In Print

John Hoppenthaler's second book of poetry Anticipate the Coming Reservoir (2008) is now available from Carnegie Mellon UP of Pittsburgh.  About the book from the editor of Ploughshares: "Speakers in Anticipate the Coming Reservoir return to and survey terrain that was once their own and find it strangely defamiliarized.  As they process the changes -- changes they generally see as suspect -- these characters seek, and sometimes find, something like balance between nostalgia and terra incognita.  This collection may be, as Natasha Trethewey writes, 'his nostos,' but it is also John Hoppenthaler's paen to existential resolve as it is exhibited by souls who possess, as David Baker describes it, 'all our wounded, belated psyches.'"  In addition, his poetry also appears in the anthology Poetry Calendar published by Alhambra (2008).  From the publisher: "A surprise-desk calendar and a poetry anthology in one, this beautifully designed and presented book contains 366 poems by 340 poets.  Meant for your desktop or bedside table, the calendar showcases work by some of the best American, British, Canadian, Australian, and Irish poets from the 14th to the 21st century. You'll rediscover many of your favorite classics in English poetry, and you'll be introduced to the most exciting work by well established as well as new and emerging poets."  Further, Hoppenthaler's poem "Treehouse" appears in the recent issue of Alehouse [cover pictured here].  His poem "December Settles In Over HaverStraw Bay" was published in the inaugural issue of the online journal The Dirty Napkin, and Hoppenthaler's interview with Michael Waters titled "Clothing the Soul" recently appeared in the August (2007) issue of review revue.

Megan Roberts's story "The Fourth Date" appeared in the Sunday Reader of the Raleigh News and Observer on January 6.

Mikko Tuhkanen's essay "James Baldwin on the American Express and the Queer Underground" has been published in the special issue of English Language Notes 45:2 (Fall-Winter 2007) titled "Queer Space" and edited by Jane Garrity.  English Language Notes is published by the University of Colorado at Boulder.  From the publisher: "A respected forum since 1962 for new work in English literary studies, ELN (English Language Notes) has undergone a change in editorship and an extensive makeover as a biannual journal devoted exclusively to special topics in all fields of literary and cultural studies. The new ELN is particularly determined to revive and reenergize its traditional commitment to featuring shorter notes, often no more than 3-4 pages in print, an attribute of the journal that will provide a unique forum for cutting-edge scholarly debate and exchange in the humanities."

Sean Herring's dissertation Retention Study of Black and White Male Students at Historically Black Universities in North Carolina has been published by ProQuest and is available online. According to the abstract: "This quantitative study examines college retention, specifically of Black and White male students, at all five historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in North Carolina's state-supported system.  The Integrated Post-secondary Education Data System (IPEDS) was used to collect raw data containing enrollment and graduation variables between the years 1989 to 2005.  Additionally, chi-square analysis and a research study instrument provided insight into institutional characteristics of retention to suggest a relationship to quantitative data findings in this study.  Although many postsecondary institutions have been currently increasing efforts to recruit and to enroll a greater diversity of students, the issues of college retention and graduation for male students, Black students in particular, and socioeconomic lower status students, White or Black, were found to still exist as a cultural integration issue."  All proceeds from this book are being donated to Cape Fear Literacy Council  to assist adult learners with improving basic skills in reading.

Margaret Bauer's review essay "Having versus Seeking A Room of Her Own" appears in the Southern Literary Journal 40.1 (2007).  Bauer reviewed three books: Perfect Companionship: Ellen Glasgow's Selected Correspondence with Women edited by Pamela R. Matthews for U of Virginia P (2005), The Ambivalent Art of Katherine Anne Porter by Mary Titus for U of Georgia P (2005), and Katherine Anne Porter: The Life of an Artist by Darlene Harbour Unrue for U of South Carolina P, 1996.  Bauer writes: "Reading Darlene Harbour Unrue's Katherine Anne Porter biography after reading Pamela R. Matthews's collection of Ellen Glasgow’s correspondence with women, one is struck by two particular points of distinction: the biography’s emphasis on the men in Porter's life in contrast to the few references to men in Glasgow's letters and the preeminent tone of frustration in the biography versus the overwhelming expressions of affection in the letters. Interesting, too, is reading Unrue's Porter biography along with Mary Titus's new critical study. Titus focuses on Porter's exploration of gender roles and sexual identity in her fiction while Unrue emphasizes the connection between Porter's unhappiness and her unconventional life as a woman artist."

Tom Shields's essay "The Literature of Exploration" has been published in The Oxford Handbook of Early American Literature edited by Kevin J. Hayes for Oxford UP, (2008).  The essay looks at the exploration of North America from the time of Columbus until the days just before the Jamestown settlement of 1607 as it was reported in English literature and in other writings of European nations.  Shields points out that "exploration literature" is best understood as a rhetorical genre, in which form reflects and influences how a writer composes the encounter with something new while considering the demands of the traditional aesthetic and rules of genre.