Conclusions #3
This week, Ray’s poems meditate on God, religion, and race, and the ways in which God and religion are leveraged as weapons against particular races. Nativity William Carlos Williams tried to write an accurate history of the Americas. It began with acclimation of Christ but soon lagged from the inured inhabitants. The
Conclusions #2: #MeToo Poetry
Miss last week’s post? Catch up at this link. Fascist Conclusions At the beginning of the war there were waves that dipped below the surface of my body and trapped panic in scores of gilt fish. The illuminated manuscript of my body was rapt to those watching in delayed
Conclusions — #MeToo Poetry
CONTENT WARNING: The following poems concern themselves with themes and topics of sexual assault, sexual harassment, abuse, and sexism. Please continue reading with this in mind. Editor’s Introduction: For the past two weeks, survivors of sexual assault have been under siege by coverage and discussions surrounding the Supreme Court appointment hearings for Brett Kavanaugh. These
Looking for Purloined Letters
Last week, I explored the benefits of mastery when approaching a text — namely the meanings that are made possible to those who know what to look for. While I mentioned that those who didn’t know what to look for are likely to “miss out,” this week I am interested in the ways in which
Recognizing Heroic Domesticity
An article in the most recent issue of The Atlantic draws attention to the varied ways in which Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women is read. The main suggestion is that knowledge of Alcott’s biography can drastically change a reader’s interpretation of the text. This knowledge about the author’s biography, one of many types of topic
The Joy of Recognition; or, The Occasional Dangers of Mastery
A bit of an open secret exists in academia for graduate students. We sometimes experience frustrations with teaching. While most of us view teaching as perhaps the most rewarding thing that we do, we love to complain about our students (it is usually good-natured, I promise). After spending the past year without any teaching responsibilities,
A Season for Changes
From the Editors: Welcome to Broadly Textual Pub, the publication formerly known as Metathesis. From its origins in 2014, this online blog space has always been about sharing ideas with a broader audience. The blog began in a meeting of graduate students with a mission: to connect the public with ideas and conversation usually contained
Reading Privilege and the Privilege of Reading
[7-10 minute read] As a child, I was a voracious reader. Scholastic Book Fairs were the best part of the elementary school fall season; no questions asked. J.K. Rowling was still publishing book after book in the Harry Potter series, The Reading Rainbow featured heavily as parent-approved public broadcast television, and I distinctly remember the pride
The Transformational Archive (And Some Thoughts About Bullet Journaling)
[7 minute read] As I’ve discussed in my last two posts, I recently visited the Rubenstein Library at Duke University to complete research on the Abraham Joshua Heschel Papers. Visiting the archive helped me reorient myself towards my subject matter – the life and work of Abraham Joshua Heschel – and gave a much-needed boost of
Looking for Sylvia Heschel at the Archive
As I wrote in my previous post, I spent the last week perusing the Abraham Joshua Heschel Papers at Duke University. One of my major goals of the trip was to glean as much information as I could about Sylvia Heschel (nee Straus), Abraham Joshua Heschel’s wife. I knew very little about Sylvia Heschel before