Douglas Dowland

Ooh!

Status: imprisoned on the recliner.

I think I once received a peer review report that said the exact same.

And that’s a dish that will get better each day!

Recently I told students about this. First, they thought I was kidding. Second, they immediately understood the power differentials and innate creepiness of it all.

I initially misread this as “will to powerwash” which makes me wonder how he’d use one of those things.

This week I learned how to derail the medical humanities class by asking students to name their least favorite organ.

Wow, that is some purple prose!

I was recently chided by my students about just this!

Grr!

I sent you a chat but I didn't ask for any BS. I can text you instead!

"From Joy to Joy in German" is a terrific book title!

The books for Literature and Medicine next semester.

Next semester's reading in the Medical Humanities course.

The majors have informed me that their Halloween reading list includes Angela Carter, Oscar Wilde, Poe, Mary Shelley, and my second book(?).

Writing Through Writer’s Block

It's pub day (birthday 0?) for Writing Through Writer's Block: Lessons from Modern American Fiction! This is a study of how authors have used the archetype of the blocked writer to identify, analyze, and ultimately work through both internal and external constraints on their creative abilities.

That my review is #3 @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social suggests that the strategies (and politics) of reading continue to fascinate.

I think they will enjoy it!

As someone who is wrapping up a unit on Dalloway in the intro lit crit class -- ROFL.

The close reader and text relationship gone askew.

Part of the author's contract with LARB reads that they may pursue "dramatic film and television, stage plays, non-dramatic productions, and web series" derived from the author's work. So now I'm trying to imagine what "Close Reading: The Netflix Series" might look like.

Your Miller/Austen essay is one of my personal favs in a really strong collection. The more I think about it, the more I think the book came at exactly the right time.

Painful Forms In the wake of World War II, Americans struggled to grasp the shifting scale of violence brought on by the nuclear era. To grapple with the overwhelming suff...

It’s the official publication day for Painful Forms! I’m so pleased to see the book out in the world and grateful forever to @uncpress.bsky.social for making that happen. uncpress.org/978146968894...

And here's the first review of Close Reading for the Twenty-First Century, from @profdgd.bsky.social in @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social
lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-...

"Instead of mystery, Sinykin and Winant see possibility: to them, close reading is a practice that anyone can learn."

I'm really grateful for @profdgd.bsky.social 's extremely thoughtful review in @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social today

as he writes -- "It’s enough to make the heart skip a beat."

The cover of "Close Reading for the Twenty-First Century" over a teal background

"The finished product of a close reading exudes confidence, obscuring how much of close reading is uncertainty." @profdgd.bsky.social on "Close Reading for the Twenty-First Century." https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-problem-of-the-parlor/

And then proofread again once changes are posted!

In Monday's Los Angeles Review of Books.

In my mailbox today, a book well worth reading.

Page proofs!