English at the University of Montevallo
The English Major/Minor
English majors and minors at the University of Montevallo develop literary sensibilities and writing expertise in a curriculum that emphasizes close reading, theoretical finesse, and meaningful engagement with diverse literary and cultural forms of expression. Our faculty members prepare students for graduate studies and a host of careers while promoting social awareness and expanding intellectual horizons. We offer an eclectic curriculum, opportunities to research, innovative courses, small class sizes, and a dedicated faculty.
Recent Courses
Literature of Plural America: Crescent City Sketches Creative Writing Romantic
Poetry and Philosophy Critical
Theory Hawthorne
and Melville Literature
for Children Feasts and
Famines in Victorian Literature
Shakespeare and the Question of Literary Value
Montevallo Literary Festival: April 15, 2011
Please
mark your calendars for the ninth annual Montevallo Literary Festival, a
celebration of creative writing hosted by the University of Montevallo.
The 2011 festival will be held Friday, April 15, on the UM campus. This
friendly, relaxed festival is dedicated to bringing literary writers and
readers together on a personal scale. This year’s offerings will include
readings by invited writers, book signings, receptions, and master-class
workshops in poetry, prose, and creative writing pedagogy, capped by a
dinner with live music. The lineup of creative writers includes workshop
leaders Peter Guralnick (prose), Greg Williamson (poetry), and T.J.
Beitelman (pedagogy), as well as A.M. Garner, Carrie Jerrell, Matthew
Pitt, Jorge Sánchez, and Elizabeth Wetmore. Updates, schedules, and
registration information will be available soon at
www.montevallo.edu/english/MLF/,
which also features details and photos of past festivals.
Faculty News
Batkie
Twice Published, Presenting at International Conference
Stephanie Batkie recently had a chapter published in the collection
John Gower, Trilingual Poet: Language, Translation, & Tradition, just
released from Boydell & Brewer. She also had an article published in the
recent issue of The Chaucer Review (45.2) titled, “Thanne artow
inparfit: Learning to Read in Piers Plowman." She'll also be
presenting a paper entitled “Confession
without Conscience: The Limits of Discourse in the Confessio Amantis”
at
the second International Congress of the John Gower Society (it happens every 3
years) this July in Spain.
Webb Published in Book Collection
Samantha Webb recently published the article "Exhausted Appetites, Vitiated Tastes: Romanticism, Mass Culture, and the Pleasures of Consumption.” Romanticism and Pleasure. Eds. Thomas Schmid and Michelle Faubert. Nineteenth-Century Major Lives and Letters Series. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.
Murphy Reads as part of UAB Writers' Series, Interviewed, Published
Jim Murphy gave a reading of poems from
his book, Heaven Overland, and from new work, as part of the UAB
Writers’ Series. Murphy read on Jan. 19 at Hulsey Recital Hall on the UAB
campus. In addition, an interview with Murphy, conducted by David M. Story, has
also recently been posted at welikemedia.com, a blog spot maintained by
Montevallo Literary Festival alumnus Rusty Spell. To read the interview, visit
http://welikemedia.com/ and click on the
“get your kicks” link under “We Like Books.” Direct link:
http://welikemedia.com/murphyslaw.html. He also had his poem, “The
Painted Men,” published in the Christmas 2010 issue (54:1) of The Sewanee
Theological Review, at the University of the South, Sewanee, Tenn. Rozelle Published, Chairs ACETA Panel With UM Undergraduates Lee Rozelle recently
published the article “Liminal Ecologies in Margaret Atwood’s
Oryx
and Crake.” Canadian Literature 206
(Autumn 2010): 61-72. He also
served as moderator for the "Critical Approaches to Thomas Pynchon's
Mason & Dixon" panel at ACETA 2011, Tuskegee University, February
18-19, 2011.
Rozelle with UM undergraduates
Anthony Vacca, Katie Dunne, Megan Kunkel, and Caroline McLean 
King Publishes, Reads at UNT Early British Colloquium
Kathy King has two chapters that have recently been published: "Scribal and Print Publication" in Ros Ballaster, ed. The History of British Women’s Writing, 1690-1750 (2010) in the 10 volume History of British Women’s Writing series from Palgrave Macmillan and "The Afterlife and Strange Surprising Adventures of Haywood’s Amatories (with Thoughts on Betsy Thoughtless)" in Susan Carlile, ed., Masters of the Marketplace: British Women Novelists of the 1750s (Lehigh UP, 2011). She has also recently delivered the spring lecture of the Early British Colloquium of the University of North Texas Department of English titled "Eliza Haywood (1693?-1756): Hack, Whore, or Polite Advocate for Virtue?"
Graduate Studies
The English Department offers graduate students mentorship and guidance in a rigorous yet informal academic setting. With a wide array of course offerings, our program gives graduate students the opportunity to master their chosen areas of study and to put their ideas into practice in fields such as teaching, academics, editing, writing and other professions. Beginning Fall 2010, students will fulfill requirements through 24 hours of coursework and a 6-hour Master’s thesis. Learn more...
For more information, please contact:
Department of English
Station 6420
University of Montevallo
Montevallo, AL35115
(205) 665-6420
Artwork by Dusty Domino