Critic and Women's Literature Scholar Elaine Showalter to Discuss Her Work, Thursday, March 26, 2009

Related Media

Critic Elaine Showalter

Elaine Showalter, Leading Scholar of American and British Women's Literature, to Speak March 26, 2009

Elaine Showalter, major scholar of British and American literature, regular commentator on cultural issues for BBC broadcasting, and former television critic for "People" magazine, will read from her landmark new work on American women writers from the 17th through 21st centuries on Thursday, March 26, 2009 in Campus Center 375 on the University at Albany's uptown campus. Earlier that same day at 4:15 p.m. she will present an informal seminar in the same location. The events are free and open to the public.

Critic, feminist, and leading scholar of women's literature, Showalter is celebrated for her witty analysis of English and American literary and popular culture. A Professor Emerita at Princeton University where she taught for two decades, and a past president of the Modern Language Association (MLA), Showalter is acknowledged to be a "founding mother" of the practice of feminist literary criticism. An entertaining and versatile thinker who discovers profundity in everyday matters and the popular media, Showalter is a regular commentator on BBC radio and television, and former television critic for "People" magazine.

Elaine Showalter is the author most recently of "A Jury of Her Peers: American Women Writers from Anne Bradstreet to Annie Proulx" (2009). Hailed as a landmark in its field, the book represents the first comprehensive history of American women writers from the 17th to 21st centuries. In a starred review, "Publishers Weekly" said the book contributes "to feminist theory without itself reading like theory. Diverse beyond easy description.... Showalter's Baedeker showcases the rise and fall of styles and genres.... Several hundred authors... sing out in a monumental choral orchestrated by Showalter." In advance praise, Joyce Carol Oates called it, "a work of astonishing vision, breadth, intelligence, and audacity.... one that is sure to be required reading for all who have an interest in American literary history."

Showalter's earlier works include "Faculty Towers: The Academic Novel and Its Discontents" (2005); "Inventing Herself: Claiming a Feminist Intellectual Heritage" (2001); "Hystories: Hysterical Epidemics and Modern Culture" (1997); Sister's Choice: Tradition and Change in American Women's Writing" (1991); "Sexual Anarchy: Gender and Culture at the Fin-de-Siècle" (1990); and the groundbreaking, "A Literature of Their Own: British Women Novelists from Brontë to Lessing" (1977), widely regarded as one of the "foundation texts" of feminist literary criticism.

For additional information, contact the Writers Institute at 518-442-5620 or online at http://www.albany.edu.writers-inst.

"Street Angel" to be Screened on March 27, 2009

"Street Angel" ("Malu Tianshi" China, 1937, 87 minutes, b/w, directed by Mu-jih Yuan, in Mandarin with English subtitles) will be shown on Friday, March 27 at 7:30 p.m. in Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, on the University at Albany's downtown campus. Sponsored by the New York State Writers Institute, the screening is free and open to the public.

"Malu Tianshi" combines comedy, romance, and tragedy to offer a picture of life in the slums of Shanghai. Two young sisters - a prostitute and a tea house singer - struggle to survive in pre-revolutionary China. In 2005, the film was ranked number eleven of the 100 best Chinese films of all time by the Hong Kong Film Awards Association.

For additional information contact the Writers Institute at 518-442-5620 or online at http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst.

-30-