journals and collections of essays

Arthur Koestler, the man, has been in the forefront of academic interest in the past twenty years. In this period, three critical biographies have been published in English alone, another three in Hungarian, two in German, one in Spanish, and another one in French, in other words, on average, one volume every second year. While this is a luxurious situation few other authors can claim, the fact remains that although Koestler was a writer who wrote seven novels and a play, six volumes of autobiography, and more than twenty book-length works of non-fiction, the last book in English devoted to his oeuvre was published in 1984. In terms of academic articles and book chapters, the situation is hardly any better.

We are putting together a special issue tentatively called “Dirty places: geographies of waste”. “Waste” is a broad and multifaceted concept, always open to interpretation. We want to keep it that way, partly because we are looking for fresh voices, and partly because we want to facilitate an interdisciplinary conversation. However, for clarity’s sake, waste is here defined as “material that we failed to use” (Gille, 2018). Gille’s succinct definition reads like an updated version of Mary Douglas’s (1966) classic take on “dirt” —“matter out of place” —, this time formulated under the banner of the Anthropocene. For a deeper look into the concept of waste, please read the following texts:

Special Issue "War and Literature: Commiserating with the Enemy"

deadline for submissions: 

January 11, 2019

full name / name of organization: 

A special issue of Humanities (ISSN 2076-0787)

contact email: 

mccoppin@umn.edu

Special Issue "War and Literature: Commiserating with the Enemy"

Lifewriting Annual: Biographical and Autobiographical Studies (published online by the Open Library of Humanities at Birkbeck College, University of London) seeks reviews of recent publications, including autobiographies, memoirs, letters, and so on. We don't accept reviews of critical or cultural theory. Word length: 1000-1500 words. Citation style: Chicago, 16th edition (author/date). Deadline for submission: April 5th, 2019. Please contact the Reviews Editor, Robert Ward, with short proposals and questions (Robert_P_Ward@brown.edu).

Though usually relegated to second status critically, the short story is having a moment. When Canadian writer Alice Munro won the Nobel Prize for literature in 2013, it was specifically for her contribution to the short story genre. As a writer who does not write novels, she acknowledged the importance of the award: “It’s a wonderful thing for the short story.” Indeed.