Have you ever asked someone why they smoke? Maybe they’ll say it relaxes them, or that they enjoy it, or that they really just like being able to talk with other smokers. It all comes down to some sort of enjoyment. In this post, I explore smoking through the theory of gestures to get at an answer. … More The Gesture of Smoking a Pipe
I’m developing a class on the figure of smoking in literature, and I would like to hear what your favorite depictions are. … More What’s Your Favorite Depiction of Smoking?
There’s been some consternation over the recent Wheel of Time adaptation. It’s come to the point that there are even warring hashtags about #BookCloaks and #ShowSworn! I get it–any adaptation will lead to hard feelings for folks who have spent so much time, money, and effort (reading 14 books!). But the special thing about the … More An Apology for the Wheel of Time Adaptation
Did you know that there’s a Victorian conference on poetry, literature, and history that you can watch right now for free? … More Flightless Conferences Promote Sustainability and Equity
Fanny Howe is a wonderful poet, novelist, and essayist. You can learn more about her from the Poetry Foundation. I’ve been reading some of her insights into faith and poetry in her short interview “Footsteps Over Ground” and her longer work The Wedding Dress. I’m amazed by the way she articulates the meaning of and need for … More The Liturgical Wisdom of Fanny Howe
We’ve have another busy year! Our daughter is walking and talking and…scattering her toy dinosaurs all over the house… And since last summer, I’ve been working on my dissertation, looking at the ways Victorians relate to the medieval past through liturgy. Whether Anglicans, dissenters, or agnostics, they’re using tons of liturgical allusions. And I turned … More Year in Review – 2018
With Advent starting and the Christmas season following it, it’s time to think about all the overlap between literature and liturgy. Sometimes a liturgy will take central place in a novel, such as the baptism in Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles or the wedding at the end of any marriage plot. Many liturgies themselves are a collection … More A Literary Kalendar for December
Want to learn more about poetry and not sure where to start? Just beginning graduate school and trying to get your head around the state of the research? Or just want to get to know the people researching and writing about Victorian poetry? Then you need to check out the Victorian Poetry Caucus coming out … More The Victorian Poetry Caucus
Kalenderes enlumined been they That in this world been lighted with thy name – Chaucer’s “Priere a Nostre Dame” Chaucer can be hard to pin down. At many points, we can ask ourselves “Is he serious?” or “Is this all an elaborate parody?” At other, darker times we may question if he really was “evere … More Chaucer’s Almighty and al Merceable Queene
Today is the anniversary of Gerard Manley Hopkins’s death in 1889. The poet died of typhoid fever (or perhaps Crohn’s disease) while in Ireland. 129 years ago, the “blue-bleak ember” of Fr. Gerard’s life fell and broke and revealed an “immortal diamond,” and we’re still writing and thinking about him–and most importantly still reading his … More The Transitus of Gerard Manley Hopkins
The Golden Echo 