The Selected Writings of Edgar Allan Poe

The Selected Writings of Edgar Allan Poe; an anthology of projects and works that this monumental writer accomplished in his life time. This first edition anthology, is a helpful guide to people studying Poe’s writing. The collection was originally published in August 2004 by Norton Critical Editions and Purdue University; edited by G.R Thompson, the book has proven the test of time to be useful in the classroom. The book features fifty-seven documents that Poe worked on during his profound career, that helped shape American Literature in the Nineteenth Century. Some of the works the editor included are: “Tamerlane”, “The Raven”, “The Cask of Amontiado”, “Hop-Frog”, etc. The editor hand-picked some of Poe’s famous works, and some lesser known works that are also profound. Another interesting thing that was included in this edition are various critiques from Poe that he wrote during his time as an editor. One of the critiques that was included critiques is Poe’s review of Nathanial Hawthorne’s work. The editor also includes a biography about Poe’s life at the beginning of the book to show case his state of mind and the time period when he wrote some of his famous pieces. 

One great tool that is included in this anthology are the foot notes. These help readers understand the features included literature by citing old language or other works Poe mentions in his writing. This anthology is an essential piece for anyone who wants to learn more about Poe and his works. It includes projects that Poe works that most people have heard of such as “The Raven”, but it also includes lesser known pieces such as “Mezengerstein”. It can also be a useful tool to use as an instructor in a classroom. On the publisher’s website includes a link for educators so they can access study guides for quizzes or tests. 

The book’s inexpensiveness, and availability on several websites makes it a great

asset to students and educators. With the extra information added to the edition, it makes understanding something from a different time period easier for students. Having that extra information also helps educators, because they have reliable information with the texts. Overall this book’s a useful tool to have in a classroom, or to   gain a deeper understanding of Poe’s work.

Poe, Edgar Allan. The Select Writings of Edgar Allan Poe. W.W. Norton & Co., 2004.

Harvard College Writing Center

Harvard College Writing Center is a website that can be a useful tool for any person who is looking to improve writing skills and find information to help fine-tune skills they already possess. The website has free access for the public, however, it’s specifically geared towards students that are at least on the high school level, but can be helpful for many students. Their website is composed of various links that allow students to pick topics that can be useful to their academic ventures. It could also be useful for educators to give to their students to help them form proper habits when they are writing. 

The skills that the website deals with a range from how to close read to how to write a comparative essay. The website’s topics cover material that every student will use in various subjects throughout their academic careers. For example, if a student needs information about outlining, they would find the tab labeled outlining and click on it. From there they would be directed to a page with an informational article about how to make a proper outline. In this specific example, the article’s sections include a definition, first steps in the process, generalizing information, and how to put it all together. Another useful section included in the example is what a standard outline will look like. Students would struggle with outlining can find helpful information on how to structure theirs.  

Overall Harvard College Writing Center has set up a wonderful website that can be utilized to teach and guide students to strengthen their writing abilities. It can be the most useful to English students of all backgrounds as well as educators. 

College Literature

Many college professors might be searching for the perfect resource to learn new material, or a different view through various lenses. As time goes on, scholars begin to look at different works through various lens that are fueled by things happening throughout time, and knowledge from other scholars. A fantastic place to find reliable research, and information, is the academic journal, College Literature. It’s published by John Hopkins University Press from 1974- present. It is published in a series of quarterly magazines that breaks down different works from authors, both past and present, and brings a fresh look to those various works.  Throughout its articles scholar’s breakdown different works from authors, and begin to process them in different ways. The works chosen to be broken apart vary, but can be anything from works of poetry in the 19^thcentury, analyzing the Odyssey in a new light, or many current works that have been published in the 21^stcentury. With the variety in topics covered it makes finding useful information about works easily accessible for scholars. 

Due to the large amount of literature that is covered in the collegiate setting, this magazine covers a wide variety of things. One of the topics covered is literary theory and criticism. Articles such as “From many million heart-throbs”: Walt Whitman’s Communitarian Sentimentalisms” (Schöberlein), and “Entropic imagination in Poe’s The masque of the red death.” (Zapf). It covers current topics on American literature today such as: “Order Out of Chaos: Whiteness, White Supremacy, and Thomas Dixon”, Jr (Ruiz- Velasco), and “The Power to Undo Sin: Race, History and Literary Blackness in Rilla Askew’s “Fire in Beulah” (Hada). It has some articles that look at older American literature through new lens such as: “Black Objects: Animation and Objectification in Charles Chesnutt’s Conjure Tales” (Lam), and “Frankenstein, Paradise Lost, and “the majesty of goodness”(Ping). Some other topics discussed in this journal are third word literature, European literature, and many other branches of literature taught in classrooms around the world. This journal captures interesting topics from all over the world, and throughout time for scholars to be able to utilize. This journal can be used as a vital resource for anyone who wants to learn more about various literature. 

 One thing that makes this resource valuable for scholars is that all the articles are peer reviewed. Over the past 40 plus years the editors, and the editor boards, for the magazine have changed, however, the current editor is Carolyn Sorisio, West Chester University. Sorisio has a Ph.D. from Temple University, and is currently a professor at West Chester University.  She specializes in 19^th century American Literature with an emphasis on gender and race. Sorisio has several published articles in various academic magazines, and continues to do research along with teaching various literature classes. She also won various awards for her writing which include, 2015 Susan Koppleman Award from the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association. She won that prize for “The Newspaper Warrior: Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins’s Campaign for American Indian Rights” [coedited with Cari M. Carpenter (Univ. of Nebraska P, 2015). Associate editors, review editors, and various other editors are professors who are actively continuing their research, and are well established researchers in their own right. 

Tennessee Tech students have access to this journal through the libraries various databases. Issues from 1999 to 2019 are able to be viewed by current students and faculty are housed in the EBSCOhost data base. Other data bases carry articles as well, but EBSCOhost houses the largest variety of the articles. Some articles are able to be viewed on the publisher’s website, but usually it is only two articles per edition. The best way to view the information is to subscribe to the magazine, or have access through the school database. 

 Work Cited

“College Literature: A Journal of Critical Literary Studies.” College Literature: A Journal of Critical Literary Studies | JHU Press.

“English.” Carolyn Sorisio – West Chester University, 2018.

Hada, Kenneth. “The Power to Undo Sin: Race, History and Literary Blackness in Rilla Askew’s ‘Fire in Beulah’.” College Literature, vol. 34, no. 4, 2007.

Lam, Joshua. “Black Objects: Animation and Objectification in Charles Chesnutt’s Conjure Tales.” College Literature, vol. 34, no. 4, 2018.

Ping, Tang Soo. “Frankstein, Paradise Lost, and ‘the Majesty of Goodness’.Ta.” College Literature, vol. 16, no. 3, 1989.

Ruiz-Velasco, Chris. “Order Out of Chaos: Whiteness, White Supremacy, and Thomas Dixon, Jr.” College Literature, vol. 34, no. 4, 2007.

Schöberlein, Stefan. “‘From Many Million Heart-Throbs’: Walt Whitman’s Communitarian Sentimentalisms.” College Literature, vol. 45, no. 3, 2018.

Zapf, Hubert. “Entropic Imagination in Poe’s The Masque of the Red Death.” College Literature, vol. 16, no. 3, 1989.