writing festival and enter contests.

“I’m a writer, not a hermit,” he says. “There’s a difference. Not much, but some.”

Al’s adventures in not-knowing are being documented on a blog.

Varner comes out, guns blazing, with new book!

0 Commentsby   |  11.10.10  |  Faculty Publications, Faculty Spotlight

To see evidence that Abilene Christian University faculty members are hard at work, you need look no further than the list of books recently released by ACU authors. Among them is a title by  Dr. Paul Varner, scholar in residence and visiting professor of English. Varner’s latest book, Historical Dictionary of Westerns in Literature, was released on Oct. 15. Since coming to ACU in 2007, Varner has written three books on the literature of the American West. The books provide the latest information on scholarship, scholarly approaches, critical terminology, and essential information for scholars pursuing serious literary and cultural study of Western literature and critical analysis for the essential authors and novels of the West.

“I have always wanted to work with the literature of the American West because of its impact on who we are in Texas and Abilene,” says Varner. “Western literature has both shaped our culture and reflected what our immediate culture has been.” For more information on Historical Dictionary of Westerns in Literature, visit the Scarecrow Press website.