Faculty & Department News

Department of English - Suggested Readings from Faculty & Grad Students

Rachel Canning — Fri, 29 May 2026 21:02:20 +0000

Department of English - Suggested Readings from Faculty & Grad Students Rachel Canning Fri, 05/29/2026 - 15:02

THX - 1138 (1971)

George Lucas made THX-1138 right out of film school. It stars a very young Robert Duvall (who died just recently), and reflects on what it is like when tech and authoritarianism pervade our lives, from our values to our work to our sexuality and reproduction. The hero works on an assembly line making weapons of some kind, and goes home to a pod where he’s medicated and monitored and masturbated by a machine while staring at the TV. Religion is an AI Albrecht-Dűrer-as-Christ, speaking platitudes. Education has been reduced to injection by IV—the ultimate “learning outcome.” The feel of the film is discomfort, visceral unease. There is a malfunction on the assembly line and workers almost die, but they are too drugged up to be afraid; two psychiatric doctors watch on a video feed as they administer pain to a patient, and then get lost in conversation and don’t notice him writhing in agony. I don’t really think of this film as a fantastical work of fiction; I think of it as a concretizing of our current reality, and its affect of discomfort is key to its relevance and importance to where we are right now. We shouldn’t feel that “this”—how we are living on screens, tied down to email, to the endless scroll, to the coopting of the amygdala by the algorithm—is normal or acceptable. We shouldn’t accept remote wars or other forms of state violence and tyranny. We shouldn’t accept the reduction of values of all kinds to up-or-down thumbs or even the pithiest of tweets. (submitted by Professor Tiffany Beechy)

Annotation of the comic The Eternaut 1969; originally serialized as El Eternauto in the Argentine magazine Gente between May and September of 1969, it was first translated and released in English in 2020 by Fantagraphics as The Eternaut 1969.

Written by Héctor Germán Oesterheld and illustrated by Alberto Breccia, The Eternaut 1969 is an Argentine comic that is a retelling of Oesterheld’s 1957 Eternaut comic. Where the original was a relatively straightforward science fiction/post-apocalyptic narrative, 1969 transforms those same story beats into a politically charged response to contemporary Argentina that ripples forward to modern, international relevance. The comic depicts a “snow” falling over Buenos Aires that is quickly revealed to be a biological weapon that kills anything it comes into contact with, the first assault by an extraterrestrial force that subsequently forces survivors to create airtight hazard suits. This setup is the same in both versions of The Eternaut — where 1969 differs is the added detail that this invasion is only happening in South America, a result of the major world powers cutting a deal with the alien invaders to divide up the land and resources after the population has been killed. The comic highlights an imperialistic exploitation of Latin America that continues to today while critiquing the militaristic government that had taken control of Argentina three years prior. The overt political slant of the comic led to its cancellation the same year its serialization started while marking Oesterheld as an outspoken leftist; in 1977, he was kidnapped by Argentina’s last military dictatorship and never seen again. The Eternaut 1969 serves as a potent reminder of the continued exploitation of Latin America by the Western world and the power of art in speaking out against the deterioration of democracy. (Submitted by MA student Christian Lopez-Morris)

This is a poem called "Made When I Was Not Well," and what amazes me (and often, my students) about it is the openness with which a seventeenth-century woman talks about not being okay. The author, Hester Pulter, wrote this poem when she was about fifty. She had lived through a terrible civil war, during which period she gave birth to and lost many children (including the "Pen" or Penelope) she mentions near the end. So part of what Pulter means by "not well" is probably depression or PTSD. But she also reckons with the difficulty of being an aging, no-longer-beautiful woman in a culture that elides womanhood with youth and desirability. The attractiveness and whiteness that once gave her power are now weaponized against her as her skin has changed color and texture over time and her body parts no longer fit templates of heterosexual longing. "Made When I Was Not Well" is, in many ways, a poem about not being sure how to keep going in a culture that leaves her feeling value-less. But she keeps going anyway. Pulter's original manuscript of poetry was only discovered a generation ago, and I'm glad we have access to her voice.

Made When I Was Not Well

My soul, why dost thou such a mourning make,

This loathsome ruined prison to forsake?

Seest thou these eyes? (’Tis thou that gives them sight,

Or they would quickly set in endless night.)

What splendent sprightliness in youth they had!

Now weeping makes them dim and dull and sad.

These locks did curl, and were a golden brown;

Now thin and lank like silver threads hang down.

My lovely count’nance had a pleasing grace;

Now, Erra Pater’s or a sibyl’s face.

My lips were cherries, rosy were my cheeks;

But those that now for blood or beauty seek

Will find them spoiled by Time and adverse Fate,

Whose cruelty doth give to all a date.

My skin was once as white as new fallen snow;

Through azure veins vermillion blood did flow.

Then were my swelling breasts the bed of love,

As smooth, as soft, as white as swan or dove;

As lilies fading shrink to shun the light,

So are my withered breasts shut out of sight;

Time’s tyranny they feel, and Sorrow’s spite.

My sportive wit and mirth is now laid by;

None is more moping now, and dull, than I.

My joys to heaven with my dear Pen did fly.

Then why, my soul, art thou so fond to stay,

Seeing all that’s lovely in me doth decay?

For shame! Pack up thy virtues, and away.

https://pulterproject.northwestern.edu/poems/ee/made-when-i-was-not-well/#0

(submitted by Professor Dianne Mitchell)

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple—Annotation

I’ve been a fan of the 28 Years Later franchise for years now; in many ways, it was the catalyst for my interest in the horror genre, so I went into watching The Bone Temple with high expectations. Even so, I could tell from the first few minutes of my theater-going experience that I was experiencing something special. It felt like I was seeing the world precisely as it was at that moment—on the screen, in the headlines on my phone, and outside the theater doors on 1/16/2026—through a gory, terrifying lens that didn’t just intensify it but clarified it too.

Alex Garland and Nia DaCosta's infected world is a profoundly dark and bloody one—and yet! Between moments of flinch-inducingly fierce action and strikingly real sorrow, the film shines with the hope that humanity can and will persevere in the face of even the most horrifying injustices, indignities, and indecencies that a violent authoritarian society could level against us. The Bone Temple, itself art, leverages the art of others through a delightfully unexpected soundtrack and a varied array of pop culture references—all of which serve to remind the watcher of the things that make us human, that make us strong enough to defend our neighbors from exploitation and harm. More than a reminder, it is also a call to action.

When posed the question of whether we are willing and able to stand up against evil and create the world we believe in, even when it risks our own comfort and safety, The Bone Temple insists (in the words of my favorite 28 Years Later character): “Of course.” (submitted by MFA student Andie Weber)

Art Spiegelman’s Maus, Volumes 1 & 2. Pantheon, 1986 & 1991.

Every year I teach a module called “The 1986 Comics Trifecta”—the three major graphic novels of the Twentieth Century that appeared in 1986: Art Speigelman’s Maus, Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, and Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons Watchmen. The novels overlap in their interest in time and memory, psychology and trauma, and fascism and power. Each year they feel different to me. Some years I am struck by Alan Moore’s metaphysics and others by the seductive quality of Frank Miller’s depiction of vigilantism. This past year I was taken by the social mechanisms that allowed Nazism to crawl across Poland in the late 1930s—systematic racism, the development of new police units, and the increasing monitoring and recording of various populations. Although Spiegelman represents his characters as animals, they are deeply human, oblivious to the slow boil of hatred as it engulfs one family member after another, until it is far too late.

It’s a lesson in the rise of thuggery in civil society. (submitted by Professor William Kuskin)

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Media Ecology PhD Cohort Launches Website

Rachel Canning — Tue, 13 Jan 2026 18:59:09 +0000

Media Ecology PhD Cohort Launches Website Rachel Canning Tue, 01/13/2026 - 11:59

Click here to learn more about the 2026 Media Ecology PhD cohort. This website will be your resource for upcoming events, curricula, blogs, and more.

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2026 PhD Cohort Announced: Media Ecology

Rachel Canning — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 20:10:36 +0000

2026 PhD Cohort Announced: Media Ecology Rachel Canning Mon, 06/30/2025 - 14:10

��Ƶ English is embarking on a new kind of PhD that is collaborative, experimental, and that affords students a chance to work closely with each other and with faculty.We are introducing a “Media Ecology” lab and team-taught courses where PhD students work with faculty and one another to map, theorize, and develop dissertation specialties via intensive mentoring, reading, and co-writing and -publishing in the lab. We offer competitive funding packages, along with excellent teaching and networking opportunities. Students will work with established academics and professionals in the fields of their interest.

What are “media ecologies”? If “ecology” refers to the relationships between humans and the more-than-human,mediaecology takes its cue from manuscripts, archives, as well as printed and digital environments to consider how text technologies and material infrastructures shape readers and their worlds. Conversely, readers perceive the material world through the lens of media. In addition to asking traditional questions in literary scholarship like “What does the text mean?” we theorize texts as occupying an ecological niche, suggesting that both medial form and its content occupy a symbiotic and competitive relationship with other texts. Like capital itself, text is always in motion and always innovating. The field of cultural production shifts, morphs, combines, and mutates. We are seeking students interested in both environmental and media studies. We encourage those working in any literary period, with interests anywhere from medieval manuscripts to AI.

For more information, click Prospective Students above.

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Fashion - A Creative Writing Program Event

Anonymous — Wed, 04 Sep 2024 17:34:53 +0000

Fashion - A Creative Writing Program Event Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 09/04/2024 - 11:34

September 26, 2024

6-8pm

Center for British and Irish Studies

Gwen Grewal: https://www.gwengrewal.com

Shahidha Bari: https://www.shahidhabari.com

Elisabeth Sheffield: https://www.elisabethsheffield.com

Jeffrey Deshell: https://www.jeffreydeshell.net

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Statement on Islamophobia, Antisemitism, and Political Speech

Anonymous — Wed, 08 Nov 2023 23:09:07 +0000

Statement on Islamophobia, Antisemitism, and Political Speech Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 11/08/2023 - 16:09

Amidst the heightened violence in the Middle East, we are aware of hate speech and harassment in our campus community. We stand against Islamophobia and antisemitism. We stand against the suppression of political speech in all its forms. We recognize the pain that our students and colleagues are experiencing. We understand that many members of our community feel particularly vulnerable right now. The Department of English strives to foster a community of care and critical thinking where we can exchange ideas in a safe way. We seek to create an open space for dialogue, even in the most intense situations.

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Black History Month Guest Speakers

Anonymous — Tue, 17 Jan 2023 20:33:42 +0000

Black History Month Guest Speakers Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 01/17/2023 - 13:33

Professors Yogita Goyal https://english.ucla.edu/people-faculty/goyal-yogita/ and Cherene Sherrard-Johnson https://cherenesherrard.com/about/

will be visiting our campus on Friday, February 24^thas part of Black History Month. This event is co-sponsored by the CAAAS (The Center for African and African-American Studies).

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Spring 2023 Creative Writing Program Events

Anonymous — Fri, 13 Jan 2023 18:25:21 +0000

Spring 2023 Creative Writing Program Events Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 01/13/2023 - 11:25

February 10, 2023: Reading Series - Ramona Ausubel

CBIS at 4:00pm

March 13, 2023: Reading Series - Sarah Gerard

CBIS at 6:30pm

March 17, 2023: Women & Gender Studies Queer Lit. Festival

WGST Cottage

April 6, 2023: Reading Series - Alexander Kleeman

CBIS at 6:30pm

April 20, 2023: Reading Series - Carolina Ebeid & Jeffrey Pethybridge

CBIS at 6:30pm

April 27, 2023: Reading Series - MFA 3rd Years

CBIS at 6:30pm

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An Evening with Alison Bechdel

Anonymous — Mon, 31 Oct 2022 16:39:23 +0000

An Evening with Alison Bechdel Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 10/31/2022 - 10:39

When: Thursday, November 17, 2022 @ 7:00 pm
Where: UMC Glenn Miller Ballroom (1669 Euclid Avenue Boulder, CO 80309)
Cost: $2.50 with a student ID, $7.50 without
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/an-evening-with-alison-bechdel-tickets-451040834277

Event Details:
Creator of Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, Dykes to Watch Out For, Are You My Mother? A Comic Drama, The Secret to Superhuman Strength, and the now-famous “Bechdel Test,” Alison Bechdel is one of the most important graphic novelists working today.
Please join us for a talk and a book-signing event.
Alison Bechdel visit has been generously supported by the University of Colorado Boulder's Department of English, Graduate School, College of Arts and Sciences, and College of Engineering and Applied Science.

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��Ƶ Emeritus Faculty Member Paul Levitt's Reading of Berlin Revisited

Anonymous — Mon, 31 Oct 2022 14:55:24 +0000

��Ƶ Emeritus Faculty Member Paul Levitt's Reading of Berlin Revisited Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 10/31/2022 - 08:55

The Department of English invites you to a reading of Paul Levitt’s new novel Berlin Revisited.

Witnessing his mother’s trial for exposing fellow Jews to the Nazis, Baruch Posner swears never to return to Germany. As he reflects upon his exodus from Berlin to Cuba and then to America, he yearns for his father and the lovely Gemma Rosselli, his former companion in the underground. Where are they now? A letter, via the Red Cross, reaches him in New York. From Gemma, it draws him back to Berlin to join her in exploring the newly opened Nazi archives, which hold information about their parents. What’s more, in the cellar of his former living quarters, the Hotel Bogota, he finds the source of his mother’s downfall.

The reading and refreshments are free.

Date: Thursday, November 10

Place: Koenig Alumni Center

Time: 4:00pm – 6:00pm

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Creative Writing Program Reading Series: Kathleen Woods, Gabrielle Lucille Fuentes, Loie Rawding

Anonymous — Mon, 03 Oct 2022 17:40:14 +0000

Creative Writing Program Reading Series: Kathleen Woods, Gabrielle Lucille Fuentes, Loie Rawding Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 10/03/2022 - 11:40

October 6, 2022 at 6:30pm

The Center for British & Irish Studies (M549)

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Faculty & Department News

Department of English - Suggested Readings from Faculty & Grad Students

THX - 1138 (1971)

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Media Ecology PhD Cohort Launches Website

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2026 PhD Cohort Announced: Media Ecology

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Fashion - A Creative Writing Program Event

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Statement on Islamophobia, Antisemitism, and Political Speech

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Black History Month Guest Speakers

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Spring 2023 Creative Writing Program Events

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An Evening with Alison Bechdel

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������Ƶ Emeritus Faculty Member Paul Levitt's Reading of Berlin Revisited

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Creative Writing Program Reading Series: Kathleen Woods, Gabrielle Lucille Fuentes, Loie Rawding

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��Ƶ Emeritus Faculty Member Paul Levitt's Reading of Berlin Revisited