April 1997 News

• Alain J.-J. Cohen, "Filmic Dissolves on Russell Forester," Russell Forester, unauthorized autobiography, Smart Art Press, 3.28 (1997): 76-88.

• Richard Elliott Friedman, The Hidden Face of God. San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1997.

• Richard Elliott Friedman, De verdwijning van God. Netherlands: Ten Have, 1996. Dutch translation of The Disappearance of God (Little, Brown, 1995).

• Richard Elliott Friedman, Who Wrote the Bible?, 2nd edition, with a new preface by the author. San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1997.

• Mark Slouka, "The Shape of Water," Harper's Magazine (August 1996). Nominated for National Magazine Award.

• Mark Slouka, "Jumping Johnny," Story, forthcoming (Summer 1997).

• Mark Slouka, "Feather and Bone," Harper's Magazine, forthcoming (July 1997).

• Mark Slouka, "‘ Little Lamb, Who Made Thee': Henry Ford, Ian Wilmut, and The Bell Curve," FEED Magazine (March 1997).

• Christina Accomando, Ph.D., Literatures in English, UCSD-- LTEN 183, African American Prose

• Marsanne Brammer, Ph.D., English and American Literature, UCSD-- LTEN 144, The English Novel in the 19th Century

• Sonia Ghattas-Soliman, Ph.D., French Language and Literature, UC Irvine-- LTGN 134, Arabic Literature in Translation

• Fredric R. Jameson, Professor, The Literature Program, Duke University-- LTTH 297, Two-Unit Mini-Seminar

• Susan Light, Ph.D. Candidate, Literatures in English, UCSD-- LTEN 110, The Renaissance

• Darlene Muzquiz, Ph.D., Spanish Literature, UCSD-- LTSP 127, Modern Drama

• Martin Nakell, Associate Professor, English and Comparative Literature, Chapman University--LTWR 100, Short Fiction

• Liza Nelligan, Ph.D. Candidate, Literatures in English, UCSD--LTEN 113, Shakespeare: The Jacobean Period

• John O'Kane, Ph.D., Contemporary Studies, University of Minnesota--LTWR 110 , Screenwriting

• Molly Rhodes, Ph.D. Candidate, Literatures in English, UCSD--LTTH 101, Issues in Feminist Theory

• Iñigo Sánchez-Llama, Ph.D. Candidate, Spanish Literature, UCSD--LTSP 130A, Development of Spanish Literature

• Jennifer Tuttle, Ph.D., Literatures In English, UCSD-- LTEN 178, Comparative Ethnic Literature

• Wendy Walters, Ph.D., English and American Literature, UCSD-- LTEN 183, African American Prose

Hiromi Ito, poet from Japan, will be in residence from March 1, 1997 through November 30, 1998, under the sponsorship of Jerome Rothenberg. She will be translating contemporary U.S. poetry into Japanese.

• To Richard Elliott Friedman who has received a 1997-98 University of California President's Research Fellowship in the Humanities.

• To Bett Miller who has just accepted the position of Curator of Rare Books at the Johns Hopkins University. She will be relocating to Baltimore at the end of this month.

• To Rosaura Sánchez who has been awarded a UC MEXUS Grant in support of her project, "María Amparo Ruiz de Burton: Trials and Tribulations."

• And to the following graduate students who successfully completed qualifying examinations or defenses during Winter Quarter 1997:
  • Janice Chernekoff, Ph.D. Dissertation Defense

  • Kim Hester Williams, Ph.D. Qualifying Examination

  • Yuko Miyata, Ph.D. Qualifying Examination

  • Dee Anne Rodeen, M. A. Thesis Defense

• NEW WRITING SERIES, SPRING QUARTER 1997

  All readings are free and open to the public.

  • Carolee Schneemann, pioneer of performance, installation, and body art; her collected writings--More Than Meat Joy--appeared recently in a revised, expanded edition. Friday, April 11, 7:30 p.m., CRCA (408 University Center). A screening of her recent films will take place Thursday, April 10, 6:30 p.m., Visual Arts Facility Performance Space.

  • Raymond Federman and Ron Sukenick. Federman (Double or Nothing; The Voice in the Closet) and Sukenick (Up; Out; Blown Away) are founding figures of the fabled Fiction Collective. Thursday, April 17, 7:30 p.m., Visual Arts Facility Performance Space.

  • Lois-Ann Yamanaka, poet (Saturday Night at the Pahala Theatre) and novelist (Wild Meat and the Bully Burgers) whose work moves between literary English and an innovative use of Hawai'ian Creole or Pidgin. Friday, April 25, 4:00 p.m., Visual Arts Facility Performance Space.

  • Peter Gizzi and Elizabeth Willis. Gizzi, recipient of the 1994 Lavan Younger Poets Award, is the author of five books of poetry. Willis, recipient of the 1994 National Poetry Series Award, is the author of Second Law and The Human Abstract. Wednesday, April 30, 4:30 p.m., Visual Arts Facility Performance Space.

  • Ojenke, poet and performer, is the author of The Mind Is a Circular Blade: Selected Poems and the play, The Ping Pong Game. Wednesday, May 14, 4:30 p.m., Visual Arts Facility Performance Space.

    The series is sponsored by University Events, the Literature Department, the Archive for New Poetry, and the Division of Arts and Humanities.

• Eugene Holland, Associate Professor of French and Comparative Literature, Ohio State University, and 1996-97 Resident Fellow at the Center for Cultural Studies, Oakes College, UC Santa Cruz, will speak on "Marx and the Poststructuralist Philosophers of Difference, Deleuze and Derrida," on Thursday, April 24, 4:00 p.m., in the deCerteau Room, 155 Literature Building.

• Fredric R. Jameson, Professor, The Literature Program, Duke University, and Visiting Professor, Department of Literature, UCSD, will present his annual public lecture Monday, April 28, 4:00 p.m. at CRCA (408 University Center). This year his talk will be on "Culture and Finance Capital."

• Amiri Baraka will join the Department of Literature as a Visiting Professor from May 5-16 during which time he will offer an upper-division Writing workshop. Baraka is well known for his poetry, plays, fiction and nonfiction writings, as the founder of Totem Press (1958), and as the current editor of The Black Nation. Details of his visit will be announced in the next Newsletter.

• Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, poet, journalist and perhaps Spain's most celebrated contemporary novelist, will be visiting the Department of Literature as a Regents Lecturer from May 13 through May 23 (PLEASE NOTE CHANGE OF DATES). As a journalist, Vázquez Montalbán is well known for his socio-political analysis of the late years of the Franco dictatorship and as a cultural critic of the post-Franco era. He has also produced a steady stream of fiction since the 1960s, which ranges from a highly popular detective series to experimental fiction. While at UCSD, Vázquez Montalbán will present a public lecture (May 15, 4:00 p.m., Central University Library) and participate in a panel discussion (May 21, 4:00 p.m., 155 Literature Building). Presentations will be in Spanish; details will follow in the next Newsletter.

• Sylvia Wynter, Professor Emeritus, Comparative Literature, Stanford University, will spend two weeks as a Visiting Professor in the Department of Literature from May 19-30. She will offer a graduate mini-seminar on Caribbean and African American Literature. Details will appear in the next Newsletter.

Sigurd Burckhardt, a renowned and founding member of the Department of Literature, joined UCSD in 1963 as a Professor of German Literature. Professor Burckhardt was a comparatist, with special interests in Shakespeare, Goethe, and Kleist, and also in literary theory. He played a central role in the establishment of the Revelle Humanities Sequence, which in form served as a model for such sequences at the other colleges. Upon his death in 1966, a memorial fund in his honor was established to award a prize each year to the most outstanding senior honors student majoring in Literature. Contributions to the Burckhardt Memorial Fund may be made through the UC San Diego Foundation.

Western Humanities Conference: Information Technology and the Humanities, UC Riverside, October 17-19, 1997. Proposals are invited for both papers and sessions. Possible topics include: the status of intellectual property in the "information age;" subjectivity and technology; intersections between science and the humanities; "millennial" pedagogy; representation; simulation; "hyper-reality;" interventionism, politics and the internet; evidence; history of the "book;" the limits of technology; the scientific "imperative." Papers on any theoretical and/or practical aspect of the theme are welcome. Group proposals for panels of no more than three papers are also welcome. Proposals are due May 15, 1997. For additional information, contact Marie Orillion-Harker, Center for Ideas & Society, UC Riverside, Riverside CA 92521-0439;

Intercampus Exchange Opportunity Fund Grants. Airfare is provided to Academic Senate members and registered graduate students for travel to other UC campuses and/or facilities for study and research, and to faculty invited to UCSD from other UC campuses for the purpose of research consultations which will benefit UCSD faculty. See Linda Lewis for an application. (Graduate students who wish to participate in the Intercampus Exchange Program for the purpose of taking courses at another UC campus, should see Quinny. The program described above is for travel grants only.)

• Fredric R. Jameson--Spring Quarter 1997 Mini-Seminar: Professor Jameson's two-unit mini-seminar (LTTH 297) will take place in the deCerteau Room, 155 Literature Building, on the following dates: Friday, April 25, 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.; Saturday, April 26, 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.; and Tuesday, April 29, 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Additional copies of the reading list (already distributed) are available in the Graduate Office.

• Commencement. The 1997 Graduate Studies Commencement will be held at 12:00 noon on Sunday, June 15, in the Price Center Ballroom. (Cap and gown rental orders must be placed by April 11.)