Poet and Songwriter Paul Allen Retires - Department of English

Faculty Notes, 2009-2010
Africa, Australia, and South Korea.
Mike Duvall presented a paper, “Utopia and Dystopia
John Bruns organized and chaired a panel devoted
on Foot: Shoes in Turn of the 20th Century American
to Joel and Ethan Coen’s No Country For Old Men for
Fiction,” at the annual convention of the American
the Society for Cinema and Media Studies conference in
Literature Association in San Francisco in May. He also
Los Angeles, March 17-21. For the panel, he presented
published an essay entitled “One Man’s Junk: Material
a paper entitled “The Map is Not the Country.” In June
and Social Waste in Frank Norris’s McTeague” in Studies
24-27, he attended the 22nd International Society for
in American Naturalism. With this, he hopes, for the
Humor Studies Conference in Hong Kong, where he
time being, anyway, to get out of the “waste” business.
presented a paper entitled “Last Straws and Final Words:
He is starting research into representations of socialism
The Language of the Marx Brothers.” He also appeared
in late 19th and early 20th century American fiction.
in and provided musical score for the feature-length
film, Republic of Pete, directed by College of Charleston Julia Eichelberger is working on a book of letters
graduate and Film Studies minor, Jesse Berger (‘09). Eudora Welty wrote to two close friends who shared
Dr. Bruns will be on sabbatical next
her love of gardening. Almost none of these letters
year.
have been published, and she’s been
transcribing and researching them
Tim Carens presented an essay
with the help of MA student (and
at a conference sponsored by
C of C alum) Maggie McMenamin
Interdisciplinary Nineteenthand
graduating senior Rachel
Century Studies in Austin, TX
Reinke, who worked with her in
(Mar 2010). Closer to home, the
the Mississippi archive where
Center for Creative Retirement in
Welty’s letters are kept. Rachel also
Charleston invited him to give a
worked with Julia’s students in a
lecture on “Love, Idolatry, and the
course on Welty that she taught
Victorian Novel” (Mar 2010). He has
this spring. Since January 2010,
two essays forthcoming in the next
Julia has been Associate Chair of
couple months. The first, “Breaking
the English department, advising
the Idol of the Marriage Plot in Yeast
undergraduate English majors,
and Villette,” to appear in Victorian
evaluating transfer and study
Literature and Culture, reflects
abroad coursework. And she has
his ongoing work on Victorian
been the scorekeeper for a very
novels. The second, “Serpents in
distinguished softball team, The
the Garden: English Professors in
Hacks, who took second place in
Contemporary American Films,”
the tournament for the Fall 2009
will appear in College English. This
season.
essay charts a new interest: trying
to figure out why English professors
[An article on the team and its
are depicted as drunk, stoned, and
improbable semi-triumph is in the
horny in so many recent movies.
April issue of the Portico, which can
be found here: http://spinner.cofc.
After a happy year in a spacious
edu/theportico/archive.html].
new office, he is packing up his
books again. During the upcoming
Joe Kelly spent a couple of
renovation of 72 George St., Dr. Bonnie Devet in Paris days researching letters between
supposed to take only one year, he will
members of James Joyce’s family that
be banished to the basement of the old Small Library. are archived at Cornell University. He’s working on a
series of biographical articles on the modern writer.
Bonnie Devet published an article, “Unpacking
Faculty’s Questions and Comments about the Writing Scott Peeples presented a paper on E. A. Poe and the
Center: Advice for New Writing Center Directors” in Charleston Renaissance at the American Literature
the internationally distributed Writing Lab Newsletter Association meeting in May. His essay “Poemani’a:
and was asked by the International Writing Center Algunas reflexiones accera del bicentenario en Ame’rica”
Association to be a proposal reviewer for the 2010 appeared in a Spanish literary magazine, Barcarola:
International Writing Center Association Conference. Revista de Creacio’n Literaria, in June. He spent the
She also presented a paper, “Ecocomposition and summer researching mid-nineteenth-century crime
the Writing Center,” at the European Writing Center novels with senior English major Lauren Swing, funded
Association Conference in Paris, France (2010). The by a SURF grant.
conference, hosted by the American University of Paris,
This has been a big year for Alison Piepmeier.
was attended by writing center representatives from
The Women’s and Gender Studies major made it
22 countries not only from Europe but also South 21 through the entire state system and will go into