Claire Vaye Watkins’s essay “On Pandering,” about how much her writing has been influenced by a desire for the approval of the “white male lit establishment,” caused such a frenzy that it crashed Tin House’s website. Responses rapidly appeared at Salon, Jezebel, Flavorwire, Slate, and the LA Times, with more to come, surely. . . Thus begins an essay I wrote for The…
The folks over at The Classics Club recommend beginning the Women's Classic Event (I sort like the idea of calling it a "Challenge") by answering some questions about yourself. So here goes . . . Introduce yourself. Tell us what you are most looking forward to in this event. I teach American literature at the university level and my research interests are particularly…
I recently sent out my fifth newsletter, The Woolson and Alcott Chronicles. As I sat down to begin writing, I couldn't think of much "news." I had maybe two items of interest. Then gradually more came to me, including the first two reviews of Constance Fenimore Woolson: Portrait of a Lady Novelist, scheduled giveaways on Goodreads, and a reveal of the publisher for my…
Last week I learned that I will be receiving a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to write my next book, Reading Little Women: The History of an American Classic. The grant comes from the NEH's new Public Scholar program, which generated some media attention, including this Washington Post article, in which I am quoted. I am thrilled to be able to…
I have been trying for some time to articulate what I see as an important missing link to discussions about how to improve women's status in the literary world--namely, improving their profile in our understanding of the literary past. If students come out of college with little exposure to women writers, as they continue to do in large numbers, then it is no wonder they have a…
Over the past two weeks, a flurry of emails and a phone call from my editor and her assistant has signaled that the production process for my biography has begun. Incredibly, Norton had its “launch” meeting for next winter’s titles last week. It’s hard to believe that the long process has already begun, one year before the book will finally be released. Decisions…
Last week I was in New York for 3 glorious days. Two of those were spent at BinderCon, the first Out of the Binders conference for women writers. (The name is inspired by Mitt Romney’s clueless comments about binders full of women in the 2012 presidential campaign.) Speakers included Jill Abramson, formerly of the New York Times, Anna Holmes, formerly of Jezebel, and…
Publishing online is a quite an experience for an academic. Last week I published two pieces—one I had written a couple of months ago, the other I had written very recently. The first, a review of recent biographies about J. D. Salinger and Harper Lee at the Los Angeles Review of Books, was part of my larger goal of building a reputation as…
Perhaps I shouldn’t be shocked, but I was when I read the Washington Post’s review of Karen Abbott’s new book, Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy, about four women who participated in the Civil War. Jonathan Yardley compares what he sees as the book’s troubling passages to writing “borrowed from the pages of a women’s magazine.” Apparently, women’s magazines are full of writing that he…
No one introduced me to Woolson. I didn’t discover her writings in a class in college or in graduate school. I didn’t stumble upon an essay about her or find her buried in a footnote somewhere. My first encounter with her was altogether different. You could call it a fluke or maybe fate. I was a graduate student with a burning desire to know…