My New Book!

My New Book!
My New Book!

Friday, December 22, 2023

December 22, 2023: Fall Semester Finds: Douglas Stuart from an MA Thesis

[For my annual Fall semester reflections series, I wanted to share some of the new texts and ideas I encountered this semester. I’d love to hear things you discovered or rediscovered this Fall in comments!]

Two years ago, at the start of the Fall 2021 semester, I took over as the Chair of our Graduate English Program at Fitchburg State, in the midst of the crises of enrollment and sustainability about which I wrote in this post. We’ve worked throughout those two years to address those issues and grow our program and continue to do so this Fall, and I’d certainly love for you all to help spread the word to anyone who might be interested in completing an online English Studies MA (and/or our newly created Creative Writing Certificate). I have lots of selfless reasons for wanting the program to survive and grow, but also selfishly I learn so much from our grad students, and perhaps especially from the many with whom I’ve been able to work on their MA Thesis. I’m advising one such Thesis this semester, from the phenomenal student and teacher Heather Ferguson who’s working on representations of LGBTQ+ identities in the works of William Shakespeare and Douglas Stuart. I had never heard of Stuart before Heather began this work, and have greatly appreciated the chance to connect with his two novels, which do indeed portray LGBTQ+ identities in thoughtful ways but are also and especially just great 21st century literary works. Want to explore such works in your own graduate studies, or know someone who does? Maybe FSU’s Graduate English program is the spot for you!

Spring preview post this weekend,

Ben

PS. What do you think? Other Fall finds you’d share?


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