The second piece in the series is a review by Jonathan Shelley of the Berkeley Rep’s production of Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, which won the 2013 Tony Award for Best Play.
Lauren Mueller details the founding of the English department’s first undergraduate academic journal, The Folio.
In a new series for the blog, we ask current graduate students with an interest in theater to review select local plays. The first piece in the series is a review by Alek Jeziorek of the Shotgun Players’ performance of Bonnie & Clyde.
READ MORE Bonnie and Clyde: On the Run with the Shotgun Players at Ashby Stage
Bradford Taylor, a graduate student in the department, recently opened a wine shop and bar in Oakland called Ordinaire. To celebrate the occasion, we asked him to write a piece for us about his interest in wine and the experience of opening the shop.
In 2012-13, the English Department hosted Joyce Carol Oates, whose usual home is Princeton, as a visiting professor. While here, she taught a creative writing workshop on “short fiction” to a very lucky group of undergraduates. Our own Donald McQuade recently had the opportunity to interview Oates about her experience teaching and writing at Berkeley.
READ MORE Teaching and Writing at Berkeley: An Interview with Joyce Carol Oates
Professor Scott Saul’s recent New York Times op-ed (“The Humanities in Decline? Not at Most Schools”) actually began as a post written for our humble blog. When the New York Times expressed interest in Saul’s piece, the editors of the blog happily ceded our claim on it to the Times op-ed page. We now see the value in publishing what didn’t make it into the version published by the Times, and so are sharing Saul’s original post.
READ MORE The English Major, Secretly Resilient: The Case of UC-Berkeley
Recently, graduate student Joe Albernaz had the opportunity to talk with Professor Steven Goldsmith about his new book, Blake’s Agitation: Criticism and the Emotions. The result was a lively interview on William Blake, affect theory, and critical “enthusiasm.”
READ MORE Critical Agitations: An Interview with Steven Goldsmith
We had the chance to catch up with Kerri Majors (’98) recently about her new book for young adult writers. The conversation ended up meandering across a number of different topics, including the current boom in college writing and MFA programs, why writers should buy planners, and Majors’s own writerly biography. It contains a lot of advice for young writers, and plenty to interest writers and readers of all ages.
Below is a reflection from Bonnie Kim (’13), finalist for this year’s Bronson Prize, on her work with Isaac Asimov’s robot novels.
READ MORE Robot Anatomy: Bonnie Kim’s Adventures with Isaac Asimov
On average, the English Department graduates between 300 and 400 majors every year–in 2012-13, the specific number was 375. These people go on to a variety of surprising and exciting careers. In this new series, we ask alumni to talk to us about where English has taken them.
READ MORE Alumni Stories: Sylvia Gonzales Discusses her Passion for Teaching
In response to his recent op-ed in the NY Times, Professor Scott Saul received a number of missives from alums of the department and from far-flung acquaintances. In this post, he opens his mailbag for our perusal.
A reflection on the surprisingly close relationship between bicycles and books during the first half of the 20th century.
At the end of every spring semester, the English Department awards the Bronson Prize to the graduating senior, whose thesis is deemed the best that year. In 2013, it looks like we couldn’t choose: both Stephanie Ranks and Lily Rosenthal received the prize. Remarkably, both wrote on 17th-century poet John Milton. In separate reflections, Stephanie and Lily discuss the pleasures and difficulties of reading and writing about Milton.
READ MORE Why Milton?: Reflections from the Winners of the Bertrand H. Bronson Prize
On average, the English Department graduates between 300 and 400 majors every year–in 2012-13, the number was 375. These people go on to a variety of surprising and exciting careers. In this new series, we ask alumni to talk to us about where English has taken them.
READ MORE Alumni Stories: Whitney Magruder Talks about the Ups and Downs of Editing
Sixth in the series is Christian Durán (’13), whose senior honors thesis — “Reconciling Daniel Venegas: Las Aventuras de Don Chipote in the Balance of History” — was recently recognized with an honorable mention from the Undergraduate Library Prize, one of Berkeley’s most distinguished awards for undergraduate research.
