News from the Division of Languages and Literature

Distinguished Writer in Residence Francine Prose reviews David Yaffe’s Reckless Daughter: A Portrait of Joni Mitchell.

Mendelsohn weaves Homer's epic with episodes from his own life in a book of "shimmering, beautiful, dapple-skilled intelligence" about his relationship with his father.

Chinua Achebe—an icon of African literature and beloved professor at Bard—was recognized with a Google Doodle on Thursday, November 16, on what would have been his 87th birthday.

Conjunctions:69, Being Bodies—the latest issue of the innovative literary magazine published by Bard College—is an exploration of the complex circumstances of flesh-and-blood existence. A memoir of distance running counterpoints a meditation on resurrection. The story of an injury is juxtaposed with an uncommonly candid confession of a young man who struggles with gender identity and sexual orientation. In every contribution come fresh insights into what it means to inhabit our bodies for a brief moment in time. Edited by Conjunctions editor, novelist, and Bard literature professor Bradford Morrow, Being Bodies features new work from Mary Caponegro, Edward Carey, Rachel Blau DuPlessis, Nomi Eve, Michael Ives, Carole Maso, Rick Moody, Kyoko Mori, Dina Nayeri, Stephen O’Connor, Peter Orner, Jorge Ángel Pérez, Rosamond Purcell, Sallie Tisdale, Anne Waldman, and others.

On Monday, November 13, celebrated fantasy writer and critic Elizabeth Hand reads from her fiction collection Saffron and Brimstone. The Washington Post writes, "Hand's work is pulsing with tension throughout, charged with its own chilling luminosity." Hand will be introduced by novelist and Bard literature professor Bradford Morrow.

Writer in Residence Wyatt Mason examines how the classicist Emily Wilson has given Homer’s epic a radically contemporary voice.

On Monday, October 30, celebrated author Diane Ackerman will read from The Zookeeper’s Wife at Bard College. This little-known true story of World War II enjoyed months as the New York Times No. 1 nonfiction bestseller, was the basis for a 2017 feature film of the same title, and received the Orion Book Award, which honored it as “a groundbreaking work of nonfiction, in which the human relationship to nature is explored in an absolutely original way through looking at the Holocaust.” Ackerman will be introduced by novelist and Bard literature professor Bradford Morrow. The reading, presented as part of Morrow’s Innovative Contemporary Fiction Reading (ICFR) series, takes place at 2:30 p.m. at Weis Cinema in the Bertelsmann Campus Center and will be followed by a Q&A. It is free and open to the public; no reservations are required.

Author Carmen Maria Machado has received the Bard Fiction Prize for her debut short story collection, Her Body and Other Parties. In the collection, long-listed for the 2017 National Book Award and a finalist for the Kirkus Prize, Machado shapes startling, genre-bending narratives that map the realities of women’s lives and the violence visited upon their bodies. Machado’s residency at Bard College is for the fall 2018 semester, during which time she will continue her writing, meet informally with students, and give a public reading.

What happens when Professor Daniel Mendelsohn's 81-year-old father enrolls in his Odyssey seminar at Bard? The author discusses his new memoir on Friday, October 20.

Professor Emeritus John Ashbery passed away last month. Here, Ann Lauterbach shares her 2011 introduction of the poet upon receipt of his National Book Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award.

On September 27, Stephen King and Owen King spoke at Bard about their new novel, Sleeping Beauties. Heather Fazio talks about the excellent rapport of the father-son writing team.

Professor Luc Sante writes about the impact of groundbreaking poet and Bard professor emeritus John Ashbery, who passed away earlier this month.

On September 27, father-son team Stephen and Owen King discuss their new novel, Sleeping Beauties, at the Fisher Center.

The Prague Sonata is "an elegant foray into music and memory." Morrow discusses the new book with Professor Mary Caponegro at Bard on October 2.

Bard professor Daniel Mendelsohn's new memoir, An Odyssey: A Father, a Son and an Epic, recalls the semester his father decided to join his Odyssey seminar at Bard.

On Monday, September 25, American Book Award–winning poet, memoirist, journalist, and Miles Davis biographer Quincy Troupe will read from his work at Bard College. 

Wyatt Mason on translating the works of the French writer Pierre Michon.

Writers remember acclaimed poet and Bard professor emeritus John Ashbery, including professors Anselm Berrigan and Robert Kelly, professor emerita Joan Retallack, and alumnus Andrew Durbin '12.

Tania Ketenjian '98 looks back on studying with Professor John Ashbery, who died on Sunday at the age of 90.

Adam Begley has crafted a judicious biography of portraitist Félix Tournachon (or Nadar) filled with "character and incident," emulating Nadar's own reverence for his subjects.

"Never had I felt so accepted." Tyler Williams recalls transferring to Bard High School Early College, where he cultivated the tools to express ideas about ethnicity, religion, and morality.

Critic and Professor Daniel Mendelsohn examines the evocations of class, muddled family histories, and traces of autobiography in the novels of Sybille Bedford.

Philosophy and Literature editor Garry Hagberg talks about the groundbreaking journal and the types of scholarship it regularly features. Hagberg discusses how the journal delves into questions of human motivation, ethical concerns and the power of language.

Bard College alumna Charlotte Mandell ’90 has been named one of six finalists for the 2017 Man Booker International Prize, which celebrates the finest works of translated fiction from around the world.

“Luc Sante’s nonfiction book is a brilliant history of low life in the city. It was much celebrated when it came out and should still be, because it’s really a classic—valuable for anybody who wants to write books, wants to write novels, wants to know about New York City . . . " writes Colin Harrison for the Village Voice.

Renowned author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has been awarded the Mary McCarthy Prize for her novels and charismatic public presence.

Charles Ranlett Flint Professor of Humanities at Bard College Daniel Mendelsohn recounts the time he spent in his twenties living with an older French woman who made him a writer.

Last week, the New York Times previewed the performance.

Bard College student C Mandler has won an inaugural GLAAD Rising Star Grant. The GLAAD Rising Stars program empowers and invests in the next generation of LGBTQ change makers, whose advocacy is changing their local communities and the culture at large.

Bard College students have won several highly competitive awards for international travel including two Thomas J. Watson Fellowships, four Fulbright grants, and a Davis Projects for Peace prize.

"Whatever it is that I wrote yesterday or write today is going to be another inquiry into the question, 'What is a poem?'" Ann Lauterbach talks with Camille Guthrie.

Justus Rosenberg will receive the Legion of Honor medal at the French consulate in New York City on Thursday, March 30. Professor Rosenberg, Bard professor emeritus of languages and literature and visiting professor of literature, is the last surviving member of the Varian Fry group, which helped rescue hundreds of artists and intellectuals from Nazi-occupied France during World War II. He later joined the Forces Francaises de I'Interieur and the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation organization. The medal recognizes his "selfless sacrifice" throughout the war and subsequent "outstanding academic career ... where you left a profound mark and remain a highly influential role model for thousands of young men and women beginning their adult lives. It comes in recognition of the high esteem in which you are held by French authorities, and serves as an example to all those who have French-American friendship at heart."

The essays in Teju Cole's new collection "are brilliantly written—sharp, intelligent—and yield a pleasurable sweetness."

Legendary editor Robert B. Silvers died on March 20 at the age of 87 after 54 years at the helm of the New York Review of Books.

Writer in Residence Porochista Khakpour writes about marking Nowruz, the Persian New Year, in a political climate that is hostile to Muslims.

Professor in the Arts Neil Gaiman and Executive Producer Bryan Fuller discuss moving from page to screen for the forthcoming Starz television series American Gods, adapted from Gaiman’s best-selling novel. The event takes place on Saturday, April 15 at 7:30 p.m., and includes an exclusive preview of the first episode of the new television series ahead of its premiere on the Starz network.

Bard Fisher Center Presents an Evening with Neil Gaiman and American Gods (Bard.edu)
Neil Gaiman to Discuss American Gods (Poughkeepsie Journal)
 

Writer in Residence Wyatt Mason discusses Emmanuel Carrère’s reinvention of nonfiction writing, his unique narrative style, and the methods of his masterpieces.

Professor Luzzi was interviewed at Harvard University about his book A Cinema of Poetry: Aesthetics of the Italian Art Film, as part of their De Bosis Colloquium in Italian Studies.

Professor Luzzi will give a lecture entitled "From Twain to Toni Morrison: A Literary Journey through America" as part of the esteemed and longstanding Lowell Lecture Series.

Voltaire thought Shakespeare a "drunken savage," and Mencken dismissed Gatsby as a "glorified anecdote." Professor Luzzi on how even the great critics miss the mark.

"College campuses are the only homes my father and I have ever had; they are the places that bridge our hyphenated identities," writes Visiting Writer in Residence Porochista Khakpour.

Distinguished Writer in Residence Francine Prose calls for a national strike to respond to recent executive actions, as a more disruptive and effective method than a demonstration.

Fulbright scholar Jane Wong reflects on "tangled familial relationships and the lingering influences of immigrant parents in poems replete with images of nature, insects, food and people."