Professors Levine, van den Berg and Close: Jenny II Reading tomorrow

Rajiv Menon writes of the course he took with British Council Writer in Residence Suhayl Saadi: My experience with the first British Council in Residence reading course was overwhelmingly positive, and when I learned of the second opportunity to participate in the class, I had no doubt in my mind that I wanted to take…

We know that at this time of year many of our readers consider which organizations to support through their philanthropy. We hope that you will consider making an end of the year gift to the GW English Department … and we would like to think that the liveliness of this blog has made evident to…

JEWISH LITERATURE LIVE: Myla Goldberg describes her first novel Bee Season as a “personal” novel, but do not mistake personal for autobiographical. The tale of young Eliza Naumann, a spelling prodigy and potential mystic, is not Goldberg’s own. “My first spelling bee was in fourth grade. I lost on the word ‘tomorrow,’” she said when…

With the class of 2009 now safely out of GW’s hallowed (and under construction) halls, now is the perfect time to provide departing English majors with reassurance in the form of another Featured Alumnus blog post. Our subject this week is Mark Olshaker, a 1972 graduate of the GW English Department. As you’ll find, Mr….

[illustration: gang of festive t-shirt wearers in English Department main office. Note the angelic backlight that illuminates all who wear our official shirt.] So Christina Katopodis took us literally: she sent a picture of her GW English T shirt on a houseplant — a shrub named “Gertrude” (though wouldn’t it make more sense to name…

This semester I’m teaching a new course called “Myths of Britain,” a slow read of six works that are animated by the transnationalism of the Middle Ages. The class is the largest I’ve ever had: eighty students, most of them freshmen and sophomores. Contrast this behemoth with my course for the past two semesters: “Chaucer,”…