Membership Bonuses for 2008

(Access the M/MLA Membership Form here. Also available in printable .pdf version)
(Access the Department Membership Form here.)

 ***NOTE: Those who plan to participate in the 2008 convention need to register for the convention in addition to becoming a member. The combined membership/registration form can be accessed here.***

For a surcharge, payment of membership and registration fees is possible through an outside vendor:

The Minneapolis Marriott City Center is offering a fetching rate for November’s convention. During 2008, the M/MLA will convene 13-16 November in downtown Minneapolis at one of the city’s most appealing hotels. With plenty of meeting space and extraordinary views, the Minneapolis Marriott City Center is just a short distance from the Hennepin Avenue Theater District, Block E, the Walker Art Center and nearby Sculpture Garden, historic Fort Snelling, and the Minnehaha Falls that Longfellow made famous. And the M/MLA rate? A remarkable $130 for all rooms—singles, doubles, triples, and quads. Think how much further your travel budget will go.

The informal theme for convention 2008 will be “Fame / Infamy.” This year’s theme has been proposed by incoming M/MLA President Devoney Looser, Associate Professor of English at the University of Missouri-Columbia and co-editor of the Journal for Early Modern Cultural Studies. Author of British Women Writers and the Writing of History, 1670-1820 (Johns Hopkins UP, 2000), she has also edited Jane Austen and Discourses of Feminism (Palgrave Macmillan, 1995), co-edited Generations: Academic Feminists in Dialogue (U of Minnesota P, 1997), and is at work on Another Jane: Jane Porter, Austen’s Contemporary. Possible topics for convention papers and thematic sessions, as well as the special issue of the M/MLA Journal to come, include celebrity culture, exhibitionism, canons and canonicity, censorship, the academic star system, fans and fandom, flashes in the pan, and literary scandals. See the M/MLA’s website for further possibilities and information about thematic submissions.

As usual, special sessions may be proposed on any other scholarly subject likely to interest fellow members. Panel proposals seeking paper submissions will be posted upon arrival after this year’s call for papers from permanent sections and associated organizations, which is already going up for 2008 with the email addresses of session organizers to contact. Deadline for all proposals, thematic papers and special sessions alike: March 1, 2008.

Just as in previous years, the convention will lead to a special issue of the M/MLA Journal that encourages submissions from conferees. Essays on “Fame / Infamy” will be considered for publication during Fall 2009 and should be sent to Devoney Looser, President, Midwest Modern Language Association, 302 EPB, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242-1408.

Useful professionalizing workshops are coming up at this year’s meeting. In Cleveland at the 2007 convention, three linked sessions examined the initial stages of an academic career: “Getting Real: Being Prepared for the MLA and Campus Interview Process,” “Transitioning to Professional Life,” and “The MLA Report on Evaluating Scholarship for Promotion and Tenure: What Counts, What Doesn’t, and What Should.” The upcoming convention will build on that foundation by offering two popular workshops with editors, “Publishing an Article” and “Placing a Book Manuscript,” as well as a workshop with a twist: “Composing Job Letters and Their Parodies,” an effort to reckon with how search committees read. Want to hear a panel of experienced colleagues consider a professional concern of similar moment? Just drop a line to the M/MLA office at mmla@uiowa.edu. As always, gracious co-hosting departments in 2007 helped make the most recent convention workshops both possible and substantive.

The M/MLA’s short-term fellowship at the Newberry Library continues to thrive, and the annual competition for members only is now open for 2008. It is a pleasure to announce that the M/MLA’s fourth annual fellowship has been awarded to Jane Dougherty, Assistant Professor of English at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. For her first book, Mr. and Mrs. England: The Discursive Implications of the Anglo-Irish Union, Professor Dougherty plans to break new ground in Irish Studies by examining forty rare pamphlets from the debate that preceded the 1801 Act of Union between Great Britain and Ireland, as well as numerous uncatalogued 19th-century pamphlets on the “Irish Question” before the first Irish Home Rule Bill was proposed in 1886. Seven other M/MLA members who made up the most recent pool—one full professor, two associate professors, two additional assistant professors, and two PhD candidates—are certainly welcome to reapply, along with any equally qualifying members. Deadline: March 1, 2008.

At the Newberry’s request, applicants must live outside the Chicago area and hold a doctorate or be enrolled in a PhD program. They should also anticipate a specific need for Newberry collections and foresee making use of them for up to a month in residence and up to $1200 in stipend. M/MLA membership must be current at the time of application and through the period of the fellowship, which may begin as early as July 1, 2008, and must be completed without interruption during the following year. Feel free to check the library’s online information and materials or to contact Diane Dillon at dillond@newberry.org or 312-255-3662.

The M/MLA Journal offers at least one more year of shorter working papers, a brisker pace, and an open invitation. Before departing from the University of Iowa at the end of the year, the journal will once again publish in Spring 2008 submissions of 12-15 pages drawing upon at least 12-15 sources. The M/MLA has been pleased to acknowledge more of the scholarly fields represented at the annual meeting and has willingly granted permission to publish later extended drafts elsewhere. Indeed, such continuing scholarship is heartily encouraged. The deadline for spring submissions each year has been 12/15, time enough to make the most of convention success by revising presentations that have been warmly received or to formulate the arresting argument of a new research project. By the end of the year, it will be clearer if the format will be changing in the hands of a new editor.

For the rest of 2008, the journal will continue to rely on Benson and Hepker Design for new cover graphics and a Midwestern font, a visual appeal that will again extend to the year’s special convention issue. For Fall 2008, guest editor David Shumway invites essays of varying lengths on “Revisiting Realisms.” Interested? The M/MLA office requests that an electronic copy be forwarded via attachment to mmla@uiowa.edu. In addition, three paper copies (two formatted for blind review) should be sent to David Shumway, President, Midwest Modern Language Association, 302 EPB, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242-1408. The deadline for fall submissions is March 31, 2008.

Want to take advantage of the journal’s broad readership to announce your own book just out? The M/MLA Journal is pleased to welcome the new year with a special ad rate for members with books complete during the lat year or about to appear. A modest $100 and a print-ready file will buy a full-page ad. Hoping for reviews? Feel free to request that a copy of your book be sent to the M/MLA office at 302 English-Philosophy Building, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242-1408. It will be a pleasure to post any new books on the M/MLA’s website, which members are welcome to check for books received and even more welcome to note when requesting review copies and providing c.v.s. The M/MLA will be happy to insure that the specific training of reviewers enables their sound judgment.