Examines the nature of humor and jokes. Considers the benefits of humor in public moments. Analyzes aspects of humor that may determine its efficacy. (HB)

Discusses the career and achievement of the British writer Matthew Arnold. Focuses on Arnold's status as a symbol of conservatism in the current culture wars. Argues for a recuperation of a true representation of Arnold's achievement. Illustrates the dangers of misrepresenting major literary figures invoked in cultural disputes. (HB)

Argues that the work of translating the Old English poem, "Beowulf," has yielded an artistic work of the literary imagination that, although far different from the work of the original poet, is compelling for readers of today. Outlines numerous problems of translating the work. (HB)

Discusses negative stereotyping of the public or others in the profession of two-year college educators. Defines the open-admissions student and the emphasis on the "introductory" elements as a mission of transformation. Encourages working together towards a common goal of achievement in the profession of English Studies by crossing the border…

Discusses how the rise of a culture of professionalism--and the attitudes, institutions, and interests that separate and define those within a profession from others--has been of great interest to historians and sociologists, and also to professors of literature. Draws attention to the ways in which professionalization channels discord into a few…

Presents an introduction to several articles in this issue that address the place of personal writing in professional contexts. Aims to clarify the myriad denotations of "the personal" in academic discourse and to suggest viable criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of personal writing's contributions to knowledge-making in English studies.…

A comparison between composition and literature is presented in Harriet Malinowitz's "Business, Pleasure, and the Personal Essay". The importance of praising and analyzing various interpretations of a text to English studies is emphasized.

The teacher's authority in matters of interpretation comes from his greater experience as a reader--and he does students a disservice if he does not exercise that authority. (JH)

Our system of teaching language makes most native speakers feel insecure in their own usages. (JH)

Discusses how students' strained metaphors and odd juxtapositions in writing literary analysis papers can reveal fresh perspectives on the literature being studied. (DD)

Discusses the contributions to the teaching of composition made by Fred Newton Scott, founder of the Department of Rhetoric at the University of Michigan in 1903. (DD)

Poetry ought to be taught as being sensitive, decreative, prophetic, speculative, expressive, irreducible, open-ended, and a teller of dark tales. (DD)

Distressing the classics can be avoided by avoiding three biases in the most commonly taught research program for literary historiography: (1) the bias of bibliography; (2) the bias of antiquarianism; and (3) the bias against social and behavioral sciences. Successful interpretation of text is possible when recognized as being context-dependent,…

Argues that the study of literature has been stripped of its usefulness and purely theoretical while the study of rhetoric has been stripped of theory and reduced to practical, applied stylistics. (SRT)

Explores the process that led to the isolation of rhetoric and poetics in English Departments, an isolation resulting in the sanctification of poetics and a corresponding denigration of rhetoric. (EL)