Tsering Wangmo Dhompa, The Politics of Sorrow, Wednesday, April 16

Join Tsering Wangmo Dhompa, in conversation with Lisa Sewell, about her new book, The Politics of Sorrow: A Story of Unity and Allegiance Across Tibetan Exile at Main Point Books on Wednesday, April 16 at 6:30 pm. For more information, see the event page at this link. 

 

Megan Quigley, Eliot Now, and Modernism Now, April 25

To celebrate the recent publication of Eliot Now and to discuss the field of literary modernism/s at this historical moment, there is a one day conference at CUNY on April 25th.

Among other events, the conference will start with a roundtable on Eliot Now, with several of its contributors (Sumita Chakraborty, Anthony Cuda, Julia Daniel, Frances Dickey), and Professor Megan Quigley and her co-editor, David Chinitz.

The plenary is an exciting talk by Paul Saint-Amour (U Penn) entitled, “ Joyce, Roth, Hannaham, The Mythical Method Revisited,” which Megan Quigley will moderate.

 

The event is organized by Ria Banerjee (CUNY) and will also have a panel called “Radical Eliot,” which will focus on her new book, Drafty Houses in Forster, Eliot, and Woolf (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024) as well as Patrick Query’s Freedom is Not Enough (SUNY Press).

All NYC area 20th-century lit scholars and grad students are invited! Please come!

Mary Mullen to present research at the University of Minnesota

With Shirley Lau Wong, Professor Mary Mullen will present her research on nineteenth-century Ireland at the University of Minnesota in an event titled, "Why Ireland?" on Thursday, March 27. The event will start by showing what we learn by understanding labor, liberalism, and neoliberalism from the vantage point of Ireland in the nineteenth century and in the twenty-first century, respectively. Then, drawing upon individual research, the two speakers will provide more contextualized case studies. Mary Mullen will consider how understanding labor and liberalism in Famine Ireland illuminates the afterlives of slavery in the West Indies. Shirley Lau Wong will examine how contemporary Irish literature provides a unique site for understanding the concept of human capital and its effects on literary and cultural production. Together, the speakers will trace historical continuities and ruptures as they demonstrate how attention to Ireland can elucidate global structures. 

Lisa Sewell Reading on April 10

 Our very own Lisa Sewell will be reading, along with Ethel Rackin, at Main Point Books, on Thursday, April 10th, in celebration of National Poetry Month. We hope you will be able to make it!

Villanova English Department Essay Awards, 2024-25

If you have a piece of work that you're especially proud of, please consider submitting it for consideration for one of these awards.

 

The Margaret Powell Esmonde Memorial Award, which comes with a prize of $250, is given to the most distinguished scholarly or critical essay written by a graduate student in a Villanova English course within the last 12 months.

 

The Jerome J. Fischer Memorial Awards, which come with a prize of $250, are given to the most distinguished scholarly or critical essays written by an undergraduate student at Villanova within the last 12 months.

 

Submissions for the Fischer Award must have been written either for a Villanova English course (all except ENG 1975) or for a Villanova Honors course (1842 level or higher) taught by a member of the Villanova English faculty. It is permissible to revise or expand papers beyond what was submitted for the course. Submissions may be excerpted from a senior Honors thesis.

 

The Core Literature and Writing Seminar Essay Award, which also comes with a prize of $250, is given to the most distinguished critical essay written for a Villanova Core Literature and Writing Seminar (ENG 1975) in the previous calendar year (i.e. in Spring or Fall 2024).

 

Format

•       In addition to their essay, students should include a cover page including the course and professor for which the paper was written, as well as their email and a local mailing address.

•       Students should also submit the essay assignment or an approximation of the assignment.

•       Essays should be formatted in Times New Roman 12 (or equivalent font) and double-spaced.

•       For the Fischer Award, papers up to 6 pages will be considered separately from papers that are 6-15 pages. Longer papers are expected to engage scholarly sources.

•       Essays should be formatted in MLA or Chicago Style.

•       Only one submission per award is allowed.

•       Judges are looking for argumentative originality and rigor, elegance of writing, and interpretive incisiveness. Submissions should be carefully proofread.

 

The deadline for submissions is Friday, March 21, 2024. Submissions should be emailed as an attachment to joseph.drury@villanova.edu.

For previous winners, as well as information about Jerome J. Fischer, see our department Awards page.

Pre-Registration Reception, Friday March 14

The spring pre-registration reception will take place on Friday, March 14 from 1:00 to 2:30 pm in the SAC East Courtyard. Email Amanda Eliades to RSVP (and note any dietary restrictions).

Professor Tsering Wangmo Dhompa publishes The Politics of Sorrow

 Professor Tsering Wangmo Dhompa recently published, The Politics of Sorrow: A Story of Unity and Allegiance Across Tibetan Exile, with Columbia University Press. From the press:

The Politics of Sorrow tells the story of the Group of Thirteen, a collective of chieftains and lamas from the regions of Kham and Amdo, who sought to preserve Tibet’s cultural diversity in exile. They established settlements in India in the mid-1960s with the goal of protecting their regional and religious traditions, setting them apart from the majority of Tibetan refugees, who saw a common tradition as the basis for unifying the Tibetan people. Tsering Wangmo Dhompa traces these different visions for Tibetan governance and identity, juxtaposing the Tibetan government in exile’s external struggle for international recognition with its lesser-known internal struggle to command loyalty within the diaspora. She argues that although unity was necessary for democracy and independence, it also drew painful boundaries between those who belonged and those who didn’t. Drawing on insightful interviews with Tibetan elders and an exceptional archive of Tibetan exile texts, The Politics of Sorrow is a compelling narrative of a tumultuous time that reveals the complexities of Tibetan identities then and now.

For more about the book, see a recent interview with Tsering Wangmo Dhompa and Choekyi Lhamo on youtube.