Courtney Weiss Smith

@maazamengiste.bsky.social @douglasarthur.bsky.social

We are hiring a tenure track poet! I’m so excited / spread the word… wesleyan.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/career...

being in Indonesia and having a perfect breakfast is not going to go wasted on me which is why I’m telling you about it… :)

Close Reading for the Twenty-First Century A user’s guide to the fundamental practice of literary studies, providing context, examples, and practical exercises

in CLOSE READING FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY, @dan-sinnamon.bsky.social and I wrote a 36 page three-part introduction: What Close Reading Is, What Close Reading Does, and What Close Reading Has Been

30 pages of it is now online at @princetonupress.bsky.social

press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...

Omg!

Me too!

For some reason the tube at the back of the eyeball is sending me…

I’m feeling pretty obsessed by @publicdomainrev.bsky.social / CP Cranch’s “literal renderings” of Emerson’s figures. The transparent eyeball! publicdomainreview.org/collection/c...

Thanks! Also hahahaha you could tag yourself in the pile! 😂🤓

Ugh I’m sorry for you, because I very much know how unpleasant it is—like the most stressful fugue state!

Bwahahahahaha <sigh>

Hahaha BUT WHICH ONE DAVE?!

MAYBE I NEED MORE BOOKS! MAYBE THIS WOULD GO SMOOTHER IF I ADDED TEN MORE! 😂

Writing the introduction to my book and basically trying to be reading and citing all of these books at the same time; gotta keep them all right next to me so I can delusionally attempt to simultaneously treat all of them in coherent sentences, going poorly…

It would be fascinating to see how far back we could trace this particular thread… (I wish, like one of the Fates, I had the power to snip it off soon!)

Cleanth Brooks writing about “the much advertised demise of the Humanities” in 1947 😳

I have more half baked thoughts too. Are you writing on Gray? More people should write on Gray!

But more associatively it occurred to me that some of the most canonical scholarship on the poem is precisely about what it *naturalizes*—so there might be a fascinating way of rereading some of the classic readings (Empson and Kaul eg) pushing on *nature* in a different way…

(I see Tess Somervell has an essay in it—and she was one of the first names that popped into my head, wondering if she had written on Gray…)

Thomas Gray among the Disciplines Throughout the 250 years that have passed since Thomas Gray’s death, he has primarily been celebrated as a poet. This makes sense because, although he published relatively little verse, he published l...

Well my first thought was to wonder if this edited collection I heard about is out—and it is! The essays here will definitely help! www.routledge.com/Thomas-Gray-...

Did you get no hits on this? I have lots of thoughts on this but they are more of an associative swirl than a proper answer. I also would be fascinated to know if someone had a proper easy recent answer…

say it again:

4 million people work in higher ed, the largest employer in 10 states, second largest employer in 10 more, and in 60 of the 100 biggest cities

ROI for NIH and NSF for local economies is conservatively 4x, often close to 10x

demolishing higher education is economic sabotage

Ava DuVernay poses on a blue floral carpet at a formal event, wearing a dramatic black-and-white gown with a full skirt and horizontal silver stripes, a white blouse-style bodice with puffed sleeves, a black wide-brimmed hat, and a netted veil. Her hands are on her hips as she stands confidently in front of a floral backdrop and photographers. Overlaid on the image is the book cover for Work! A Queer History of Modeling by Elspeth H. Brown, featuring a black-and-white photo of a poised Black model in a sheer, striped gown with outstretched arms.

Ayo Edebiri stands smiling on a floral blue carpet at a formal event, wearing a striking black-and-white gown with a dramatic deep V neckline and an eye-catching red beaded design that loops around her neck and drapes down the front in a large U-shape. She pairs the look with a black floor-length coat with wide lapels and extended train-like sleeves. Behind her, photographers and onlookers are gathered near a wall of white flowers. Overlaid on the image is the book cover for Good Night the Pleasure Was Ours by David Grubbs, featuring a bold, abstract image of concentric black and red arcs on a white background above a stylized cityscape with train cars.

Cardi B poses on a floral blue carpet at a high-profile event, wearing an opulent green velvet coat dress with intricate textures, beaded details, and ruffled trim in a slightly lighter green. The coat is open at the front to reveal black trousers or a skirt underneath, and she accessorizes with a dramatic afro hairstyle and a white flower brooch. She stands confidently against a backdrop of cameras and floral arrangements. Overlaid on the image is the book cover for Black Gathering: Art, Ecology, Ungiven Life by Sarah Jane Cervenak, featuring a ser ene photo of a Black woman standing in a shallow stream surrounded by lush greenery, wearing a green-and-white patterned dress and casting a fishing line, with forested hills rising in the background.

Chappell Roan poses on a floral-patterned blue carpet at a formal event, wearing a vibrant, hot pink sequined pantsuit with a bold zigzag pattern. The flared pants have dramatic slits at the bottom, and the fitted jacket features a plunging neckline. Her voluminous red hair and theatrical eye makeup complete the striking look. Behind her, other attendees and photographers can be seen. Overlaid on the image is the book cover for The Queer Games Avant-Garde: How LGBTQ Game Makers Are Reimagining the Medium of Video Games by Bonnie Ruberg, featuring bold yellow and pink typography and an illustrated anthropomorphic figure in a dress with a snarling wolf head held aloft, dripping blood, in a surreal, graphic art style.

Who Wore It Better, Met Gala 2025 celebrities or Duke University Press book covers?
Ava DuVernay or Work! by Elspeth H. Brown? #MetGala

Salvator Rosa, 1641

The muse of poetry, looking appropriately un-chill.

I do a course on science and literature, roughly Bacon to Frankenstein. I’ve done this ‘history of vax’ day before—your essay and one on the origins of inoculation globally, plus writing by Montagu and the Gilroy print. Students get it into it!

Detail of image from Gilray: www.themorgan.org/blog/cow-poc...

Assigned @travisclau.bsky.social ‘s wonderful essay about Edward Jenner!

Fun etymology in class today as we talk about how the word “vaccine” is from the Latin word for “cow.” Also nice to see 18thc English folks being super chill about vaccination, no modern parallels here… 😳

@abojournal.bsky.social @jhideas.bsky.social @emwjournal.bsky.social