From the Foggy Bottom Current

Edward P. Jones Inaugural Reading TONIGHT at 5 PMThe Jack Morton AuditoriumSchool of Media and Public Affairs, First FloorFree and open to all, though seating is limited The Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Known World, Mr. Jones is the Wang Visiting Professor of Contemporary English at GW for Spring 2009 Share on FacebookTweet

JEWISH LITERATURE LIVE What is a joke? More specifically, what is a Jewish joke? I have a feeling the answer would vary depending on who you were talking to. The answers the Marx Brothers would give you would likely be entirely different than the answer Woody Allen would have. However Howard Jacobson’s idea of a…

In February, GW English Professor Thomas Mallon’s new novel Watergate will be published by Pantheon. (Go here to pre-order your copy.) A historical novel that “conveys the drama and high comedy of the Nixon presidency through the urgent perspectives of seven characters we only thought we knew before now,” Watergate is a highly anticipated work–and the first…

JEWISH LITERATURE LIVE There is a running joke in Jewish Literature Live that despite the course title no author will admit they are a Jewish writer. Typically most authors frown when posed the question of authorship and spend the next five minutes refuting the Jewish label. However yesterday’s afternoon with Gabriel Brownstein marked a turning…

Writer and Activist Grace Paley Last Thursday, I had the opportunity to attend the screening of Lilly Rivlin’s documentary Grace Paley: Collected Shorts, as a part of Prof. Faye Moskowitz’s Jewish Literature Live course, which works to bring in Jewish authors to speak. The film tells the story of the life and work of Grace…

Poet Claudia Rankine included a poem by GW student Marissa Ciampi on her website. Recently Prof. Gregory Pardlo posted a piece here about the Theft of Flat Langston at the DC restaurant/literary spot Busboys and Poets. Now he reports in about a GWU student’s contribution to a major discussion in the poetry world. The discussion…