This Week in English | November 25-December 1, 2024

Undergraduate Literary Journal Open for Submissions

The Open Field is the student-edited undergraduate literary journal sponsored by the English Department and devoted to publishing poetry, prose, mixed-genre writing, and visual art by the undergraduates of all majors and disciplines at the University of Maine. This year’s editors include English majors Sydney Kraft and Finlee LeBouef, who have sent along a call for submissions by December 13, 2024 (the last day of classes). Use the QR code in the poster below to learn more! 

Harlan-Haughey Publishes on Robin Hood

The issue of the peer-reviewed, open-access scholarly journal The Bulletin of the International Association for Robin Hood Studies published last week includes Sarah Harlan-Haughey’s contribution to a forum on “New Readings of the Robin Hood Tradition.” Her essay “Blood on the Table: The Subversion of Fellowship in the A Lytell Geste of Robyn Hode” argues that

In medieval outlaw narratives, “feast under duress” set-pieces examine the undercurrent of violent intentions below the veneer of courtliness. This article uses the feast scenes in A Lytell Geste of Robyn Hode to explore the subversion of fellowship within a potential guild context. If the Geste was produced for a mercantile, guild-oriented, urban audience preoccupied with upward mobility and social order, it would have been enjoyed by people who wished to explore the themes of gentrification, fellowship, and upward mobility that the outlaws perform in feast scenes. But the outlaw tradition from which the Geste draws its power has a problematic relationship with food. Outlaw feasts can be stages for eruptions of taboo violence. The early rimes treat the audience to many absurd dinner parties where the guest is prey, the host a predator, and the courses go on and on. What does this mean for a guildhall audience interested in the performance of gentility through feasting? How does the deep violent inheritance of outlaw narratives overturn and complicate the celebratory, overblown feasts of the Geste? This exploration of the fissures and contradictions in the feasting theme in the Geste shows that, perhaps in spite of themselves, this new audience preserved and amplified the danger and violence that is a hallmark of earlier outlaw feasts. This has ramifications for our readings of the social context of the late medieval outlaw poems. 

Harlan-Haughey, who served as Acting Chair of the English Department in 2022-2023, was promoted to the rank of full Professor last year and is on a research sabbatical this year. She returns to teaching in the fall of 2025.

English Department Hosts Writing Studies Colloquium after Winter Break

This spring semester (likely February 28 / March 1), the Department of English will be holding its first mini-conference focused specifically on writing studies research and pedagogy. The 2025 Writing Studies Colloquium at the University of Maine will be opening December 16 for abstract submissions from members of the UMaine community (undergraduate and graduate students, faculty) interested in presenting their work. 

Presentation options include posters, Flash/Pecha Kucha talks, and traditional presentations. Topics must be related to work in Writing Studies/Rhetoric and Composition, broadly conceived, but can focus on pedagogy, empirical research, or theory. This is a great opportunity to experience presenting in a conference setting and adding a line to your CV/resume! It’s also a wonderful opportunity to learn about the wide variety of research happening in the field on our campus.

The deadline for entries will be January 31, 2025 (midnight). Our submission portal (Google Form) will ask for: presenter’s name and position, a 150-word abstract of the presentation, presenter’s email address, and the technical needs for the presentation. The exact date and times will be set once we know how many presentations to accommodate. To indicate preliminary interest in participating, please complete this short (<1 min) survey. You can also direct questions to Heather Falconer.

The Philadelphia Marathon

Samuel Mills is a second-year MA student who is concentrating in Poetry and Poetics. He writes with this welcome—and to your humble editor, startling—news: 

This Sunday, Professors Brian Jansen, Hollie Adams and I ran our first marathons at the Philadelphia Marathon. The race featured a large international field and over 30,000 participants across the weekend of races.

I placed 15th in the elite field. Professor Adams finished 72nd in her age division. Professor Jansen qualified for Boston and finished 48th in his age division. 

A photo of this swift and highly literate trio is included below.

Salon for Palestinian Literature on December 2

Jewish Voice for Peace is a UMaine Student Group with ties to the national group of the same name. They plan a “salon for Palestinian literature” for the Monday after the holiday break and shared this invitation with us via second-year MA student Maryam Khan:

With the ongoing genocide in Palestine, many of us are struggling to find the right words to speak of it, and to speak for it. This event is being held with the intention of creating an empathetic awareness of the Palestinian cause and creating a space where literature (poetry and/or prose) by Palestinian authors, poets and scholars is shared and understood. Students, staff and faculty are invited to bring and recite excerpts from Palestinian literature which speak about the lived experiences of Palestinians, the occupation and exile. 

This event will be held in the Lown Room on Monday, 2nd December at 4pm. 

For more information contact JVP here.

This Week in English 164 was sent to students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends of the department on November 25, 2024. If you would rather not receive these weekly bulletins, please reply with <unsubscribe> in your subject line. Earlier installments are archived on our website. If you’re on Facebook, please consider joining the English Department Group. We’re also (since March of 2024) on Linked In. To learn more about faculty members mentioned in this bulletin, visit our People page.

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University of Maine Land Acknowledgment

(from left to right: Hollie Adams, Sam Mills, Brian Jansen)