In what follows, graduate student Andrea Lankin reports on a recent talk given by Professor Vincent Gillespie on “Meat, Metaphor and Mysticism,” a provocative and enigmatic title for a talk that explores the role of the body in medieval culture. Read full post…

The English Department wishes everyone a safe and happy holiday. As the students depart for winter break, the department blog is also taking a short hiatus. We will be back online with our weekly posts when the new semester begins in mid-January.

Until then, we leave with you a classic holiday poem: Robert Burns’ “Auld Lang Syne.”

In what follows, graduate student Rebecca Munson gives a brief account of the talk Professor John Kerrigan recently gave on “Shakespeare, Oaths and Vows.”Read full post…

On Friday November 20th, Wheeler Hall, the home of the English Department, was the scene of protest, as students took over classrooms on the second floor, and of a standoff between police and demonstrators across barricades in front of the building. The day was tense, and there were outbreaks of violence but, it appears, no major injuries. There will be inquiries into the use of force by the police. The following links to The New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the Daily Cal (with photos and video) provide details about the day’s events.

New York Times article

San Francisco Chronicle article

Daily Cal: Wheeler Hall Occupation Ends Peacefully

On Monday, November 9, the English department continued its series, “Conversations with Distinguished Alumni,” in a discussion with alumnus David Corvo ’72, who is currently the Executive Producer of the prime time news magazine Dateline NBC. He was joined by Department Chair Sam Otter and Professor Namwali Serpell, who spoke with him about the the relationship between his study of English at Berkeley and his success as a broadcast journalist. [Read full post...]

In what follows, graduate student Monica Soare reports about a recent meeting of the department’s Nineteenth-Century and Beyond Working Group, which hosted Professor Mary Favret from the University of Indiana. They discussed a chapter in Professor Favret’s new book War at a Distance: Romanticism and the Making of Modern Wartime. [Read full post...]

In what follows, graduate student Natalia Cecire reports on a recent poetry reading with Maurice Scully and Anne Tardos.[Read full post...]

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In what follows graduate student Rosa Martinez gives a brief account of the discussion of Professor Sue Schweik’s The Ugly Laws: Disability in Public that took place at University Press Book on September 8, 2009.[Read full post...]

Graduate student Catherine Cronquist Browning attended the colloquium the English Department hosted to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the poet Robert Burns’ birth. What follows is a short summary of the day.

Five leading scholars in the field of Scottish Romanticism, Leith Davis, Janet Sorensen, Steve Newman, Ian Duncan, and Carol McGuirk, delivered current work on Burns to an audience of assorted faculty, graduate students, undergradutes, and other members of the department community. In fact, Wheeler 300 was packed full of eager listeners, with those who came later finding seats on tables and the floor to enjoy the rich program!

Robert Burns
1759-2009

A colloquium
Friday, September 11, 2009

Join us for a one-day colloquium on the poetry of Robert Burns at the UC Berkeley Department of English — part of a world-wide series of conferences, lectures, and other events marking the 250th anniversary of the poet’s birth.

Afternoon panels will feature leading scholars of Burns and eighteenth-century Scottish literature, including Leith Davis, Ian Duncan, Carol McGuirk, Steve Newman, and Janet Sorensen. Robert Crawford, Professor of Modern Scottish Literature at the University of St. Andrews, will give the evening keynote lecture. One of Scotland’s leading poets and critics, Crawford is the author (most recently) of Scotland’s Books: A History of Scottish Literature (2008) and the widely acclaimed The Bard: Robert Burns, A Biography (2009).

The colloquium will take place in 300 Wheeler [...]