UNH Manchester Literary Arts & Studies

10/19/2019

How to tell a good story about English majors (and their ability to understand and tell stories). --S.W.

English majors are down 25.5 percent since the Great Recession, just as world’s top economists say we need more ‘storytellers.’

10/19/2019

The latest reminder of the excellence and staying power of a liberal arts education. --S.W.

Technical skills taught in college have a short shelf life, while a liberal arts education prepares graduates for jobs that haven’t been invented yet.

02/24/2019

As you may know, our beloved colleague and friend, Dr. Michael Pugh, passed away in early February. Among the many remembrances shared at UNHM’s “Celebration of Life” on Friday was this remarkable poem, written and read by Doreen Ford, a member of Michael’s English 419 class last fall. It is a perfect tribute to an inspiring, deeply humane teacher who wanted students to love literature as much as he did, and who loved to talk about his experiences in Nigeria. It is also a very fine poem. Thank you, Doreen, for your permission to include it here. –Susan Walsh

I hope
There's a
Nigeria
In the sky
Waiting
Just for you
A place
Where you
Can understand
Hamlet
In other
Languages
Cultures
And laugh
When
Appropriate

I hope Dickinson
Is there
And she regales
You with stories
Of flowers
Simpler things
The lack of
Necessity
Of money
And
Traditional
Religion

May
Dr.
Thomas
Stockman
Finally get
Those damn
Baths
Cleaned
And
The
Common
People
Educated

Ideally
Jhumpa
Lahiri
Is making
A guest
Appearance
And tells
The stories
I loved so
Much
To know
That celebrate
Our differences
And diversity

Edith Wharton
Won't be there
She's too good
For it
She'd say
But I think
Even she
Would appreciate
Nigeria
Maybe not
Like you did
Though

Most of all
I want Nick
Bottom
And his
Friends
To be there
Giving you
The best
Worst
Play
You've
Ever seen

I like the Dickinson quote
As far as it will go
But this I wager is better news
As far as I can know

"If I can stop one heart from breaking,"
“I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.”

You did not
Live in Vain
RIP Professor
P

--Doreen Ford

11/04/2018

A Frankencake, created by baker extraordinaire Chelsea Cochran for English 787 (Science and Sensation). Note the Creature's yellow skin, lustrous black hair (yes, that's how Shelley describes him), and watery speculative eyes. He was delicious. --S.W.

11/04/2018

Happy Birthday, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein!
For an online edition annotated by scholars in the sciences and humanities alike, check out the elegant Frankenbook from Arizona State: https://www.frankenbook.org
--S.W.

Mary Shelley’s creation is the rare story to pass from literature into common myth, inspiring a seemingly endless stream of adaptations.

11/04/2018

Wherever you vote is the room where it happens. --S.W.

The current cast of the hit Broadway musical “Hamilton” dropped a new song urging Americans to vote in midterm elections.

02/08/2018

Apparently, plagiarism software has helped two scholars identify a potential source for Shakespeare. It's not like we don't know that Shakespeare used sources for some of his plays, but this shines a light on a potential new one.

Dennis McCarthy and June Schlueter explained the methodology for their discovery to the New York Times.

01/03/2018

Be a little arrogant. Work offline. Don't worry about the bad drafts. If you get a cat, feed the cat. --S.W.

Made a New Year resolution to start writing that novel? Take some writing tips from Leo Tolstoy, Muriel Spark, John Steinbeck and other famous authors

12/31/2017

Thank you, 2017. You showed us Themyscira battle-training Diana; General Leia Organa using the Force; Ava DuVernay rocking the Wrinkle in Time trailer; N.K. Jemisin scooping up a Hugo Award—again. In Jodi Whittaker’s first words as the 13th Doctor: “Brilliant.” --S.W.

2017 fittingly started with the Women's March. That united embrace of the power of women, and a crucial call to ensure that includes all women and nonbinary people would echo throughout the year that followed. In a year men so many men were outed as destructive monsters, the strength of women shone�...

12/31/2017

Want to be hired and promoted at Google? Brush up your soft skills; tech proficiency comes dead last on Google’s list of 8 talents most prized in employees. The moral? “No student should be prevented from majoring in an area they love based on a false idea of what they need to succeed. . . . What helps you thrive in a changing world isn’t rocket science. It may just well be social science, and, yes, even the humanities and the arts.” –S.W.

The top traits of success at Google sound more like what one gains as an English or theater major than as a programmer.

10/31/2017

Happy Halloween. Blame the Victorians for associating black cats with witchcraft. Before that, it was white cats and tabby cats. Read on for an interesting account of the history of witchcraft in Devon, England, including a story about a woman who was acquitted and who had to continue to live next to the people who had accused her. As usual, those who were accused were usually poor and outsiders in the community. Begone, superstition!

Why were so many women accused and then put to death in 16th and 17th century Devon?