Friday, February 27, 2009

Nericcio's Commitment to Drama


UPDATED; elements of this post originally appeared, August 27, 2008

A quick glance at SDSU English and Comparative Literature department chair and Professor Nericcio's blog will clearly illustrate his profound interest in drama and film. That he gets to share this passion occasionally with the likes of Sir Anthony Hopkins, whom he met by chance while on vacation in Los Angeles, only heightens his authority on the subject of film. Nericcio explains, "One of the things I am trying to do as Chair of English and Comparative Literature at SDSU is to enhance our department's offerings in the study of drama. I discussed these initiatives with Anthony Hopkins in LA; he was both polite and indulgent." Nericcio continues, "in our Fall 2009 schedule, Shakespeare scholar and drama theater profe extraordinaire, D. J. Hopkins (no relation to Anthony, save for his love of Chianti!) will be teaching a class called KILL WILL, a film studies/literature class focused on everyone's favorite bard, William Shakespeare." Sharing professors is just part of a developing series of collaborations between the School of Theatre at SDSU and the Department of English and Comparative Literature.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

SDSU English and Comparative Literature Supports UCSD Literature in Their Fight for a Cancer Free Zone for Literary Study!


For years, SDSU English and Comparative Literature fought for its life, valiantly striving to redress the "sick building" syndrome in Adams Humanities on the SDSU campus. Now, recently moved to the 2nd floor of Arts and Letters, we join in solidarity with our compadres in Literature at UCSD who are in for the fight of their lives, outing the cancer cluster in the Literature Building on the UCSD campus.  For more, go here.

literature.sdsu.edu's ILYA KAMINSKY @ Harvard


This very Thursday evening, that little "community college" that could, Harvard University, is hosting our very own Ilya Kaminsky for a reading/discussion with Russian poet, Paulina Barskova. A nice, recent "bio-pic feature" on Kaminsky appears here.


Saturday, February 14, 2009

New San Diego State University Press Blog


There's a new home for information about books and events spun from the brains of the folks who run the oldest university press in the California State University system! SDSU Press and Hyperbole Books--go here for the skinny!

SDSU Press is a San Diego State University institution; however most of its editors work in the Department of English and Comparative Literature including, Harry Polkinhorn, Press director, and editors Laurie Edson, Emily Hicks, Larry McCaffery, and Bill Nericcio. Its other editors include Paul Ganster and Stuart Aitken. Click the image below to see the Press's online catalogue:

Friday, February 13, 2009

literature.sdsu.edu is helping bring American Lit Star Ana Castillo to SDSU! February 26, 2009 @ 4:30pm

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Update! Kendricks Film "Beholder" Screening in Latino Film Festival March 14 & 18


SDSU lecturer Neil Kendricks has been a prolific writer/commentator/curator of the visual arts in the San Diego Area and beyond. You can read his commentaries regularly in San Diego Area publications (his latest: "A Report from the 2009 Sundance Film" published on KPBS's blog, Culture Lust).

Kendricks'short film, "Beholder" which he co-directed and co-photographed with an artist-friend Jim Cavolt will be screened at the San Diego Latino Film Festival. "Beholder" screens on Saturday, March 14 at 12:30 p.m. in the "Cine Mujer" program on Screen one, and Wednesday, March 18 at 6:30 p.m. in the "Frontera Filmmakers" program on Screen one. Make sure to note these dates on your calendars!

An 80's Flashback with English Department Lecturer Dr. Mahin


English Department Lecturer Michael Mahin not only has some interesting theories concerning literature but can also explain why music from the 1980's still continues to draw the interest of legions of fans. Mahin explains, “Most ’80s music was utterly escapist. The ’80s never pretended to be something it wasn’t. It was indulgent, raw, experimental, but most of all, it was fun.” You may catch Mahin giving a Literature lecture at SDSU, in the latest San Diego Reader in the article "Can't Get Enough Journey", and, maybe most surprisingly, in his 80's coverband Neon Nation (available for hire for your next party, wedding or corporate event).

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Matt Harris, Mad Producer of Schlock and our Alumni Suggests a Change in Our MA Reading List


Matt Harris, SDSU MA Lit alum, schlock-TVproducer, Joe Gillis Internship inventor, and all around man with too much on his hands sends word of a literary development that he asks that we add to our MA exam list! Pride and Prejudice PLUS Zombies! More here.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Jenny Minniti-Shippey's Done Dating DJs




MFA graduate Jenny Minniti-Shippey has recently been deemed winner of the Munster Literature Centre Fool for Poetry Chapbook Competition published by Southword Editions, Cork. With the theme of the festival being Humor, Irony, and Wit, it comes as no shock to anyone who knows Jenny that her book of poems, Done Dating DJs, could land the prize. Minniti-Shippey will be traveling to Ireland in February to appear at the Munster Literature Centre's Éigse 2009 festival and inflict those there with her "wry sophisticated humour." Read more about it on the Munster Literature Centre website.




Monday, February 2, 2009

Lisa Hemminger in Mississippi Review


We are pleased to announce yet another accomplishment by one of our immensely talented MFA students. Currently working as a part-time writing instructor for the SDSU English Department, Lisa Hemminger is the runner-up for the 2009 Mississippi Review Poetry Prize! The issue featuring work from the contest finalists, including Hemminger's poem "Holy," will be released in early summer.  So, while you're waiting to go out and pick up your very own copy, here's a previously published poem by Hemminger that received a runner-up prize in Opium Magazine's 7-line story competition:

Trans In The Family
The sun is purple leaving the Bluff City Cemetery. My sister oops brother is talking nipples. “Dime-sized or nickel?” A stranger in the truck is nodding his head; obviously an opinion inside. “What does it matter,” I spit, swerving on a bird. “You’ve got a six-pack now. The nipple size won’t matter.” For years, I have been looking at Internet pictures of men’s chests and penises with Eli. One science is more evolved than the other. I tell him the story of me in fifth grade at an Eagle Scout ceremony. In the dark, a cute girl thought I was a boy. I made up a name and a phone number. Mom would have thrown a fit. Now she's part sky, part earth. I guess stranger, son, daughter look the same: flecks of antique gold.