[A couple weekends back I was in Niagara Falls for the 54th annual Northeast Modern Language Association Convention. Longtime readers will know well how much I love NeMLA, the organization and the convention alike, and this year was no exception. So as usual, here are a handful of reflections on a great NeMLA convention!]
Somebody’s
got to present on Sunday morning at a multi-day conference like NeMLA, but it
sure is a tough time slot (especially at NeMLA, where it runs right up against
the Sunday Member Brunch that is a conference highlight); and apparently one on
which my FSU English Studies colleague and friend Elise
Takehana has found herself multiple years in a row. So I was very glad to
be able to get to the Sunday morning roundtable on Women “Writing” Beyond the
Page that featured Elise’s talk on a pair of experimental, compelling short
books about/using maps. As she did again with her FSU Harrod Lecture last week
on “Database and Algorithm as Literary Infrastructure,” Elise’s NeMLA talk
challenged me to rethink what I consider literature, as well as how literary
and cultural works work. I go to NeMLA every year for all sorts of reasons, as
I hope these posts (like all my NeMLA reflections over the years) have made
clear—but thinking and rethinking are always among them, and I’m never
disappointed!
Special
post on scholarly organizations this weekend,
Ben
PS. If you
were at NeMLA, I’d love to hear your reflections too!
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