Month: April 2016

Reflections on the 2016 College Language Association Conference

Last week, I attended the College Language Association’s (CLA) 2016 conference in Houston, TX. While there, I presented on Paul Laurence Dunbar’s Dayton Tattler and the role of the press in Dunbar’s writing. While that, in and of itself, made the conference something worthwhile for me professionally, I experienced things that I have only encountered at a few other academic gatherings. Yes, I heard … Read More Reflections on the 2016 College Language Association Conference

Suffocation and Concealment through Dust in Faulkner’s "Dry September"

After writing about Ellen Glasgow’s “Jordan’s End,” I picked up William Faulkner’s “Dry September” (1931). While not necessarily in the exact same narrative vein, Faulkner’s story, as with his other works, highlight the ideas of the Southern Gothic, specifically a place of suffocating oppression that does not resemble the idyllic region that authors sought to “recapture” after Reconstruction during the latter part of the … Read More Suffocation and Concealment through Dust in Faulkner’s "Dry September"

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Paul Laurence Dunbar’s "The Love of Landry" and Civilization

Recently, while preparing for the 2016 College Language Association Conference, I went back and looked at more of Paul Laurence Dunbar’s writings. I examined some of his newspaper articles, short stories, and The Love of Landry (1900). During his career, Dunbar wrote four novels, and three of them focused on white, not African American, characters. The Love of Landry was Dunbar’s second novel, and … Read More Paul Laurence Dunbar’s "The Love of Landry" and Civilization