Fall Bookshelf
The weather might be turning chilly, but your reading list will heat up with these recent literary works from College of Arts and Sciences faculty and Department of English alumni.
Chain-Gang All-Stars
Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah G’16
Two top women gladiators fight for their freedom within a depraved private prison system not so far removed from America’s own. Finalist for the 2023 National Book Award in Fiction.
Rouge
Mona Awad, Professor of English
A gothic fairy tale about a lonely dress shop clerk whose mother’s unexpected death sends her down a treacherous path in pursuit of youth and beauty.
House of Cotton
Monica Brashears G’22
In this debut novel, 19-year-old Magnolia Brown is broke and accepts a job offer from a mysterious, slick stranger. But is it really the answer to all her problems?
Reading Shakespeare’s Poetry: A lively exploration of Shakespeare’s poems and how they speak to readers
Dympna Callaghan, University Professor and William L. Safire Professor of Modern Letters, Department of English
An essential guide to the interpretation and context of Shakespeare’s non-dramatic poetry.
Spatiality at the Periphery in European Literatures and the Visual Arts
Kathryn Everly, Stefano Giannini and Karina von Tippelskirch (Co-editors), Professors, Languages, Literatures and Linguistics
This work analyzes the impact migrations have had on Europe’s literary and visual representations in the 19th to 21st centuries.
Godefridus Schalcken: A Late 17th-century Dutch Painter in Pursuit of Fame and Fortune
Wayne Franits, Distinguished Professor and chair, Art and Music Histories
The first book in English dedicated to the entire artistic output of Dutch artist Godefridus Schalcken (1643–1706), it examines the artist’s paintings and career trajectory along with his ceaseless pursuit of fame.
A Medium Seen Otherwise: Photography in Documentary Film
Roger Hallas, Associate professor of English
This significant contribution to documentary film, photography and media studies provides close readings of more than 35 films, including canonical documentaries and obscure films from around the world.
Changing Community Identity Through Public Art: Rhetorical Analysis of Artwork Reflecting the Largest Judicial Mass Execution in American History
Cynthia Pope, Assistant teaching professor, Writing Studies, Rhetoric and Composition
Contemporary public sculpture can raise questions about community standards, identity and race relations. In this book, Pope explores how a sculpture titled 'Scaffold' by artist Sam Durant, which referenced the execution of 38 Dakota Native American men, became a focal point of contention.
American Arcadia
Laura Scalzo ’83
New York City, 1985: the Statue of Liberty is under reconstruction, the Twin Towers hum with money and the clubs pulse with music. Four 20-somethings find themselves grappling with friendship and love, life and death.
Penny Dreadful and Adaptation: Reanimating and Transforming the Monster
Will Scheibel, Associate professor and director of undergraduate studies, English (Co-editor with Julie Grossman)
This first book-length study of the Showtime-Sky Atlantic television series Penny Dreadful has as much to say about the Romantic and Victorian eras as it does about our own.
After World: A Novel
Debbie Urbanski G’04
A groundbreaking debut novel that follows the story of an artificial intelligence tasked with writing a novel — only for it to fall in love with the novel’s subject, Sen, the last human on Earth.