English News Archive

Three English majors have been selected as recipients of the 2020-2021 Presidential Award for Undergraduate Research at the University at Albany: Rebecca Wolanski for her project “Play and Pastiche: Internet Memes as Postmodern Reinvention,” Margaret O'Connor for "Performing American Eugenics," and Deborah Brannan for “Wilde Theology: The Theological Underpinnings of Oscar Wilde.” The Presidential Award for Undergraduate Research recognizes undergraduate research and scholarship.  Recipients of the Presidential Award for Undergraduate Research are encouraged to present their award winning research projects at the 18th Annual Student Conference, held virtually this year, hosted by CURCE on Friday, April 23.

Thomas Bass reflects on the decade anniversary of Fukushima's nuclear disaster – just a few weeks short of Japan hosting the Olympics.

Professor Erica Fretwell's, "Dickinson Variations," reflections on the Dickinson television series, has been published on Avidly, a channel of the LA Review of Books.

A snippet of Erica Fretwell's piece, “From Lynchings to the Capitol: Racism and the Violence of Revelry.”: “The braiding of entertainment and violence that occurs when white people riot is the twisted line that leads from 19th-century lynching to the insurrection. Lynching photographs teach us that today’s images of the failed coup – on the one hand clownish, on the other terrifying – are not dissonant; in reality, they go hand-in-hand. Enjoyment is not a by-product but a central feature of white people’s violence towards Black people and, more broadly, Black political power.”

Eric Keenaghan’s interview on Interchange (hosted by Doug Force)--"How to Be Antifascist"--about Muriel Rukeyser & her book The Life of Poetry was aired and published online.

Edward Schwarzschild will discuss his novel "In Security" with Adam Johnson, author of "The Orphan Master's Son." The event is online and will be held from 6:00-7:00 pm Friday, January 21. Tickets are available through Eventbrite by clicking the article title.

Naomi Shihab Nye wrapped up her poetry column this year by featuring James Crews' poem "The Body Electric." James Crews is a lecturer in the English department, and regularly teaches creative writing. The article, including his poem can be found here.

Professor Erica Fretwell was interviewed by Philip Mackenzie for his podcast The Deep Dive to discuss her book Sensory Experiments (2020). The title of the episode is "Psychophysics, Mysticism, and Meaning," and in it they discuss the arcane science of psychophysics and what it tells us about culture, race, and the world around us. The episode aired December 3. You can listen by clicking the article to activate this link.