Independent Scholar. Available for teaching, writing, copyediting, conference organizing. derek.s.mcgrath@gmail.com. https://ko-fi.com/dereksmcgrath
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Reminder: Deadline approaching, Stony Brook Manhattan Graduate Conference
Thursday, September 29, 2011
TOMORROW'S DEADLINE: CFP on Masculinity in Superhero Comic Books and Other Works (NEMLA, Rochester, March 2012)
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Stony Brook Manhattan Graduate Conference: Instrument, Image, Ekphrasis (Submissions due December 17, 2011, to SUNYSB.GradConf@gmail.com)
24th Annual
An Interdisciplinary Conference
The Stony Brook Manhattan English Department Graduate Conference, the longest running interdisciplinary graduate student conference in the nation, welcomes papers and panels from all disciplines, including the arts, cultural studies, social and hard sciences, and the humanities. This year’s conference will feature a faculty-sponsored Best Paper Award; for details and registration visit www.stonybrook.edu/gradconf.
Call for Papers:
The tools of a trade can enclose: a poem becomes its form, patients become their diagnoses, people their demographic, and students their grades. Complex ideas about history, foreignness, alienation, memory, subject and object are often distilled into a single image produced by our instruments of "knowledge." The production of an instrument is ekphrastic: it blends genres and frames one genre within another: A paintbrush, x-ray or spreadsheet; a rubric, or questionnaire; a literary form – stream of consciousness, or fourteen lines towards a sonnet. Memory, artifact. Pen and ink. How do the instruments of a vocation establish a politics of communication? What do these images reveal, or obscure? When do they make us think, and when do they put an end to thinking?
The English Department at Stony Brook University is proud to offer an interdisciplinary call for papers that asks graduate scholars to reflect on the instruments of their discipline, and to think about how ekphrasis (ek as "out," and phrasis as "speaking") speaks out about the intersection of image, instrument, and genre. What is "instrumentality" in literature, or art, or philosophy? How is it the same, or different, in the social or hard sciences? Does it imply a certain mentality, or construct a static "reader"?
Abstracts can be up to 250 words, and should be submitted by Friday, December 17, 2011. Applicants will be notified of their acceptance shortly after the December deadline. Students interested in competing for the Best Paper Prize sponsored by Stony Brook English faculty must submit a completed paper no later than January 16, 2012 for consideration. Award winners will be announced at the conference. Email submissions to: SUNYSB.GradConf@gmail.com.
Paper and panel submission topics can address a broad range of interests. Diverse genre proposals are welcome, including music, art, science posters, social research, etc. Possible "instruments" are listed below:
Instruments of change: Migrations and Diasporas
Instruments of Memory: Cultural Memory, Testimonial Narratives, Memory and Written Record
Instruments of Place: Maps, regions, “Homelands” (real or imaginary)
Instrumentality, performance, and art (e.g. ekphrastic narratives)
Philosophy (e.g., debates over realism)
Rhetoric (e.g., the use of strategic reason in communication)
History (e.g., scientific instruments in the history of science)
Literature (e.g., literary devices, characters as instruments, Representations
of marginalized people as instruments, literary ekphrasis)
Art (e.g., the use of artistic tools or philosophical questions related to the use of art)
Image in popular media
Health science (i.e. the gaps between tools and the human subject).
Cultural texts
Linguistics and translation
Narrative: Myth, Borders, Storytelling
Visual/Performing Arts and Music; musical ekphrasis
Oral Traditions
Postmodernity and its narratives
Voice and reflexivity in oral and written texts
Colonial and Postcolonial Narratives
Conquest and Political Memory
Globalization and indigenous cultures
Notional Ekphrasis
Displacement Heritage
Technology, gaming, and social media; emerging technologies
Children’s Stories- Language, Authority and Silence
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Stony Brook University: Workshop on Early English Books Online, Eighteenth-Century Collections Online
Stony Brook University is hosting a workshop on two recently added databases, Early English Books Online and Eighteenth-Century Collections Online. I can attest that EEBO is an excellent resource for anyone studying Shakespeare, as the database includes PDF scanned versions of the original texts that Shakespeare would have read, as well as original printings of his plays.
And EEBO's collection of the original printings of Shakespeare's plays is fascinating because, as audience members were transcribing and selling Shakespeare's plays on the street after his performances, these early transcripts are not accurate to the plays themselves--the difference between Hamlet's actual soliloquy and its first printed version offers great discussion in any class on Shakespeare, theater, or publishing.
If you are interested, sign up for the library workshop at Stony Brook University for October 4: http://www.library.stonybrook.edu/node/1430.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Stony Brook University: EGL 218 American Literature II Summer Course at Manhattan
Monday, May 30, 2011
Call for Papers: Masculinity in superhero comic books and films
Call for Papers: Masculinity in superhero comic books and films
Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA)
43nd Annual Convention
March 15 to 18, 2012
Rochester, New York at the Hyatt Rochester
Deadline: September 30, 2011
With comic books becoming more mainstream, thanks to numerous summer blockbuster films focusing on superheroes—2011 bringing audiences Super, Thor, The Green Hornet, Captain America, X-Men: First Class, and Green Lantern—this session welcomes all papers looking at ongoing portrayals of masculinity in works of popular culture that focus on male superheroes. Possible topics include but are not limited to adherence or subversion of masculine archetypes in superhero comic books, graphic novels, films, plays, and other works in popular culture. Submit 250- to 500-word proposals to Derek McGrath (derek.mcgrath@stonybrook.edu).
Please include with your abstract the following: Name, affiliation, email address, and A/V requirements if any ($10 handling fee with registration).
Interested participants may submit abstracts to more than one NeMLA session; however, panelists may only present one paper (panel or seminar). Convention participants may present a paper at a panel and also present at a creative session or participate in a roundtable. For more information, visit the NEMLA online at http://www.nemla.org/convention/2012/cfp.html.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Snap Judgment: Free Comic Book Day
I’m taking a break from my own scholarship to write another synopsis of weekend activities: I returned a bit ago from a Brooklyn-area comic book shop, Bergen Street Comics, to see a large turn-out for Free Comic Book Day. Every year in May, comic book publishers offer special issues of some of their popular titles, available for free to attract children and their families to comic book shops around the country. Bergen Street was no different—the owners had to organize a line for everyone to stop by the table and pick up their free issues. And the crowd included persons of a variety of ages, not just the hardcore nerds (*raises hand*) but many young readers.
To encourage turn-out before the day ends, I wanted to write very quick comments about the issues available this year. I have not read through these comics in full, nor have I given them the analysis that you should expect from a PhD candidate. But based on what I know from skimming the issues, as well as the artists and writers behind these comics, I thought I would focus on the issues I recommend that you pick up today at Bergen Street and your neighborhood comic book shop. You will notice a trend—most of these books are for younger readers, and as much as my scholarship looks at many mainstream heroes such as Batman and Spider-man, I actually prefer the imaginative potential and frankly better writing to these titles. [Plus, the shop ran out of copies of the free issue of Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal, so you’re stuck with these titles instead.]
[And yes, I know, it’s odd to argue that children’s reading has better writing than adult reading, but I think the challenge of appealing to all readers gives comic book writers a challenge that produces better plots and character development.]
Sonic the Hedgehog
I have mixed feelings since Sonic fan artist and writer Ian Flynn made the leap into mainstream publishing. Some changes he made to the comic since taking over from Karl Bollers and Ken Penders rub me the wrong way—the decimation of the echidna population, the dumbing down of sorcerer Ixis Naugus, the recent revelation that double agent Geoffrey St. John is a traitor (or is he?), and Flynn’s fixation on the rather annoying Bean the Dynamite Duck. As well, the upcoming Genesis storyline—a throwback to the original Sega video games in order to bring their elements into the comic book—makes me a little worried.
But many of these video game elements have been fun under his pen—members of the Battlebird Armada, other than Bean of course—and he has brought clearly written and well organized plots that have made this comic book as exciting as when I first bought it in middle school. Plus, Flynn and editor Paul Kaminski have brought together a great set of artists, including one of my childhood favorites, Jon “Dubs” Gray, and new favorites such as Tracey Yardley! and Ben Bates.
And Flynn again earns thanks from this Sonic fan by correcting an old issue. This year’s Free Comic Book is a re-interpretation of Sonic Super Special 15, a mind-numbing mess of a story featuring Sonic versus Naugus in a story where numerous panels consist either of blackness (since, you know, Sonic is underground…in the dark), or clip-art snowflakes that block the entire fight between the hero and his nemesis (and I do not mean simply adding too many snowflakes to obscure the scene—I mean that the panel consists of only snowflakes!). Flynn made a wise choice to re-write this issue, especially with Naugus’s return to the title in the build-up to the Genesis story arch. Pick up this issue for a fun read with great art by Steve Butler and some character bios for new readers. Also be on the look-out for Flynn’s other video game adaptation, this time with Capcom’s Mega Man, now available in many comic book stores and via subscription.
Darkwing Duck/Chip and Dale: Rescue Rangers
Another throwback to my childhood: Boom! Studios has partnered with Walt Disney Studios to bring back to of the latter’s afternoon animated series—Darkwing Duck and Chip and Dale: Rescue Rangers. This year’s Free Comic Book is a double-offering, providing readers with the first issues of both series, released only in this past year and now available for free to readers.
Both titles, penned by Ian Brill […another Ian?], have received harsh criticism from readers, in particular because these titles take a more serious—but not too serious—approach to these characters than the original animated series. His storylines also have violated the continuity of the original series—although minor, as in the case of a major villain from Darkwing’s first adventure returning with powers he never before possessed. And while Brill ignores a major rule of comic book writing, relying more on his dialogue than on the drawings provided by James Silvani and Leonel Castellani, he does what I think good pop culture should do: it takes its camp seriously. These are comics about an egotistical avian superhero dressed in a flamboyant cape and hat, and a team of rodent emergency responders—why take these works so seriously?!
Brill makes these well-known 1990s characters appealing with back-stories that are sympathetic—reminding readers how devoted and loving a father that Darkwing Duck is to his daughter, and giving us yet another reason to root for Chip and Dale’s colleague Gadget. (Check out the four-page preview from the first issue of Rescue Rangers and look how well Brill’s dialogue goes with Castellani’s images to inform you what kind of person Gadget is and where she is coming from.) And while I have not kept up on Rescue Rangers, I can say that the continuation of Darkwing Duck remains entertaining, each issue bringing back more and more villains, introducing new adversaries, and thanks to Silvani’s pen, many cameos from other Disney characters. Get this issue!
Avatar the Last Airbender/Star Wars
No, this issue is not a crossover—as with Boom! Studios, Dark Horse Comics present a double-offering of two of their titles. I’m not going to get into the Star Wars issue—May the 4th was already an annoying pun-filled day for me, and while I know the mythology I’m not the biggest fan of the series. However, I am a huge fan of Avatar. The animated series, not the James Cameron film. No, not the film adaptation The Last Airbender by M. Night Shyamalan (although, to be fair, I have not seen that film). Rather, the Nickelodeon three-season animated series is an entertaining children’s series that does not talk down to its audience, presenting realistic portrayals of violence, death, humor, and love to entertain viewers of all ages. And despite how badly Shyamalan’s film flopped, and despite how fearful fans like me were that his failure would stop future adventures with Aang’s gang, Dark Horse presents two short comics that show us more of the Avatar’s adventures.
I can offer only a quick read, but I was happy to see J. Torres (Young Justice, Teen Titans Go!) bringing his writing to the comic’s second tale, “Dirty Is Only Skin Deep,” a short vignette looking at earthbender Toph’s fixation on dirt and refusal to take a bath. It’s not a long story, but Torres and artist Gurihru get the point across. Plus I love any comic that can bring more artwork from television series storyboard artist Johane Matte. I hope Dark Horse brings more Avatar adventures to comic book shops, especially in the build-up to Nickelodeon’s continuation of the Avatar story with the upcoming series The Legend of Korra.
The Amazing Spider-man
Okay, okay, enough kiddie fare—let’s look at a real “manly” comic to shut you whiners up. One of my favorite writers, Dan Slott (Batman Adventures, The Great Lake Avengers), brings a story that actualizes the goal of comic books as I defined earlier: take your camp seriously. A man, bitten by a radioactive spider, while looking for an expensive trendy birthday gift for his aunt, gets into a fist-fight with a woman influenced by pheromones released from an anthropomorphic mandrill in a snazzy Armani suit, while said mandrill is accompanied by a bevy of attractive women while standing in the middle of the Manhattan fashion district. Seriously! How is this description not awesome enough to get you out of your seat and heading to your nearest comic book shop?!
Okay, enough—back to work.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Sakura Matsuri at Brooklyn Botanic Garden
- After one musical performance, I swear I heard someone derisively shout, “Me love you long time.” Not cool.
- Also overhead at the garden: “Where is the thyme?” Had to fight the urge to speak some snarky response about Doc Brown.
- But Veronica Taylor had the best line, commenting on the branch that Rocks! drew in a warrior’s hair. To paraphrase: “It looks like a cherry blossom. He probably just got out of there when he saw how long the Porta-John lines were. [Audience laughter.] That was inappropriate—though realistic for this event.”
- Other cosplayers seen today: a duo as Cosmo and Wanda from Fairly Oddparents, some samurai, numerous Ash Ketchums, individuals with a sign that promised “Free Hugs,” and a man in a non-tartan kilt. At least, I think he was wearing a kilt.
- As well, during happyfunsmile’s performance, the videographer next to me had to stop and check his Tomagotchis—while said videographer was also dressed as Ash Ketchum.
- During the drawing workshop with Misako Rocks!, someone did ask her to include in her elf drawing a motorcycle. Unfortunately, no one asked for card games to be added with that motorcycle.
- Then again, I did see more cosplayers in the garden’s library playing Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s card game, so I guess that sight is close enough to card games on motorcycles.
- Taylor’s acting advice was also helpful: when practicing a script, read aloud with your teeth locked closed. This way, you will work your lip muscles to speak more clearly, hence preparing to give a more easily heard performance that projects outward. Good for me to remember when addressing a lecture hall…
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Trial literary databases: Email Stony Brook University library
When I was finishing my senior thesis, I had to wait weeks for interlibrary loan to deliver dissertations to read while finishing my own thesis--and sometimes libraries refused to part with their copies. But Proquest's Dissertation and Thesis A&I database allowed me to get these same theses through near-immediate (or at least much faster than interlibrary delivery) downloadable PDFs for easier reading and annotating. The database at the time put my thesis in conversation with other undergraduate and graduate scholarship, important when my advisers wanted me to write a thesis that would say something that other scholars were not discussing. Now that I am nearing completion of my dissertation, I need the Dissertation and Thesis A&I in order to compare quickly my scholarship with those of my peers--maybe to make contacts with doctoral students and PhD recipients who share my interests.
And while I am not a scholar of British literature, I can attest that Early English Books Online is mandatory for any English department that wants to have credible studies in Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, and other medieval and renaissance authors. My undergraduate Shakespeare course required that students read a certain number of texts from EEBO, which made my professor's job easier as he did not have to photocopy or scan and upload documents for students to read--in particular, centuries-old texts to which he did not have access, and which are very difficult to digitize. One week in this Shakespeare class, when we students were reading the Henriad, our professor assigned original texts from EEBO that clarified young Henry V's proclivity for fun and lust, including Stephen Grosson's "The schoole of abuse" from 1587, Thomas Hewyood's "An apology for actors" from 1612, and Joseph Swetnam's "The araignment of leuud, idle, froward, and ynconstant women" from 1615. Heck, to even enter this class, the professor required that students compare our popular edition of Hamlet to EEBO's version and notice the most glaring difference (HINT: go to EEBO and look up the "To be or not to be" soliloquy). As well, EEBO's OCR recognition--changing the text from the original print to transliterated computer text--gives enough of the words accurately for undergraduates to more easily read awkwardly written, abstruse middle English.
Most important for me with EEBO, I know some of my scholarship in nineteenth-century American literature will tie back to what this database provides; after all, if I'm writing about Hawthorne's accounts of American colonial life, I need to supplement my research not merely with what Sacvan Bercovitch or Stephen Greenblatt have written about the colonies, but looking myself at the original texts--or at least PDF reproductions of these texts.
Finally, Literature Online (LION) has been a helpful resource for searching a number of digitized journals, allowing me to finish more research on days when I cannot get to the campus library. I am also happy to see that LION brings me back to journals I used to read extensively online--EIH as one example--and now brings me journals that I need for my dissertation--Early American Literature, the Emily Dickinson Journal, and the Henry James Review. As well, the web site includes journals that I need for some articles I am publishing in popular culture; in fact, I'm glad to see two journals to which I am submitting, the Journal of American Culture and the Journal of Popular Culture, are available in LION.