Douglas Dowland

My weekend reading.

@svershbow I don’t know if my brain could handle all the serotonin.

She's legitimately perfect

Good evening, Janice. I love you.

Career Advice Reminder | Why Review? There is an art to the book review, and there is a craft to it, a form—potent, reliable and durable—that takes practice and patience to master. By Douglas Dowland: bit.ly/4cI8vKj

Some of the work of the department chair is political. Much of the work is ideational. And just a sliver of it is ridiculously capturing students attention at Honors Day so the campus photographer can take this awesome photo.

@vjoshuaadams Congratulations!

Friends, I’m happy to share some good news from the Association for Philosophy and Literature

@kinohin @RutgersUPress I certainly did. The honor is incredibly well earned.

A conference honoring the path-clearing Black feminist literary historian and critic Deborah McDowell. How many of us first read Nella Larsen in McDowell's joint edition of QUICKSAND and PASSING from @RutgersUPress?

Me: “Joanie, I have to go to work.” Joanie:

@bcbdotc A fascinating and, in its way, difficult book.

@TorilMoi Thank you, Toril! (We always read your essay on Dora.)

@profdgd In the 19th century: Strindberg's The Father -- a man spiraling into madness because he has come to doubt that his child is actually his. (Response to Ibsen's Wild Duck) Also about infernal power struggle between men and women (as seen by the antifeminist Strindberg...)

The reading list for next semester's Literature of Mental Illness course. I feel like I'm missing a book of poems or another play. Suggestions?

@isanchezprado Thank you! I will give it a read!

Have a friend or colleague who chairs a multidisciplinary humanities department? We'd like their abstract for MLA27! mla.confex.com/mla/2027/webpr…

@saintsoftness Somehow it ended up in my high school AP reading. It's, to use a word from the youths, a baller.

Public service announcement: I waited WAY too long to read The Count of Monte Cristo, and you shouldn’t, it’s an absolutely romp, and ideally, you should also read it with a squirmy kitten! If we’re gonna redo 19thC French feuilleton bitchery, when do we get the novels again?

A smart and refreshing pedagogy essay in the latest @mid_theory. @lint_ax mid-theory.com/2025/02/05/see…

@mattbencole It's always reviewer #2, sadly.

Reviewer #1: "a valuable contribution to existing scholarship... I highly recommend its publication" Reviewer #2: "My recommendation is for a thorough redesign of the paper, rescaling of its goals, and adjusting the scope... promising material, but not ready to be published" ok

A rather thorough review of my second book in the latest American Literary History Review. academic.oup.com/alh/article/37…

@cjsarett Thank you!

@profdgd Rabelais. Arthur Machen, “The Story of the White Powder” (from The Three Imposters.) Cronenberg’s essay on The Metamorphosis.

Thinking a little more about the disgust course. I have Swift, Kafka, Sartre, and Lispector on the reading list. I don't want to do "gross" necessarily, but I would be interested in potential literary readings!

@nicholasbirns Mosfegh is consistently the hit in my Literature and Medicine course. A little scared to read her latest novel!

@profdgd Bernhard. Gaddis. Ottessa Moshfegh and Zoe Dubno. Pope obviously. Certain passages from the Waste Land maybe.

The department chair works out next year's schedule.