Ghost Literature from Morrison to Nguyen

Course Description From Hamlet to Turn of the Screw, the ghost has been a consistent part of literatures written in the English language. What appeals about them depends upon who you ask and about which era or movement you inquire. Unlike previous eras, in contemporary times, ghosts are figures that most think are likely notContinue reading Ghost Literature from Morrison to Nguyen

The Diasporic Aesthetic: Spectral Knowing in Viet Thanh Nguyen’s ‘Black-Eyed Women’

This was originally presented at the MELUS conference in Cincinnati, OH 2019 Introduction             The first story in Viet Thanh Nguyen’s collection The Refugees is entitled “Black-Eyed Women.” A thirty-eight-year-old ghost-writer and her mother, two Vietnamese refugees living in America, are visited by the son of the family. The ghost-writing protagonist has a specialty inContinue reading “The Diasporic Aesthetic: Spectral Knowing in Viet Thanh Nguyen’s ‘Black-Eyed Women’”

The Polemics of Andrew Piper’s Enumerations

This is in response to Andrew Piper’s new book Enumerations: Data and Literary Study (Univ of Chicago Press, Aug 2018). Piper’s characterization of literary studies does not hold up to contemporary literary studies (of which he is a part). He only uses examples from Auerbach and Barthes. While both of these are mammoth names in literaryContinue reading “The Polemics of Andrew Piper’s Enumerations”

Form(s) and Ideology: Thinking Through the Diaspora in Gaiutra Bahadur’s Coolie Woman

The Water Lily This article began, perhaps, when a fellow graduate student asked of our Intro to Literary Theory class “what is it about the form of the assemblage that makes it useful to think through minoritized or marginalized identities?” Or perhaps this article began at a small conference where I presented a paper onContinue reading “Form(s) and Ideology: Thinking Through the Diaspora in Gaiutra Bahadur’s Coolie Woman”

The Sentence Queers Modernism: What Belongs to You by Garth Greenwell

The review in The New Yorker of Garth Greenwell’s first novel What Belongs To You argues the whole novel reads like a single sentence and calls the text Woolfian.[1] To consider this prescription on its own terms, the present essay (1) thinks through what the Modernist sentence was, (2) asks whether Greenwell’s novel develops a/theContinue reading “The Sentence Queers Modernism: What Belongs to You by Garth Greenwell”

Toward a Queer/Blind Poetics: Kathi Wolfe’s Love and Kumquats

Kathi Wolfe. Love and Kumquats: New and Selected Poems. Baltimore, MD: BrickHouse Books Inc., 2019. Reviewed by Preston Taylor Stone, originally published in the South Carolina Review (52.2 – Spring 2020) Kathi Wolfe writes in SCR 51.2, “Poetry emerges not only from the body (our physical, sensory, emotional, loving, sexy, dying bodies) but out ofContinue reading “Toward a Queer/Blind Poetics: Kathi Wolfe’s Love and Kumquats”

American Ghost Literature from Morrison to Nguyen

Course: LIT 2000Course Title: Introduction to LiteratureCourse Credits: 3 hrsInstructor: Preston Taylor StoneInstructor email: pstone@mdc.edu Course Description From Hamlet to Turn of the Screw, the ghost has been a consistent part of literatures written in the English language. What appeals about them depends upon who you ask and about which era or movement you inquire.Continue reading “American Ghost Literature from Morrison to Nguyen”

Marxism in America

History, Theory, Culture Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI). Summer 1-2, 2022 Course Title: Marxism in America: History, Theory, CultureDuration: 12 WeeksCourse: Spring 1 and 2 of 2022Dates: Jan 14-April 15 (with break Feb 19-March 6)Time: Fridays 3:00pm-4:45pm Course Description: Contrary to popular belief, socialist ideas are not new to the American political scene. Throughout American history, thereContinue reading “Marxism in America”

The Ghosts of American Imperialism

Institution: University of MiamiCourse: English Composition II Course Credits: 3 hrsInstructor: Preston Taylor Stone Email: ptstone@miami.edu Office Hours: By appt. (Zoom) Policies & Expectations Assignments Course Schedule Course Description This course begins with a queer ghost story set in the Caribbean: Haiti, where the United States staked formal occupation from 1915-1934. Yet, many argue theContinue reading “The Ghosts of American Imperialism”

Introduction to Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS)

Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI). Spring 1-2. 2021 Course Title: “Introduction to Native American and Indigenous Studies”Duration: 12 WeeksCourse: Spring 1 and 2 of 2022Dates: Jan 14-April 15 (with break Feb 19-March 6)Time: Fridays 3:00pm-4:45pm Course Description:As the Native American and Global Indigenous Studies (NAGIS) program at the University of Miami is still in its preliminary phasesContinue reading “Introduction to Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS)”