Academica Press, LLC
Critical receptions; Sydney Owenson, Lady Morgan.
The relationship between authors and reviewers is one that is rarely studied outside of the context of literary biography. Belanger, who is at Cardiff University and specializes in early nineteenth century women authors, has combed through literary journals and the popular press in the first half of the 1800s to record the reviews received by Sydney Owenson, Lady Morgan, an Irish author who sustained vitriolic reviews from the literary establishment. Lady Morgan was unusual in that she not only responded to these reviews but satirized the reviewers in later work. Despite (or perhaps because of) the scathing comments, she was extremely successful. In the introduction to the reviews, Belanger suggests that they should be considered as one of the influences on Lady Morgan's work. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Hallucinating the end of history; Nishida, Zen, and the psychedelic eschaton.
Without condemning them or apologizing for them, Cunningham (Gonzaga U.) places the nationalist proclamations by Japanese philosopher Nishida Kitaro (1870-1945) into historical and political context, before turning to a broad account of his philosophy of history. He argues that Nishida and the modern psychedelic experience are linked by the Zen nexus, and that he offers a more complex and nuanced account of the end of history than recent commentators or fiction writers. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
An idler; John Hay's social and aesthetic commentaries for the press during the Civil War, 1861-1865.
Hay (1838-1905) is best known for the several books he wrote after the Civil War, but until recently the evidence for his writing during the war was scarce. The breakthrough came in 1998 with the publication of Michael Burlingame's Lincoln's Journalist. It is now well established that Hay wrote for seven newspapers at the same time he was assisting Abraham Lincoln during the campaign of 1860 and the early years of his presidency. The selection of articles here corroborates and expands on that earlier collection. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Modernizing the college curriculum in American education; the case for transcultural triangularity.
The project known as Vision 2020, a collective effort to improve cultural sensitivity, focuses on the idea of transcultural triangulation in higher education, in which faculty integrate at least three cultures with at least three educational objectives in their courses. The founders understand their intention to be an initiative more than a model, providing faculty development, review and reworking of syllabi, enhancement of curriculum, improvement in educational outcome and objective development and creation of financial incentives. This report presents the results of the implementation of Vision 2020, as indicated by surveys and other data, at a minority-serving urban university, showing an increase in desirable student outcomes. It recommends further implementation and research. Library of Congress cataloging-in-publication data lists the title as "the college curriculum in American education : the case for transcultural triangularity", reflected on the title page but not on the cover or spine. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
The poetry of Eavan Boland; a postcolonial reading.
Most colonial and postcolonial readings and re-readings have concentrated on developing nations, excluding the experience of Ireland. In this treatment, however Villae-Argáiz (English, U. of Granada) tests a number of theories about postcolonial experience against the work of contemporary Irish poet Eavan Boland, finding the process complicated by imperialism and domination based on gender as well as national history. As she sifts through the various ghosts in Boland's poetry she finds the links between politics and aesthetics that underlie any haunted work, made more rich by Boland's artistry. Villae-Argáiz finds Boland's possessions to be many as she explains her own perceptions of themes of gender and Irish studies, then analyzes Boland's work as minority and postcolonial discourse, picking out Boland's particular views on Mother Ireland, the writer's exile as a young child and her subsequent response to the idea of the subaltern, and her later exile in the US. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
