... written after A Room of One's Own, I review recent femin... more ... written after A Room of One's Own, I review recent feminist and nonfeminist autobiographic criticism in an attempt to deline-ate one of ... The two letters to Felix that Citron translates in "Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel: Musician in Her Brother's Shadow" expose the growing frustration ...
... Skutnabb-Kangas and Robert Phillipson, to create a universal declaration of linguistic rights... more ... Skutnabb-Kangas and Robert Phillipson, to create a universal declaration of linguistic rights; the European community's recognition of the rights of minorities; and the opposition to globalization ... Linguistic Rights and Law)and ratified in Barcelona in 199612?derives its ...
Publications of the Modern Language Association of America, Mar 1, 1995
N MY FIRST Editor's Column (108 [1993]: 9-13), I wrote that it was not imperative to change yet a... more N MY FIRST Editor's Column (108 [1993]: 9-13), I wrote that it was not imperative to change yet again the description of the "ideal PMLA essay" set forth in the statement of editorial policy, which has been in effect since 1981. "[O]f interest to those concerned with the study of language and literature," such an essay, according to the statement, "exemplifies the best of its kind, whatever the kind; addresses a significant problem; draws out clearly the implications of its findings; and engages the attention of its audi ence through a concise, readable presentation." As I argued, "what is judged to be 'of interest,' 'engaging,' and 'readable,' 'a significant problem,' and, of course, 'the best of its kind' has undergone and will continue to undergo changes in relation to the complex shifts of contextual forces" (10-11). Although I continue to espouse that view, each of my columns in 1994 grappled with, or at least referred to, aspects of PMLA'& editorial policy. In retrospect, this preoccupation is surely related to the experience of reading submissions to PMLA, for they inevitably raise the question, What makes a publishable essay? Those who perform such readings for the journal-the more than five hundred specialists who evaluate submissions in their fields every year; the thirty-two members of the Advisory Committee, who serve as second and more general readers; and the seven members of the Edito rial Board, who reach the collective decisions to reject essays, send them back for revision and resubmission, or publish them-judge not only whether an essay is outstanding but also whether it is the right kind of essay for PMLA. And yet the statement of editorial policy, despite its em phasis on receptiveness to a variety of topics, scholarly methods, and theo retical perspectives, does not provide a properly nuanced understanding of publishability. The existence of such a contractual understanding is critical if referees and submitters-two groups that overlap substantially in the pro duction of MLA publications-are to play their parts. Thus, in the belief that self-consciousness produces more-astute acts of critical reading, not
L E DÉVELOPPEMENT DE L’ÉROTISME n’est en rien extérieur au domaine de la religion,” Bataille writ... more L E DÉVELOPPEMENT DE L’ÉROTISME n’est en rien extérieur au domaine de la religion,” Bataille writes in L ’Erotisme, 1 as he examines the internal connections and structural parallels be tween the erotic and the sacred and their mutual definition through pro hibitions. If the sacred represents “ ce qui est l’objet d’un interdit” (76), human sexuality is limited by the taboos created by religion, and the erotic is constituted by the transgression of those taboos (283). As the interdependent elements of a structure, transgression and prohibition are not antithetical in Bataille’s analysis; in more dialectical terms, transgres sion “ dépasse [l’interdit] et le complète” (72). More radically, “ l’interdit est là pour être violé” (72), he insists; it is empowered and can be en forced only if it is violated. And in Les Larmes d ’Eros, Bataille observes that “ l’interdit donne sa valeur propre à ce qu’il frappe . . . un sens qu’en elle-même, l’action interdite, n’avait pas.” 2 However, this intimate, “ aboriginal” association between the sacred and the sexual is denied by religions, which ban questions on their relations with eroticism (Larmes, 95). At bottom, Christianity’s historical opposition to eroticism has con cealed their mutual reinforcement—an emblematic case, says Bataille, of “ la profonde complicité de la loi et de la violation de la loi” (L ’Erotisme, 43). In a Bataillean perspective, this complicity creates particular contra dictions for sexual discourses. Invariably, such discourses denounce the religious law that forbids certain practices, even though its sacred rules are the condition sine qua non for the transgressions that define the erotic and the excitement that its discursive (re)presentation is designed to arouse. If sexual pleasure cannot be catalyzed “ sans le sentiment de l’interdit” (L ’Erotisme, 119), indeed, is proportionate to the obstacles that surround the taboo, then it stands to reason, argues Bataille, citing Sade, that “ la vraie façon d ’étendre et de multiplier ses désirs est de vouloir lui imposer des bornes” (55), while nonetheless condemning those strictures. However, the simultaneous defiling and upholding of the law (or other networks of power) in sexual discourses creates sympto-
... assuming responsibility for addressing and overcoming some aspect of the problembecause we be... more ... assuming responsibility for addressing and overcoming some aspect of the problembecause we believe in the importance of our work as educators, as colleagues,and as humanistic scholars. To quote Longfellow's "A Psalm of Life," "Let us, then, be up and doing." Page 9. ...
Publications of the Modern Language Association of America, Oct 1, 1997
The End and Beyond Great is the art of beginning, but greater the art is of ending. Longfellow, E... more The End and Beyond Great is the art of beginning, but greater the art is of ending. Longfellow, Elegiac Verses I 'VE NEVER been very good at endings. Beginnings have a dawn ing promise, leading from here to an uncertain but potentially ful filling there; endings smack of night-enshrouded limits, separation, termination. Inevitably, endings activate the compulsion to take stock, to list the debits and credits, to see how the balance sheet reads. And so it is with this column, my last as editor of PMLA. To start with the positive, I take considerable satisfaction that the jour nal's four blue issues have appeared as scheduled in each of the past five years, with a set of admittedly few but important essays. For there were times after Editorial Board meetings when the low number of accep tances and the lack of backlog made it seem as if PMLA would turn into a Mallarmean journal, full of blank pages.1 Beyond the regular issues, some of which contained clusters of essays on subjects ranging from early modern women to notions of the poetic, the special-topic issues that were produced since 1993, like those published earlier, focused at tention on timely or underexamined areas and often generated thoughtful criticism from the journal's readers. The special topics included Litera ture and Censorship, Colonialism and the Postcolonial Condition, The Status of Evidence, The Teaching of Literature, and, forthcoming in Jan uary 1998, Ethnicity.2 I consider the Forums on preannounced topics to be the most impor tant innovation during my tenure, for as I had hoped, this new feature has opened the pages of PMLA to scores of additional contributors. Even more important, it has helped to make the journal a site where dialogue can occur on issues of contention and concern in the profession, such as
... written after A Room of One's Own, I review recent femin... more ... written after A Room of One's Own, I review recent feminist and nonfeminist autobiographic criticism in an attempt to deline-ate one of ... The two letters to Felix that Citron translates in "Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel: Musician in Her Brother's Shadow" expose the growing frustration ...
... Skutnabb-Kangas and Robert Phillipson, to create a universal declaration of linguistic rights... more ... Skutnabb-Kangas and Robert Phillipson, to create a universal declaration of linguistic rights; the European community's recognition of the rights of minorities; and the opposition to globalization ... Linguistic Rights and Law)and ratified in Barcelona in 199612?derives its ...
Publications of the Modern Language Association of America, Mar 1, 1995
N MY FIRST Editor's Column (108 [1993]: 9-13), I wrote that it was not imperative to change yet a... more N MY FIRST Editor's Column (108 [1993]: 9-13), I wrote that it was not imperative to change yet again the description of the "ideal PMLA essay" set forth in the statement of editorial policy, which has been in effect since 1981. "[O]f interest to those concerned with the study of language and literature," such an essay, according to the statement, "exemplifies the best of its kind, whatever the kind; addresses a significant problem; draws out clearly the implications of its findings; and engages the attention of its audi ence through a concise, readable presentation." As I argued, "what is judged to be 'of interest,' 'engaging,' and 'readable,' 'a significant problem,' and, of course, 'the best of its kind' has undergone and will continue to undergo changes in relation to the complex shifts of contextual forces" (10-11). Although I continue to espouse that view, each of my columns in 1994 grappled with, or at least referred to, aspects of PMLA'& editorial policy. In retrospect, this preoccupation is surely related to the experience of reading submissions to PMLA, for they inevitably raise the question, What makes a publishable essay? Those who perform such readings for the journal-the more than five hundred specialists who evaluate submissions in their fields every year; the thirty-two members of the Advisory Committee, who serve as second and more general readers; and the seven members of the Edito rial Board, who reach the collective decisions to reject essays, send them back for revision and resubmission, or publish them-judge not only whether an essay is outstanding but also whether it is the right kind of essay for PMLA. And yet the statement of editorial policy, despite its em phasis on receptiveness to a variety of topics, scholarly methods, and theo retical perspectives, does not provide a properly nuanced understanding of publishability. The existence of such a contractual understanding is critical if referees and submitters-two groups that overlap substantially in the pro duction of MLA publications-are to play their parts. Thus, in the belief that self-consciousness produces more-astute acts of critical reading, not
L E DÉVELOPPEMENT DE L’ÉROTISME n’est en rien extérieur au domaine de la religion,” Bataille writ... more L E DÉVELOPPEMENT DE L’ÉROTISME n’est en rien extérieur au domaine de la religion,” Bataille writes in L ’Erotisme, 1 as he examines the internal connections and structural parallels be tween the erotic and the sacred and their mutual definition through pro hibitions. If the sacred represents “ ce qui est l’objet d’un interdit” (76), human sexuality is limited by the taboos created by religion, and the erotic is constituted by the transgression of those taboos (283). As the interdependent elements of a structure, transgression and prohibition are not antithetical in Bataille’s analysis; in more dialectical terms, transgres sion “ dépasse [l’interdit] et le complète” (72). More radically, “ l’interdit est là pour être violé” (72), he insists; it is empowered and can be en forced only if it is violated. And in Les Larmes d ’Eros, Bataille observes that “ l’interdit donne sa valeur propre à ce qu’il frappe . . . un sens qu’en elle-même, l’action interdite, n’avait pas.” 2 However, this intimate, “ aboriginal” association between the sacred and the sexual is denied by religions, which ban questions on their relations with eroticism (Larmes, 95). At bottom, Christianity’s historical opposition to eroticism has con cealed their mutual reinforcement—an emblematic case, says Bataille, of “ la profonde complicité de la loi et de la violation de la loi” (L ’Erotisme, 43). In a Bataillean perspective, this complicity creates particular contra dictions for sexual discourses. Invariably, such discourses denounce the religious law that forbids certain practices, even though its sacred rules are the condition sine qua non for the transgressions that define the erotic and the excitement that its discursive (re)presentation is designed to arouse. If sexual pleasure cannot be catalyzed “ sans le sentiment de l’interdit” (L ’Erotisme, 119), indeed, is proportionate to the obstacles that surround the taboo, then it stands to reason, argues Bataille, citing Sade, that “ la vraie façon d ’étendre et de multiplier ses désirs est de vouloir lui imposer des bornes” (55), while nonetheless condemning those strictures. However, the simultaneous defiling and upholding of the law (or other networks of power) in sexual discourses creates sympto-
... assuming responsibility for addressing and overcoming some aspect of the problembecause we be... more ... assuming responsibility for addressing and overcoming some aspect of the problembecause we believe in the importance of our work as educators, as colleagues,and as humanistic scholars. To quote Longfellow's "A Psalm of Life," "Let us, then, be up and doing." Page 9. ...
Publications of the Modern Language Association of America, Oct 1, 1997
The End and Beyond Great is the art of beginning, but greater the art is of ending. Longfellow, E... more The End and Beyond Great is the art of beginning, but greater the art is of ending. Longfellow, Elegiac Verses I 'VE NEVER been very good at endings. Beginnings have a dawn ing promise, leading from here to an uncertain but potentially ful filling there; endings smack of night-enshrouded limits, separation, termination. Inevitably, endings activate the compulsion to take stock, to list the debits and credits, to see how the balance sheet reads. And so it is with this column, my last as editor of PMLA. To start with the positive, I take considerable satisfaction that the jour nal's four blue issues have appeared as scheduled in each of the past five years, with a set of admittedly few but important essays. For there were times after Editorial Board meetings when the low number of accep tances and the lack of backlog made it seem as if PMLA would turn into a Mallarmean journal, full of blank pages.1 Beyond the regular issues, some of which contained clusters of essays on subjects ranging from early modern women to notions of the poetic, the special-topic issues that were produced since 1993, like those published earlier, focused at tention on timely or underexamined areas and often generated thoughtful criticism from the journal's readers. The special topics included Litera ture and Censorship, Colonialism and the Postcolonial Condition, The Status of Evidence, The Teaching of Literature, and, forthcoming in Jan uary 1998, Ethnicity.2 I consider the Forums on preannounced topics to be the most impor tant innovation during my tenure, for as I had hoped, this new feature has opened the pages of PMLA to scores of additional contributors. Even more important, it has helped to make the journal a site where dialogue can occur on issues of contention and concern in the profession, such as
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