Journal of American Speech

[by William Leonard]

When one thinks of the forms of scholastic and academic journals concerning English studies, a plethora of subjects arise, ranging from mythology of ancient times to drama and theatrical structure, to venerated authors such as Shakespeare, Milton, and Chaucer, on to the more obscure fields such as specific works from isolated, or less renowned writers, to the structures and forms of poetry throughout all chronological history.  However, there is one field that encompasses all these without question, a field without true praise: phonetics, the science of speech and the linguistical arts.  The Journal of American Speech focuses on just this throughout the last century in America, seeing as there is simply too much for the entirety of the English-speaking world, much less global phonetics.

The journal is comparatively ancient when contrasted with other journals of academia, with a publishing history beginning in the 1920s.  The concern of the Journal is principally the English language in the western hemisphere, though there are journals and articles dealing with English in other parts of the world, the influence of other languages on or by English, and linguistic theories.  It is not committed to any specific or particular audience, and as such it contains articles and other contributions that appeal to a wider audience than strictly those studying linguistics.  It is published quarterly by the Duke University Press at the present time.

Obviously, the composition of certain members of the Board of Editors has changed over the years, simply, due to the passage of time.  The current Chief Editor is Associate Professor Michael Adams, President Elect of and member of the Dictionary Society of North America.  Of his own work, he has stated “I am foremost a historian of the English Language, especially of English Words, who also specializes in the history, theory, and practice of lexicography…Lexicography, in all its aspects, is a deeply rooted, ongoing professional interest of mine, but I have other equally strong scholarly interests, especially slang and jargon.  Studying the history of language requires familiarity with a wide variety of texts, spread over space, time, and type.  In my case, this includes not only traditional literary genres but popular genres, like graphic novels, television, and film, as well as “new media,” like Web Texts, text messaging, etc.  My interest in Scottish literature extends form fifteenth-century poetry to the modern novel, and I am currently experimenting with linguistic studies of style in works by Neil Gunn and Eric Linklater.”

Articles focus on many subjects.  For the sake of brevity, only a handful of examples will be mentioned here.  From one publication entitled “Gender-Linked Derogatory Terms and Their Use by Women and Men” by Deborah James from the University of Toronto (volume 73, entry number 4 published in the Winter of 1998) discusses how that derogatory terms used to reveal a powerful social construct of collective sanctions against behavior that violates gender roles.  Volume 69, Number 1 published Spring 1994 (written by Rudolf P. Gaudio of Stanford University) is an article focusing on the differing pitches in voice, both literal and fictional, between men who are gay and who are strait.  In Volume 55, Number 4, published in the Winter of 1980 (written by John Algeo of the University of Georgia) focuses on the invention of new word, with one clear example being the true origin of the nonsense word supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, which did not originate with Marry Poppins as many would argue.

With these in mind, the journals run the gamut from the serious to the amusing to the educational to the linguistically cryptic.  It is an excellent source to review if one is interested in the study of language itself, and in final summary is a superb source all around.

Works Cited

James, Deborah.  “Gender-Linked Derogatory Terms and Their Use by Women and Men.”  Journal of American Speech Volume 73.  Issue 4 (Winter 1998): pgs 399-420.  Print

Gaudio, Rudolf P.  “Sounding Gay: Pitch Properties in the Speech of Gay and Strait Men.”  Journal of American Speech Volume 69.  Number 1 (Spring 1990): pgs 30-57.  Print.

Alego, John.  “Where Do All the New Words Come From?”  Journal of American Speech Volume 55.  Number 4 (Winter, 1984): pgs 264-277.  Print.

 

Early American Literature

Early American Literature

Early American Literature is a scholarly journal that is published three times per year. Created in 1965, the journal focuses on different types of literature that was published during the colonial years of America up to 1830. Such different types of literature provided within the journal are: writings in English from British America and the U.S., Native American traditional expressions, colonial Ibero-American literature from North America, colonial American Francophone writings, Dutch colonial writings, and German American colonial literature (Early American Literature). From volume four in 1974 to the current issues in 2013’s volume forty-eight, all journals contain between ten and twenty articles with a varying length of four to fifty pages per article.  All journals have been and continue to be published in New York.

The editor and editorial board has changed over time, not only in gender but in number. With the volume four issue of 1974, the editor and editorial board only consisted of males. By 1991, the issues included a unisex editorial board; however, the editor remained male. Also, it is worthy to note that all editors have been over the age of 40, therefore giving them opportunities to have become published and gain knowledge in many areas of early American literature. In the volume number four issue of 1974, there were only five members on the editorial board. This continued to be the trend up to 1991. In the 2013 issues there were an increase in the editorial members with a total number of fifteen people. Also, the genders of the editorial board in the first issues were all male, but this has changed in the more recent issues. When it comes to the education of the editors and the editorial board members all have received degrees from four year universities, with the most common being the University of California. None have received education from community colleges.

For a better factual understanding of the Early American Literature journal some miscellaneous facts should be noted. In the beginning issues of the journal there was no advisory editor, but instead a business manager. By 1991 up to current issues, however, there are advisory editors. Though the Early American Literature journal is not an expensive one to subscribe too, its monetary value has increased. A subscription for a year of its first issue was $3.50.  Now in 2013 a year subscription is $65.00, which is a large increase compared to the 1991 price of $16.00.

As for the contents within the journal, they vary between multiple topics of early American literature. Such variations can be seen in the volume twenty-six issue of 1991. Some chapter titles of this issue are: “Phillis Wheatley and the New England Clergy”, “The Sentimental Novel and Its Feminist Critique”, and “Dress and Undress in Brackenridge’s Modern Chivalry”. These chapter titles show that not only are certain genders being studied, but African-American studies are addressed as well as examinations of specific works. All issues contain and begin with essays on different subjects, and end with four to five reviews of various books. Certain subjects that the book reviews of the 2013 issue cover are: common law in early America, letter writing and communications in early America, feminism in the age of revolutions. The subjects of the book reviews show that each issue of the journal has a varying degree of topics that are covered.

Overall, the Early American Literature journal provides researchers, students, and teachers with information on varying subjects and literature of the early years in America. With a low yearly subscription, this scholarly journal is easily available to individuals and institutions. Some readers though, might find that the journal is limited in the amount of information that is given on literature during the early 1600s. While the journal as a whole does provide generous amounts of discussion on literature from 1776 and after, it lacks the early American literature that can be hard to find among other sources. This limitation, however, does not affect the overall usefulness of the journal as an early American literature source. With a mature and well educated editorial board, subscribers will feel confident when consulting the journal for information concerning a certain subject

Literature in Colonial America: A Selective Annotated Bibliography

Literature in Colonial America: A Selective Annotated Bibliography

Stepping off of the old weather beaten vessel, an explorer looks upon the foreign land of North America. He sees a dense undergrowth of plants underneath a canopy of trees unknown to the European scientists back home. Beyond the rocky shore of the coastline, a head with dark skin and long black hair peeks from behind a tree trunk. The explorer doesn’t know what is ahead, but there are certain hopes he holds in his heart for this new world that has never been experienced before.

There were many reasons for explorers to make the long journey across the Atlantic Ocean. Some were in search of wealth while others only had hopes to worship as they please. No matter the reason for their exploration, these explorers left behind accounts of their discoveries and experiences by way of literature. This genre of literature, whether in the form of journals, poetry, novels, or diaries, is important because it provides readers with a look into the American past. Not only does colonial and early literature provide primary accounts of the first years in America, but it continues to provide history on important events of American history such as the American Revolution, the writing of the Constitution, and even racial attitudes surrounding slavery.

The following selective annotated bibliography includes an extensive variety of primary and secondary sources concerning the colonial period of America to the 1800s. Sources within this bibliography include topics over slave narratives, literature written by women, a history of the original colonies, journals of the first explorers and settlers of America, accounts from colonial governors, history and literature from Puritan societies, early literature concerning the American landscape, journals of captain John Smith, important documents of early America, and the place of women and African Americans in early years. This annotated bibliography includes varying types of literature, focusing on primary sources of the colonial years, which revolves around the topic of the discovery and development in America.

Students and researchers will find this detailed bibliography beneficial for numerous reasons. The wide variety of different sources will provide scholars with many leads concerning the history of America. Not only are male authors looked at, but women and African American sources are also covered. This allows for anyone who should use this bibliography to have leads on different genres of colonial and American literature.

Berkin, Carol. “The Easy Task of Obeying.” Revolutionary Mothers: Women in the Struggle for America’s Independence. New York: Random House, 2005. 3-12. Print.

Berkin discusses within this chapter the tasks and stereotypes in society that were placed upon women during the events of the American Revolution. The chapter begins with an account of John Winthrop who said his wife had appeared to have gone mad. Later Winthrop realizes that it was due to her reading books. Knopf then discusses the education of men and women in colonial America. The remaining portion of the chapter goes into the details of weddings during colonial years and what women were expected to bring into the marriage. The author comes to the conclusion that women in colonial society were expected to bring certain skills to a marriage and uphold the household by doing chores and taking care of the children.

“The Colonial Period 1607-1765.” Initial Studies in American Letters by Henry Augustin Beers. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Oct. 2013.

            Within this online article, the writer argues the idea that colonial literature is more important as a history source than as a source of literature. He supports his arguments by providing accounts of settlers of the original thirteen colonies and how these accounts provide more information on the history of early American than the history of colonial literature. He then supports his statement by discussing, in the remaining portion of the article, how there was a lack of literary growth in the early years of the colonies.

Conron, John. “Eighteenth-Century Perspectives: Natural History and the Sublime.” The American Landscape; a Critical Anthology of Prose and Poetry. New York: Oxford UP, 1973. 141-61. Print.

            In this selected chapter, the author discusses the changing perspective of landscape in the eighteenth century by providing selections of early America literature from men such as William Bartram and Thomas Jefferson. Conron provides in this chapter primary selections from both Bartram and Jefferson who are discussing how the changings of ideas towards landscapes are affecting America. The author concludes the chapter by discussing the three new concepts concerning landscape to come out of the 1800s: landscape as natural history, landscape as sublime scenery, and landscape as scripture.

Elliott, Emory. “Benjamin Franklin.” American Colonial Writers. Detroit, MI: Gale Research, 1984. 125-48. Print.

            This selected section of Emory’s book contains information on the founding father and author Benjamin Franklin. Along with information on his birth, death, marriage, Emory provides a list of Franklin’s literary works and the dates they were published. The early life of Franklin, his first publications such as the Dogood papers, his different employments, the effect that the Poor Richards Almanac had on the culture of America, and the satires that he published are discussed. Emory concludes by discussing how Franklin’s autobiography is his best-known work.

Brown, Kathleen M. “Settlement of Red, White, and Black: Gender and Race in Colonial Virginia.” Major Problems in the History of the American South. Documents and Essays. Ed. Escott, Paul D. Boston U.a.: Houghton Mifflin, 1999. 45-56. Print.

            In an essay written by Kathleen Brown, the author debates the different views of gender and race of the 1700s in Virginia. She begins by discussing the interactions and feelings that colonial settlers had towards Indians. The focus then switches to the development and acceptance of slavery in colonial America and what the attitudes towards slavery were. She finishes the chapter by comparing white and African women as laborers and the situations dealing with illegitimate children in the colonies.

 

Zamora, Margarita. “Christopher Columbus’s “Letter to the Sovereigns”: Announcing the Discovery.” New World Encounters. Greenbalt, Stephen Berkeley: University of California, 1993. 1-12. Print.

            This selected section of Greenblatt’s book is written by Margarita Zamora and provides a primary source written by Columbus in 1492 concerning his announcement of the discovery of America. Before the primary source is provided though, the author discusses the history of the document and how, unlike recently, it was thought that only one of the four versions of the document had survived. In 1989 thought, a translated English version comes into public light, making this recently discovered document the newest Columbian source since the 1800s. The selection concludes by providing the text of the primary document.

“Harvest of Freedom 1764-1788.” Introduction. Chronicle of America. Ed. Clifton Daniel. Liberty, MO: JL International, 1989. N. pg. Print.

            In this introduction to a chapter that contains artistic renderings and newspaper articles from the revolutionary period of America, the editor provides a summary of the events that surrounded America’s fight for independence. Such events included are the Seven Years War, Stamp Act, Tea Act, Quartering Act, and the Boston Massacre. The editor then provides summaries on the documents during this time that influenced the American Revolution such as Thomas Paine’s Common Sense and the Declaration of Independence.

Pastor, Bodmer Beatriz. “Christopher Columbus and the Definition of America as Booty: Images of an Unknown World.” The Armature of Conquest: Spanish Accounts of the Discovery of America, 1492-1589. Stanford, CA: Stanford UP, 1992. 1-20. Print.

            Within this chapter of Pastor’s book, the author argues that the discovery of the North American mainland by Columbus was the beginning process of the destruction of American reality, meaning that his discovery caused much devastation on the indigenous populations of America. The author begins his argument by providing accounts of pervious explorers who had written about the idea of a New World, such as Las Casas and Marco Polo. He then concludes by discussing how the devastation of the Indian’s population occurred. Throughout the chapter, the author’s tone indicates his lack of approval regarding Columbus and his actions.

Pearce, Roy Harvey. “The Pilgrim.” Colonial American Writing. New York: Rinehart, 1950. 25-49. Print.

            Contained in this chapter written by Pearce are the accounts of the colonial governor of the Plymouth Colony William Bradford. The author provides a bibliographical note on the primary source that is provided. This source is The History of Plymouth Plantation, written between 1620 and 1651. Within this document Bradford provides the history of why he and his followers established the Plymouth colony, the voyage they experienced coming to America, the Mayflower Compact that Bradford signed, the social and economic problems for the colony in 1623, and as Bradford puts it, “the weakening of the pilgrim way”.

           

Perkins, George, and Barbara Perkins, eds. “Thomas Paine.” The American Tradition in Literature. 12th ed. Vol. 1. New York: McGraw Hill, 2009. 333-57. Print.

            Within this section of this book that contains early American literature, the editors provide and brief background on Thomas Paine. They discuss his early life and early career positions that he held. Also discussed are his early publications, which lead to the primary documents, written by Thomas Paine, included within this section. Within one document, entitled Common Sense, Paine discusses his views on the current American state and how America needs to fight for their independence. The section also provides The American Crisis, which also discusses the events at hand before the Revolutionary war. The final document called The Age of Reason provides examples of Paine’s views of theology.

Scheick, William J. Authority and Female Authorship in Colonial America. Lexington: University of Kentucky, 1998. Print.

            This book contains information on women authors of colonial America. It does not discriminate, however, since it also provides information on African American writer Phillis Wheatley.  Numerous primary sources are referenced such as Cotton Mather’s Manual for Women, a captivity narrative by Elizabeth Hanson, Anne Bradstreet’s letter to her husband. The author’s argument in book is that during the colonial period, female authorship did not have the ability to reach into the realm of literature produced by men.

           

Shockley, Ann Allen. “Phillis Wheatley.” Afro-American Women Writers: 1746-1933: An Anthology and Critical Guide. Boston, MA: Hall, 1988. 17-25. Print.

            Within this selected chapter, Shockley provides a brief history on the author Phillis Wheatley who lived from 1753 to 1784. The author describes how Wheatley was the second woman, after Anne Bradstreet, and first African American woman to publish a volume of poetry in the U.S. The author then provides a list of works and their dates that were published by Wheatley and how these works affected literary circles in the North. This chapter also discusses how although Wheatley was welcomed into many white homes and seen as intelligent among her white counterparts, she did not take a stand in her poetry on the issue of slavery.

Smith, John, and James Horn. “Writings by Captain John Smith: A Desciption of New England.” Captain John Smith: Writings with Other Narratives of Roanoke, Jamestown, and the First English Settlement of America. New York, NY: Library of America, 2007. 119-75. Print.

            This selected chapter provides some of the different primary documents that Captain John Smith wrote concerning the very early years of the colonies in America. Multiple letters between the king in England and Smith are provided. Letters between John Smith and acquaintances back home can also be seen in this chapter. These letters discuss topics such as descriptions of the New World, with a focus on the New England colonies. The remaining majority of the chapter provides what is known as The First Booke, which was written by John Smith and includes the history of the first discoveries of North America.

 

Stedman, Edmund C. “How the English Settled in Maryland.” A Library of American Literature. 1888. 44-50. Print.

            This selected section of Edmund’s book is written by an anonymous author. The subject of the primary document provided concerns the settlement of the Maryland colony. The document begins by discussing the voyage to the New World. Accounts dealing with Indian contact are also discussed. The document continues by going into great detail on how the Indians were dressed, how many wives they had, and what type of armies they had. The conclusion of the chapter comes as the anonymous author discusses the Indian’s lack of Christian beliefs and the establishment of the Maryland colony.

 

Taylor, Alan. “Middle Colonies 1600-1700.” American Colonies. New York: Viking, 2001. 245-75. Print.

            Within this chapter, the author discusses the history and development of the middle colonies of colonial America. Taylor begins by discussing how the middle colonies were more fertile and healthier than those of the New England and Chesapeake regions. Maps are provided throughout the chapter as the author begins to discuss the various Indian groups within the area. The developments of the settlements of the middle colonies are then discussed. The author goes into details about the colonies of New Netherland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. The chapter is concluded by providing details on the diversity within these specific colonies.

Poe Studies

      Poe Studies is a yearly journal that is published through the Washington State University Press and contains articles about the works of American writer and poet, Edgar Allan Poe, and it is accessible through the TN Tech Library.  When it was first started in 1975, it was independently published through the Poe Studies Association, and the editor was Alexander Hammond.  In 1992, the Washington State University Press was not the only place that published it.  It was also done so with the help of their HumanitiesResearchCenter and Division of Social Sciences and Humanities and the Department of English.  For the 1975 and 1992 issues, the editor and editing staff had remained the same.  The editing staff included people like Richard P. Benton and many others.

In 2008, their most recent publication had made quite a few changes such as changing the location of publication, the editors, and the number of editing staff.  The place of publication was now Wiley-Blackwell with help coming from the WashingtonStateUniversity’s Department of English and College of Liberal Arts and also from the College of Charleston’s Department of English and School of Humanities and Social Sciences.  The editors are now Jana L. Argersinger and Scott Peeples for the newer editions of this journal.

At the present time, Poe Studies can be found online at the Wiley Online Library as well as a few other websites.  In fact, there is a website known as The Poe Studies Association, dedicated to the life and work of Poe much like this journal where fans and writers can talk about his great works of literature.  It still comes out once a year just like before, but now, readers can find it easier.

The mission for this journal can be found in this statement.  “History, Theory, Interpretation provides a forum for dialogue about Edgar Allan Poe’s life and writings and about the cultural and material contexts that shaped the production and reception of his work.  The editors wish to define “Poe Studies” broadly—to include articles that engage the period in which Poe wrote, writers with whom he was affiliated or whom he inspired, theoretical and philosophical issues raised by his work, and artistic movements associated with him such as Gothicism, detective fiction, symbolism, and metafiction.  The journal invites submissions or original articles and notes, welcomes work grounded in a wide range of theoretical and critical perspectives, and encourages inquires proposing submissions and projects” (Poe Studies, 2008).  The target audience of this journal is students because if they intend to study about Poe and his many works as a writer and poet, this is where they would find some excellent information for their projects.  However, it is also useful for professors who want to teach Poe in their classroom.

Some of the articles included in this journal are about Poe’s stories and either comparing them to other writers or writers’ opinions about his works.  The articles can vary in length between only 1 page to 27 pages.  Some examples of the titles from the 1975 volume include “Poe’s “The Business Man”: Its Contexts and Satire of Franklin’s Autobiography” by J. A. Leo Lemany, “Guiomar’s Poetics of Death and “The Raven”” by David Baguley, ““ MS. Found in a Bottle” and Sir David Brewster’s Letters: A Source” by Burton R. Pollin, who is one of the editors of the journal, and “On First Translations of “The Raven” into German” by Erika Hulpke (Poe Studies, 1975).

This journal can be of much help to any student who is interested in studying about Poe and his works.  Poe Studies is excellently written and handled with much care and attention.  There will continue to be writers and readers who will enjoy reading and talking about the great works of Edgar Allan Poe, even after so many years.

Works Cited

Reilly, J. E.  Poe Studies.  WashingtonStateUniversity.  1974.  Journal.  Volume 1. October 2013.

Reilly, J. E.  Poe Studies.  WashingtonStateUniversity.  2008.  Journal.  Volume 41.  October 2013.

Deadly Musings: Violence and Verbal Form in American Fiction

 

            Deadly Musings: Violence and Verbal Form in American Fiction is a study on literary violence by Michael Kowalewski: Ph.D. degree professor and former president of the Western Literature Association. Published in 1993 in Princeton, New Jersey at the Princeton University Press, this work focuses on the subjects of American Fiction—History and Criticism, Violence in Literature, and Literary Form.

Deadly Musings is a source available online in abridged form online, non-abridged if ordered via e-book. It is a piece thoroughly laden with sources, varying in perspectives on a demographic basis, but all universally praising and positively critiquing the theme of violence in literature, focusing on the modern epoch. Kowalewski states his premise in the introduction of his book, making the declaration: “Violent scenes in American fiction are not only brutal, bleak, and gratuitous. They are also, by turns, comic, witty, poignant, and sometimes, stragely enough, even terrifyingly beautiful.” Following this cordial thesis, the body of his book includes over 300 pages of analysis, dissected into chapters that coincide with the author of focus for that section. The first chapter (of eight), is an explanation of violence and how to interpret and make sense of it through justifying it as symbolic. Kowalewski defends the diversity of violence by explaining that what it exactly symbolizes depends on who precisely penned it as well as the nature of the era, hence the importance of his chapters being dedicated to authors. He covers (in this order) James Fenimore Cooper, Poe, Stephen Crane, Hemingway, Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor, Thomas Pynchon, and lastly a discourse of miscellaneous other works by various authors in the postscript. Kowalewski makes the point to display the evolution that violence has undergone as his analysis progresses, equally stressing the constant aspects as well, relating Cooper’s Native American-based brutality to warfare in Hemingway’s novels, Faulkner’s Southern Gothic violence towards women to Poe’s traditionally Gothic violence towards women, et cetera. Possessing a myriad of layered information on such a narrow subject, easily does this source prove relevant to the development of violence as a theme in modern literature.

Deviancy, Sensationalism and Brutality Captured in 80’s American Literature

“I Was Born in the U.S.A.”:

Deviancy, Sensationalism and Brutality Captured in 80’s American Literature

A selective annotated bibliography.

            Think the 80’s landscape of America. Think Ronald Reagan. Think Jelly Shoes and Hammer pants and mullets and iconic cartoons. Florescent neon clothing. Michael Jackson prior to his bleach and his infamously fragile snout. To the now-middle aged American population, these memories are probably fond and humbly embarrassing, but more than that, they are layered: layered in the sense that they are also accompanied by not-so-fond memories, hanging somewhat malignantly off the tail of things that rest easier on the brain. The peculiar death of Bob Marley in ’81. The drug culture that flourished in cities—namely the big and bright ones: L.A., San Fran, et cetera. The crime that supplemented this wave of lifestyle of substance. The 50’s-with-a-vengance materialism that swept the nation. It has a blasphemous ring to it, but it’s a sin in itself to not admit the sensationalism that was sex, drugs, and bloody rock & roll that made the era such a bewildering and captivating time to live in.

Like monuments erected to preserve the feats and ideas of the past, literature has sealed the essence of this decade as well as any stone replica. The written word once again delivers an experience that contains the sublime nature of 80’s America, and this selective bibliography intends to provide a variety of perspectives on it. Perhaps the worth of the compilation is weighed in interest, or rather in research fodder for whatever subject or micro-subject that this assembling of information should contain. Of its contents, it offers a myriad of sources that highlight the literary poster-children of the given period and/or supply depth to their controversial nature—namely on the topic of violence. Next to the cited critical essays, there are other more recent sources of scholarly proportions that propose commentaries and explanations for these novels’ controversial themes, or simply elaborate on their general canonical importance in the history of American literature.

This is when you start thinking Cormac McCarthy. Bret Ellis. Jay McInerney. Katherine Dunn. Thomas Harris. It is because of these writers among others that we can once again be reminded of the fond memories and callous ones, and at their expense there are creative testaments that embody them, providing a reflective purpose on an important epoch in the 20^th century. If this brief compendium lives up to its intended purpose, then perhaps more information and more creativity can embellish the present day based off of the effort and observation of those who have acknowledged this era and celebrated its elements.

Berkenkamp, Lauri. “Reading, Writing and Interpreting: Stephen King’s Misery.” The Dark Descent: Essays Defining Stephen King’s Horrorscape. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1992. 203-11. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Vol. 244. Detroit: Gale, 2008. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.

Lauri Berkenkamp’s critical essay over Stephen King’s ’87 horror novel, Misery, is essential to the bibliography because it sheds light on the fact that King’s novel can be interpreted as a story elaborating on communication gone wrong between reader and writer. Through the novel’s two primary characters, Berkenkamp illustrates how a sequence of violence and torture unraveled between them due to the nature of such reactions unto products of the writer’s creation. In so many words, this essay explains not just the commentary aspect that literature has on the time and place, but how literature can be motivating for more violence to occur. While Misery takes this concept to the extremes, it’s crucial to recognize this possibility, especially when one considers the domino effect instigated by Ellis’s American Psycho.

Hislop, Andrew. “The Wild Bunch.” Times Literary Supplement 4490 (21 Apr. 1989): 436. Rpt.   in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter. Vol. 204. Detroit: Gale,  2005. Literature Resource Center. Web. 1 Oct. 2013.

Andrew Hislop’s critical essay addresses the nature of Cormac McCarthy’s theme of violence. He argues that McCarthy examines the unnecessary brutalities during the era of westward expansion in America to accentuate the overall meaninglessness of violence in general. By this he visually demonstrates the extents of greed to subliminally pull readers into a scenic view of American history that isn’t so pretty once you get down to its core—“hollow as a used artillery shell.” This argument is crucial in the sense that it sheds light and spreads scholarly grounds on the impetus of meaning in literature, or, importantly, lack thereof.

Jefferson, Faye. “Cultural/Familial Estrangement: Self-Exile and Self-Destruction in Jay McInerney’s Novels.” The Literature of Emigration and Exile. N.p.: Texas Tech UP, 1992. 115-30. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter and Deborah A. Schmitt. Vol. 112. Detroit: Gale Group, 1999. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 17 Oct. 2013.

Faye Jefferson, in her brief critical essay over Jay McInerney’s works, addresses the author’s most renowned second-person perspective novel, Bright Lights, Big City. She addresses the character’s cocaine and club-hopping habits that are ultimately just a form of self-harm. She references several points in the novel where the protagonist reflects upon his literary and career ambitions that are drowning in his own lifestyle. She acknowledges that while the ending is hopeful, the theme of the novel suggests a cycle that renders the main character a lost cause. This source’s importance lays in the indirect form of violence that Jefferson proves as eminent: subtle violence towards the self.

Kowalewski, Michael. Deadly Musings: Violence and Verbal Form in American Fiction. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 1993. Print.

Michael Kowalewski, in his scholarly book, Deadly Musings: Violence and Verbal Form in American Fiction, gives a professional definition to literary violence and similar themes. He describes the relevance that acts of violence have in literature, describing in his introduction the variety of implications that it can suggest: dominance, man vs. man conflict, futile resolution, et cetera. To elaborate on the potential violence has, he goes into depth with a number of authors after the turn of the 20^th century. This source serves to back up the prospective merit that the theme of violence has in the literary world.

Levey, Nick. “Crisis and Control in Don DeLillo’s White Noise.” The Explicator. 71.1 (2013): 11-13. Academic OneFile. Web. 17 Oct. 2013.

Nick Levey’s article that appeared in The Explicator delves into Don DeLillo’s breakthrough novel, White Noise. It illustrates the relevance the ’85 novel has to its time period, harboring the themes of extensive consumerism, saturation of media, underground conspiracies, the disintegration and reintegration of the American family, disasters caused by the human race, and the potentially regenerative nature of human violence. Levey then concludes that it was the presence of these themes that finally equivocated in success for DeLillo, because of the obvious appeal it had to people who felt identical in the day and age.

Mookerjee, Robin. Transgressive Fiction: The New Satiric Tradition. 2013. Print.

Robin Mookerjee’s Transgressive Fiction: The New Satiric Tradition is his scholarly endeavor to bring a number of contemporary authors to justice, authors that have been previously put down by critics as “just crass opportunists.” Mookerjee covers authors that are not only pertinent to the sex, drugs, and violence pattern (which in itself is crucial to Mookerjee’s study), but he namely covers authors a few authors that are important to the decade as well as this compendium: Bret Easton Ellis and Kathy Acker. By comparing these authors with ones from previous or later decades, and simply by possessing a professional view on literary violence and mischief, his presence in the study of this topic is central.

Nolan, Amy. “‘A New Myth To Live By’”: The Graphic Vision Of Kathy Acker.” Critique 53.3  (2012): 201-213. Humanities Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 24 Oct. 2013.

Amy Nolan’s critical essay over Kathy Acker serves in this bib for her attempt at literarily justifying the excess of controversy leaden in Acker’s most recognized work, Blood and Guts in High School. Nolan outlines Acker’s novel and its controversial points: pornographic incest, descriptive violence and conceptual violence [e.g. abortion scenes, rape, etc], and drug use, justifying the novel as a “feminist statement” that has leaped over from the seventies into the eighties (its time of publication). Nolan describes that the revulsion the novel has received isn’t at all deserved once scrutinized, where it offers a professional take on the “Oedipal-frame narrative,” and a treks into the “‘no-man’s land of the subconscious.’”

Price, David W. “Bakhtinian Prosaics, Grotesque Realism, and The Question Of The Carnivalesque in Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho.” Southern Humanities Review 32.4 (1998): 321-346. Humanities Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 17 Oct. 2013.

While American Psycho was published in ’91, the setting and themes of the novel supply enough relevance for its presence in this compilation. David W. Price covers this relevance thoroughly in his article featured in Southern Humanities Review. Price compares Ellis’s disreputable novel to Mikhail Bakhtin, and uses this analogy to explain American Psycho’s importance as a “blistering critique of the 1980’s.” Price then describes through the length of his article, using three focal points, that further analysis of this work can provide sufficient political and cultural prophecies concerning the development of inner city violence merged with excessive consumerism.

Runyon, Randolph P. “Cathedral.” Reading Raymond Carver, Syracuse University Press. 1992: 137-85. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism Select. Detroit: Gale, 2008. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.

Randolph P. Runyon critiques Raymond Carver’s ’83 short story collection, Cathedral, by initially recognizing the trend of alcoholism throughout. Scrutinizing “Chef’s House,” “Vitamins,” and “Where I’m Coming From,” among a few others, Runyon makes the conclusive statement that the anthology in itself celebrates (or anti-celebrates) a form of violence in which itself, making note of the many destructive features present in the stories, from the image of the Vietnamese ear in “Vitamins” to the obliteration of the marriage in “Where I’m Coming From.”

Schmid, David. “The Kindest Cut of All: Adapting Thomas Harris’s Hannibal.” Literature-Film Quarterly 35.1 (2007): 389. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 17 Oct. 2013.

This article by David Schmid tackles the serial killer novelist turned modern drama sensation: Thomas Harris, responsible for the character icon, Hannibal. Schmid evaluates Harris’s 1981 Red Dragon, 1988 Silence of the Lambs, as well as 1991 Hannibal, and makes critical remarks towards what the success of Hannibal the character says about the culture of 80’s America onward. He evaluates the character’s infamous sense of class and etiquette combined with the mercilessness and brutality of his appetite appeals to the “distinguished taste of the American culture,” and has an identical effect on American sensations “…as Manson did to the rebels of excessive consumerism and materialistic peace.”

Sahlin, Nicki. “‘But This Road Doesn’t Go Anywhere’: The Existential Dilemma in Less Than Zero.” Critique 33.1 (Fall 1991): 23-42. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter and Timothy J. White. Vol. 117. Detroit: Gale Group, 1999. Literature Resource Center. Web. 1 Oct. 2013.

In Nicki Sahlin’s critical essay, she scrutinizes Bret Easton Ellis’s work, Less Than Zero. The scholar attends to the many spontaneous acts of crudeness and violence that occur within the novel and evaluates the muffled responses to these acts by the characters. She commentates on their behavior, and makes claims that they hardly give an appropriate reaction considering that they are, “so numbed with the existential culture that they aren’t even rightly disturbed.” This professional observation proves vital to the subject of violence in 80’s literature, particularly given that included is a modest amount of focus on the iconic drug culture prevalent in the decade, and the author applies this to assumptions made about the morals of the era.

Toutonghi, Pauls Harijs. “Toni Morrison’s Beloved.” American Writers Classics. Ed. Jay Parini. Vol. 1. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2003. 19-33. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.

Pauls Harijs Touronghi writes of the widely renowned and scrutinized Toni Morrison novel, Beloved in his critical essay regarding spiritual violence ever-so-present in the text. Touronghi centers on the vengeance of the ghost of Seethe’s child, making a series of points where the hack-saw related death comes back to shake her in spells of supernatural disturbances. He makes relevance of this in the sense that “violence resonates,” and it has a particular habit of carrying across time, as Toni Morrison’s novel does, ferrying the pain of a harsh and discriminate era into 1980’s America. The reception of the novel speaks for itself: this idea is still tragically appropriate and more than effective.

Worthington, Marjorie. “The Texts of Tech: Technology and Authorial Control in Geek Love and Galatea 2.2.” Journal of Narrative Theory 39.1 (Winter 2009): 109-133. Rpt.           in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter. Vol. 292. Detroit: Gale, 2010. Literature Resource Center. Web. 1 Oct. 2013.

This critical essay by Marjorie Worthington goes over the controversial and generally bizarre elements of Katherine Dunn’s Geek Love. Worthington addresses a number of the novel’s motifs, ranging from misconfiguration for amusement to cultist sensationalism that branches out from a glutton for a completion. She says that the root for these themes lies in Dunn’s observation that the American population was experiencing a flood of symbolic wealth. “Materialistic notions were on the high and this instilled a longing in people for a more genuine existence.” This idea anchors Worthington into making sense of the strange characters with stranger characteristics that maintain a worth in the literary time frame.

Mark Twain Project

The Mark Twain Project is a website that is compiled of Mark Twain’s written documents and published works. It contains autobiographies, letters, books, checks, documents, and so on. The mission and goal of the website is to be a convenient scholarly source for Mark Twain’s works and ultimately to obtain all of Mark Twain’s writings. The project was first brought together by Robert H. Hirst when he succeeded the previous editor that was in charge of compiling all the Mark Twain papers into one source. Hirst had the idea to add the papers to other Mark Twain works and make the Mark Twain Project.  Their newest change was to convert all the works into an online website.

The Mark Twain Project began with a single editorial board of three members that were on the original editorial board and remained working on the Mark Twain Project today. The modern day editors consist of mostly males. There is a long list of other people that have contributed to this source on the website. It even includes students who worked on the project as volunteers.

This site breaks down Twain’s work into three different sections of writings. The first section is letters that Mark Twain wrote. It includes all of the letters they have located written by Mark Twain in Chronological order. They are critically edited, include editorial notes, and they used Mark Twain scholars to make assumptions at missing words. A lot of the letters are addressed to family like his sister, mother, brother, and others; however, a good percentage of the letters are sent to several different journals. Digital forms with typed letters are made so the letters are easy for the public to read. Facsimiles are also available to see so that the public can get a better idea of what the real letters look like. These letters serve as a detailed account of Twain’s life and insight to his personality.

The next section is devoted to the writings of Mark Twain. They use the early collection of Mark Twains papers that were collected by Hirst’s predecessor. These texts are supposed to portray Twain’s intentions as close as possible in his writings. The final section compiles images to help the Twain enthusiasts further their understanding of the author. These images have words attached that depict what is in the picture.

There are other tabs like the MTPO tab that describe how the site came about and gives the history of the letters and the Twain family. It even tells why Twain didn’t release some of his writings until after his death. Under the resource tab they have maps and chronologies, a chronological list of Twain’s letters, photographs and manuscript facsimiles, Twain documents, and reviews. This tab has a taste of all the others. This is a great source for any literature scholar or Twain enthusiast therefore the Mark Twain Project should not be overlooked.

American Literature

           American Literature is a quarterly journal published by Editor Priscilla Walt in association with Duke University Press (Duke). It is accessible to TTU students through the databases JSTOR and Duke University Press. The journal targets any scholar, be it student, teacher, or aficionado, of American Literature and provides him or her with a wide variation of articles, covering topics from colonial to contemporary literature, as well as reviews of novels of all kinds and ages. The articles are generally centered around an author or a particular work of fiction, ranging from Twain to Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Spanning approximately 200 pages per issue, the articles are lengthy, running from 20 to 30 pages and the number of book reviews ranging from six to as many as fifty per issue. This is a big jump from the journal’s initial six to twelve page articles in 1929. The articles are always first, followed by book reviews and a brief mention of recent literary books and studies that subscribers of this journal might find interesting. Submission guidelines set a limit of 11,000 words per article and mandate MLA formatting. Each issue’s content varies based on the wide array of authors and the journal’s “blind submission” policy.

At its start, the journal had a very narrow scope, relying heavily on authors who lived on the East Coast, like Ralph Waldo Emerson, who is mentioned in several early issues. The subject was not yet developed, and the journal originally contained a section for “Notes and Queries,” which has since been removed (Hubbell). The field of American Literature was just beginning to emerge, and the creation of the journal effectively linked many potential scholars across the East Coast. As the years passed, the journal expanded its reach across the nation, reaching Nebraska by 1940 and California by 1946 and, more recently, all the way across the globe to Tel Aviv, solidly keeping hold of its original purpose: to be the preeminent journal in its field as it gained popularity and a broader field of study.

The journal’s recent expansion to an international level has shown that the journal is growing at a similar rate as the field. Currently, the board of editors only holds one international editor, who is from Tel Aviv, Israel. The addition of Dr. Milette Shamir is proof of the expansion of the journal (Wald). Going international has allowed the journal articles to gain new perspectives, seen in articles such as “Emersonian Terrorism: John Brown, Islam, and Postsecular Violence” and “The Technê Whim: Lin Yutang and the Invention of the Chinese Typewriter.” The expansion is helping the journal gain reflections on American Literature from scholars in Israel and Canada as well.

While the articles vary in topic due to a continuously expanding field, there is often a suggested theme for submissions. Ranging from “Pedagogy: A Critical Practice for the Changing World” to “After the Postsecular,” these submission suggestions are generally topics that are being largely debated by scholars in the field and are likely to be a focus of the next special issue. The journal does not always adhere to a central topic; however, it focuses around a central theme in each March issue. The first issue in 1994, for example, centered on Herman Melville—with articles ranging from “The Moby-Dick White Elephant” to “Melville Climbs the Canon,” with many others in between (Davidson).

Overall, American Literature is an extraordinary research tool for the literature scholar. Its topics and authors come from all over the globe and it is an effective way to trace the expansion of the field since its beginning. The wide range of topics allows the journal to be a prominent source for just about anything having to do with works of American Literature.

Works Cited

Davidson, Cathy N. American Literature, 66.1 (1994). Duke University Press. Web. 6 Oct. 2013.

Duke University Press, 2013. Web. 7 Oct. 2013

Hubbell, Jay B. American Literature, 1.1 (1929). Duke University Press. Web. 5 Oct. 2013.

Wald, Priscilla. American Literature, 85.3 (2013). Duke University Press. Web. 7 Oct. 2013.

Robert Frost’s Nature Poetry: A Selective Annotated Bibliography

Flowers, trees, butterflies, stars, snow, fire, and ice– he wrote about it all. Robert Frost, often thought of as a nature poet and a Romantic, frequently comes across as a very simplistic writer simply because he writes about simplistic things. This may be true on the surface, but what some do not realize is that there is, in fact, deeper meaning hidden beneath his simple words. Quite often, Frost uses the natural world in which we live to convey larger and relatable ideas. In many of his poems, including “Birches,” “The Road Not Taken,” and “Design,” in which most of us are familiar, Robert Frost writes of nature primarily as a way to communicate abstract or more complex concepts regarding mankind. As a matter of fact, the argument could be made that Frost isn’t really writing about nature (environment and scenery) at all, rather using it as a tool to compose ideas relating to human nature.
The following selective annotated bibliography includes a variety of sources discussing the way in which Frost uses these simple elements of nature to demonstrate ideas and notions relating to the actions and the way of life of humanity. Humans are not simple beings in the least; we are extremely complex and intricate, exceptionally dynamic, and cannot be easily understood. However, Frost attempts to extract themes of mankind by using themes of nature metaphorically, subtly conveying his ideas through this type of nature imagery. Therefore, when one reads of birches or of apples, the quick assumption that there is nothing more to the poem besides what appears on the surface should not be made. Apples are not always apples; birches are not always birches. Step back and take a closer look– beneath the surface, between the lines, deeper into each word, and discover the hidden beauty within.
Works featured in this bibliography may include those focusing on a specific poem, topic, or theme of Frost’s; others may examine the poet and his poetry as a whole. Some included articles provide conflicting ideas of scholarly critics relating to the poetry and form a persuasive argument defending or sometimes defying these scholars. These sources are particularly useful to those looking to research the thematic nature of Frost’s poetry or those who are just interested in his methodology in constructing metaphorical poetry using the most basic and fundamental aspect of the world—nature.

Baym, Nina. “An Approach to Robert Frost’s Nature Poetry.” American Quarterly 17.4 (1965): 713-23. JSTOR. Web. 25 Sept. 2013.

This ten page article regarding misconceptions of Robert Frost himself along with his poetry argues that a lot of critics have labeled Frost as a “nature poet,” but simply assume that he is another version of Ralph Waldo Emerson or perhaps William Wordsworth. Baym goes on to say that many people during this time period only seen Frost as an “inspired plowman.” The entirety of this short article is dedicated to the misconceptions of Frost’s seasonal imagery along with other aspects of nature and how they have been overlooked. Baym also uses pieces by authors such as Lynen and Bower to support the thesis that Frost’s subjects and methodology derive from his “conviction that poetry is a unique discipline with its own characteristic subject matters as well as its own uses of language.” Baym uses the method of describing a misconception and then making her own assumptions, backing them with other scholarly works.

Dickey, Frances. “Frost’s “The Tuft of Flowers”: A Problem of Other Minds.” The New England Quarterly 75.2 (2002): 299-311. JSTOR. Web. 30 Sept. 2013.

This is a twelve page scholarly article from The New England Quarterly Journal. Author Frances Dickey describes in depth the history of Frost’s “The Tuft of Flowers,” people’s reactions to it, and includes an analysis of the poem itself. Dickey is continuously quoting lines from the poem and interpreting their meaning, such as the incident where the speaker is standing alone in a field turning the hay to dry. Dickey also introduces other interpreters’ opinions, such as those of Frank Lentricchia and Richard Poirier and integrates some pieces of their scholarly works. Dickey has segmented her essay into several different pieces, and in her section title “The Poem,” she explains how flowers and other aspects of nature are brought into play. There are several other portions, such as “The Pragmatism” and “The Revision,” where the author describes changes that Frost made to his poem.

Fagan, Deirdre, and Robert Seltzer. “Frost’s “Design”.” Explicator 68.1 (2010): 48-50. Humanities Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 30 September 2013.

Though this article is short and to the point, it most certainly contains a number of important ideas regarding Frost’s “Design.” The authors begin by quoting Frost himself, that the mistake shouldn’t be made “of assuming that [his] simplicity is that of an untutored child.” A few other scholars are quoted, including Laurence Perrine and Everett Carter. The authors dispute some ideas that these critics present—including the statement that Frost is “grim” in his poetry. The article is spent arguing that Frost uses the world of nature to convey larger ideas, the poem opening with a scene in nature and ending with a reflection in the form of a series of questions. The ending sentence sums up the entire article: “The observation in “Design” is a metaphor and, as such, should allow readers to leap from the world of insects to that of humans, and likewise, to understand Frost’s enthymematic sentiment without being sentimental.”

Ghasemi, Parvin, and Elham Mansooji. “Nature and Man in Robert Frost.” CLA Journal 49.4 (2006): 462-481. Humanities Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 17 Oct. 2013.

This extensive article inspects Frost’s poems and the exploration of the relationship between humans and the natural world. The authors analyze how Frost uses the confrontation between humanity and nature to lead to the confrontation of humanity itself. The idea that the duties of humans are to use whatever they have for survival, whether it be their minds or hearts, is also examined in this article. By doing so, humans gain knowledge and can better understand humanity and nature as a whole. All of these concepts are organized and discussed throughout the entirety of this journal article.

Kearns, Katherine. “The Place is the Asylum: Women and Nature in Robert Frost’s Poetry.” Twentieth Century Literature 59.2 (1987): 190-210. JSTOR. Web. 25 Sept. 2013.

This useful 20 page article provides a brief summary and analysis of a large variety of Frost poetry. The author goes into descriptive detail of the symbolism and metaphors being used within the poems and delivers evidence by quoting or paraphrasing lines from the poem. For example, Kearns proposes the notion that water represents something more in her statement “The tension in the speaker is personified in nature by the lake, whose water must suggest a deep and troubled sexuality manifesting itself in a self-acknowledged madness.” The author backs this statement with examples from the primary source itself. The entirety of this article is dedicated to Frost’s metaphorical meanings and symbolism to human nature, using literal nature as a tool. This article is meant for a wide audience; intellectual background concerning the poetry is not required, for the author does a magnificent job at describing the poems within the article.

Klein, Amelia. “The Counterlove of Robert Frost.” Twentieth Century Literature 54.3 (2008):362-387. JSTOR. Web. 25 Sept. 2013.

This rather extensive article compares Frost to the Romantic Wordsworth, in depth, and describes different ideas that both writers shared. Complex ideas are covered in detail, such as the rejection that nature is merely a linguistic construct and the notion that spaces of human dwelling are enfolded in a natural world that both sustains and threatens to undo them. Klein quotes several lines from Wordsworth and Frost, making connections between the two, such as both their understandings of our figures being part of nature’s flesh. The author also makes metaphysical speculations, like poetry being connected to the natural world through its rootedness in the human body. Theories of Frost are described in detail that support the thesis that Frost shares with his romantic forebears a vision of the natural world as the source and context of our lives.

Lahaderne, Giordano. “Frost’s “October”.” Explicator 65.4 (2007): 224-226. Humanities Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 7 Oct. 2013.

This rather short but significant article examines Frost’s popular poem “October” and how it is critically overlooked. Lahaderne quotes scholar William Scheck in his first sentence to form his thesis that the poetry of Frost seems to be quite simple on the surface but it is a lot more complex upon reflection. The author goes on to explain how Frost uses Greek mythological symbolism to veil the poem’s universal themes on the nature of life itself. The rest of the article examines “October” very closely and its hidden messages, and also how symbolism and Greek mythology is used throughout.

Liebman, Sheldon W. “Robert Frost, Romantic.” Twentieth Century Literature 42.4 (1996): 417-37. JSTOR. Web. 25 Sept. 2013.

This lengthy twenty-two page article is constructed in an organized manner—at the end, there is a section dedicated purely to “Notes,” going into further detail on some of the ideas presented within the text. The beginning of the article describes the assumption that Frost is a Romantic, in that romanticism is defined as a simple-minded picture of human experience, and that he is not a Romantic, based on the idea that his poetry portrays him to be a tough-minded realist. Liebman believes both of these assumptions to be false, and spends the rest of the article explaining why and supporting his theories with those of other scholars, based on the subject of the use of nature. This article is written in first person and has a variety of examples relating to the topic of how systematically and metaphorically Frost uses nature throughout the majority of his poetry.

Link, Eric Carl. “Nature’s Extra-Vagrants: Frost and Thoreau in the Maine Woods.” Papers on Language & Literature 33. (1997): 182-197. Humanities Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 7 Oct. 2013.

This sixteen page article examines the relationships between Frost’s nature poetry and that of Thoreau. Link argues that both Thoreau and Frost are both in fact dark Romantics, though they are often seen as optimistic in their exploration of Nature. Link mentions scholars such as Roberts French along with others to support his argument. The author goes on to discuss the “Extra-vagance” theme when Frost and Thoreau are compared.

Murray, Keat. “Robert Frost’s Portrait of a Modern Mind: The Archetypal Resonance of “Acquainted with the Night”.” Midwest Quarterly 41.4 (2000): 370-384. Humanities Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 7 Oct. 2013.

This article discusses the language and techniques that are used by Frost to create a mysterious, even dark, feel to his poetry. Several of Frost’s poems are analyzed, including “Acquainted with the Night” and how night plays an important role in the entire meaning of the poem. The author also draws focus on not only the content in Frost’s poetry, but also the way in which the poem itself is organized and how all of these things play a part in the construction of the work. Murray also examines all of the different elements that Frost uses, such as water and light, and draws a connection between the poems and mythological ideas.

Orr, Matthew. “Is Nature Enough? Robert Frost Replies in “The Most of It”.” Zygon 40.3 (2005): 759-768. Web. 30 Sept. 2013.

This scholarly journal article covers a particular poem by Frost, “The Most of It,” and its exploration of whether nature alone is sufficient to satisfy human spiritual yearnings. The article includes a brief history on the making of the poem and Frost’s inspiration toward writing it. Orr describes several misconceptions of the poem and then defines its actual message—whether or not nature is enough is actually in the eye of the beholder. This poem is very well analyzed and investigated and provides some crucial information regarding Frost’s usage of nature.

Perkins, Wendy. “Critical Essay on “Birches”.” Poetry for Students. Ed. Elizabeth Thomason. Vol. 13. Detroit: Gale Group, 2001. Literature Resource Center. Web. 17 Oct. 2013.

This essay analyzes the poem “Birches” and examines the way in which Frost uses the natural world to convey larger ideas. There is a brief summary of the poem and then many examples of the use of nature are provided and their metaphorical meanings. This essay is only 1500 words long, but it carries many fundamental and analytical ideas regarding the symbolism in the poetry of Frost. Perkins uses the critical analysis of other critics, as well as her own, within her essay to form the thesis that Frost uses the natural world to raise questions about the nature of human existence.

Stambuk, Andrew. “Learning to Hover: Robert Frost, Robert Francis, and the Poetry of Detached Engagement.” Twentieth Century Literature 45.4 (1999): 534-552. JSTOR. Web. 25 Sept. 2013.

This 20 page article examines the history of Frost and Francis and the emergence of the young writer’s ideas through the mentoring of Robert Frost. Author Andrew Stambuk covers the ideas of both writers, so we get a new perspective from someone who had direct contact with Frost. One major concept that is covered is how both see nature emblematically and read meaning in the things and creatures of the world. Several examples of Francis’s poetry are given, showing how he uses detached engagement and how his style echoes that of Frost’s. One example provided is a poem regarding a hummingbird hovering over a flower and how Francis constructs the poem metaphorically, just as Frost does in his works. The poetry of both these writers are compared in great detail throughout the article.

Urquhart, Thomas. “A Naturalist’s Garden of Verse.” World Literature Today 82.4 (2008): 59. Humanities Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 17 Oct. 2013.

This rather short article focuses on “art that delights in the human delight in nature” and meditates on works of numerous authors such as Longfellow, Char, Sassoon, and of course Frost. The author gives a detailed background on why he first became interested in the works of Frost and informs readers that he has just read “Bond and Free” where “nature is a kind of chasuble to adorn human values” and compares the poetry of Frost to a recent newspaper article concerning imprints of ancient amphibians. This is an interesting new outlook on Frost’s nature poetry.

Wakefield, Richard. “Thomas Eakins and Robert Frost: To Be a Natural Man in a Man-Made World.” Midwest Quarterly 41.4 (2000): 354-369. Humanities Full Text (H.W. Wilson).Web. 7 Oct. 2013.

This article takes a slightly different approach to Robert Frost and nature. Wakefield argues that men have turned away from nature, and contends that a lot of Frost’s poetry such as “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” actually has little nature in it and is essentially about self-consciousness and how a man feels in the twilight of self-reliance, turned from nature by the demands of a man-made world. This extensive article provides readers with a lot of significant analyses on the “nature” poetry of Robert Frost, and how it is indeed a lot more than just that. A large bibliography can be found at the end of the article.

Journal of American Folklore

The scholarly Journal of American Folklore (founded in 1888) is currently headed by editors Thomas A. DuBois and James P. Leary of the University of Wisconsin and published quarterly by the University of Illinois Press; the Journal is presently accessible in print to TTU students through the Volpe Library. These print versions are available in bound copies of generally four issues per book, with dates going as far back as 1936. The earliest issue that can be found through the library is from January, 1936, and the most current is from the summer of 2013. Observably, many aspects of the journal have changed over the years; on the other hand, some features have remarkably remained essentially unchanged.

The current editorial board consists of members ranging from the University of Georgia to the University of Winnipeg all the way to the University of California Los Angeles and is equally representative of males and females. The Journal typically contains scholarly articles that present research and theoretical analyses fundamental to the field, with content reflecting a wide range of professional concerns, academic orientations, and communicative modes. Other features such as notes, reviews, and commentaries are directed at a wide variety of audiences—materials reviewed include books, exhibitions, and events, sound recordings, film and videos, websites, and internet media. The Journal also contains polemics that are much narrower in scope and focus on a single issue relating to the field. Located in each issue are short informational sections titled “Notes on Practice” that deal with tasks and responsibilities of folklorists. Commentaries address topics discussed in previous issues of the journal.

Each article in the Summer 2013 edition of the Journal of American Folklore generally ranges between twenty-seven and thirty-two pages and contains a fifty to seventy-five word abstract summarizing essential points and findings. An extensive bibliography can be found at the end of each piece. Located at the bottom of the first page of each article, readers will find a small footnote describing the author– their occupation and which university they attended. The articles are divided up into different sections with corresponding headings to assist with navigation and contain a number of helpful footnotes explaining things within the article such as mentioned ceremonies of a particular culture.

The Journal of American Folklore has undergone significant changes over the past 77 years, even in the past couple of years. Some obvious changes are the members of the editorial board, the editors themselves, and the cost of the Journal. A major difference in newer issues and older ones (such as those from 1936) that I noted was the scope of the journal. In 1936, the first page states that it was designed for the collection and publication of the folklore and mythology of the American Continent, whereas now it contains a lot more content, including the sound reviews and commentaries. These did not exist within the journal in the 1930’s. The contributors for this journal are from a variety of locations, such as California and Indiana, and the articles have expanded in length; the 1936 issues contained several short stories/articles by one author, including “Folk Tales From Shumopovi, Second Mesa” by Wilson Wallis and “Pueblo Indian Folk Tales” by Aurelio Espinosa. There are collections of around 21 to 24 stories in each section, each one containing its own Table of Contents. Newer issues only contain one article from each author and are much longer and academic; some of these articles include “Pinkster: An Atlantic Creole Festival in a Dutch-American Context” from the Summer 2013 issue where author Jeroen Dewulf argues that this festival should be understood in a different context and that the syncretic character did not originate in North America like many have come to believe. Another example of a somewhat recent article from a 1990 issue is “The Sardana: Catalan Dance and Catalan National Identity” by Stanley Brandes, Professor of Anthropology from the University of California. Many of these more recent articles spend a significant amount of space, usually between eighteen and twenty-five pages, covering some sort of cultural tradition. The requirements for potential contributors have remained essentially the same since 1990, but they are much more detailed now than they were in 1936. There was not a length requirement then, so perhaps that is why the articles were a lot shorter. Finally, one last huge change in the Journal that I noted was that initially, there was a dash in the words Folk and lore and that has been deleted in recent years; also, the name has been shortened to JAF when it is being referred to.

In short, the Journal of American Folklore is a useful resource for those wanting to learn more about folklore itself and its history or for scholars looking to research the field and its theoretical orientations.

Works Cited
Benedict, Ruth, ed. “Forty Seventh Annual Meeting of the Amerian Folk-lore Society.” Journal of American Folklore 49.191 (1936): 167-170. Print.

Brandes, Stanley. “The Sardana: Catalan Dance and Catalan National Identity.” Journal of American Folklore 103.407 (1990): 24-42. Print.

Dewulf, Jeroen. “Pinkster: An Atlantic Creole Festival in a Dutch-American Context.” Journal of American Folklore 126.501 (2013): 245-272. Print.

DuBois, Thomas A., and James P. Leary, eds. “Table of Contents.” Journal of American Folklore 126.501 (2013): 243. Print.

Espinosa, Aurelio. “Pueblo Indian Folk Tales.” Journal of American Folklore 49.191 (1936): 69-133. Print.