Matthew Levay

I get similar requests, and also find it overwhelming.

Tarot card image of the empress with a crown of stars. Text reads Weird Modernisms BAMS/ MSA 1- 4 July 2026 Loughborough University, UK

In 2026, the MSA Conference will look a bit different-- weird, even! That's because we're having a joint conference with BAMS @modernistudies.bsky.social in Loughborough, UK from July 1- 4, 2026. The CFP will be out soon! But in the meantime, please save the date.

Once again I’ve been reminded that thoughtful, incisive, and timely readers’ reports are an absolute force for good.

White fence running along a paved path, with dry pastures and a mountain range in the distance.

Shallow riverbed with rocks, small waterfalls, trees, and a rope to swing over the river to the other bank.

Sights from the running trail, today used for dog walking.

Copy of Eike Exner’s book Manga: A New History of Japanese Comics

Pre-ordering books is always the way to go, one reason being the unexpected joy of finding something you’d ordered months ago waiting for you at the bookstore.

So sorry to hear this.

Copy of Grant Morrison and Duncan Fegredo’s Kid Eternity (1991)

One day I’ll write that essay on ‘90s aesthetics as filtered through the lens of Vertigo Comics, and this kind of book will be exhibit A.

Outdoor performance of Henry V, near sunset, on a stage in front of a brick building.

Outdoor performance of As You Like It, featuring a large audience, huge elm trees, and a stage in front of a large brick building.

My favorite part of every summer: Montana Shakespeare in the Parks comes to Pocatello. Support public arts programs—a common good, open to all.

This is a fascinating piece in modernist periodical studies, and for me a timely one. Lately I’ve been reading the early Gasoline Alley comic strips, and one storyline centers on all the characters becoming obsessed with the new crossword puzzle fad.

I vividly remember watching all of these on Nick at Nite, and finding them strangely fascinating. LA friends: go to this and tell me how they hold up!

My favorite player. As a kid I often rooted for the Cubs over my home team (the Reds) solely because I could watch him on WGN every afternoon when I came home from school. No one else could look so effortless while giving every play everything he had.

Registration for the 2025 MSA Conference is now open! If you didn't have a chance to submit a paper this year, there's still a chance to participate by registering for a seminar. Seminars are a great opportunity to get feedback on drafts. Seminar topics can be found here:

Important correction! Early registration rates for the MSA 2025 Conference in Boston will be available until August 31. Please make a note of this! We'll send reminders too.

Looking up into the sky, through a cluster of evergreen trees

View of an evergreen-filled mountain range in the distance, with an array of green shrubs in the foreground. In the Caribou National Forest.

Glad to live right next to a National Forest, which makes a spontaneous camping trip easy. Public lands for all, forever.

My father introduced me to Tom Lehrer’s music when I was far too young, which is also the perfect time for it. Goodbye to a favorite.

This graduate mentoring program designed by @jessmasters.bsky.social is a new MSA initiative, and I wish existed when I was a grad student. Pass it along to any graduate students working in modernism or modernist-adjacent fields, like the Harlem Renaissance, 20th-century studies, etc.

Finally, the MSA Board is excited to announce a new graduate mentoring program! Graduate student MSA members have the opportunity to be paired with a senior faculty member for one-on-one mentoring sessions. More info can be found when you register for the conference. @jessmasters.bsky.social

Registration for MSA 2025 in Boston is now open! Register here before Sept. 20 for the reduced rate: www.moderniststudies.org/conference/M...

It would be hard to do, but if someone were to write a history of soap opera comic strips, I would be the first person in line to buy it.

Posy Simmonds is one of my favorites. You won’t be disappointed!

Just learned that there is a BlueSky account devoted to neckties in film noir, and if this isn’t the greatest possible use of social media, I don’t know what is.

For those who (wisely) check social media only in the evening:

Thanks, Pat!

Also, feel free to smash that preorder button.

The New Old Style - Nebraska Press

The New Old Style now has a page on the @univnebpress.bsky.social website! Stay tuned for updates.

Five year old looks out a window at sunset over a mountain valley

This weekend my five-year-old and I stayed at a Basque sheep herder wagon just below our local ski hill. It was so magical — sunset, stars, deer, hawks, the smell of sagebrush and a cool breeze that still carries a little snow chill, all with one of my favorite people.

Larry McMurtry, seated, in jeans and cowboy boots, in the middle of a cluttered office

Larry McMurtry, seated, in a sweater, jeans, and cowboy boots, in a bookstore.

Apropos of nothing: Larry McMurtry, style icon.

The Book Proposal Book A step-by-step guide to crafting a compelling scholarly book proposal—and seeing your book through to successful publication

To add to the good suggestions you’ve already received, this book could be of interest:

Reading Scenario Experiments. This series of prompts is designed to get you thinking about how the setting for reading affects concentration, comprehension, and even the existential experience of reading. Every week, one of the following prompts will appear on the syllabus. I encourage you to try all of them that you are able. How does a different reading setting affect your mood? Your receptiveness to the prose? Your pleasure or difficulty reading? What are the particular impacts of changing your lighting or surroundings? What do you notice about yourself and about the work you are reading during this experiment? 1. read by candlelight (use a small lamp in dorms where no candles are allowed!) 2. read for one hour without checking any devices, answering texts, etc. 3. walk out into nature (climb a tree, sit on a rock, grab a spot in a hammock) and read 4. host a reading night with friends & food (sit in companionable silence, reading without chatting) 5. read aloud a chapter to someone else 6. climb into bed at night and read by flashlight under the covers for at least 30 minutes, as if you’ve already been told “lights out” as a kid 7. reread a chapter and see what new things you notice the second time through 8. change your ambient-noise level: add music if you normally read in the quiet; or read without music if you are normally a music-listener 9. read with a sketchpad at hand and sketch scenes, characters, or other elements from the story 10. practice focused listening: have someone read to you 11. make yourself a special, fancy snack on a real plate to nibble while eating: pay attention to the cooking or arranging or choosing of ingredients to make it especially appetizing first 12. make tea (even if you’re not usually a tea drinker), and read and sip 13. invent a new reading scenario for yourself, or repeat the one you liked the best from this term [writing assignment using these prompts follows; text character limit prevents inclusion of it in full]

Here you go! I'll write some new ones for this semester too. They loved them. The "read without your phone or screens in the room" was a revelation, and many of them decided to keep doing it. They had NO IDEA (& were horrified) how often they interrupt themselves to look at a phone for no reason.

Really enjoyed this piece on Wes Anderson’s late style.