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

Montevallo Literary Festival: April 23, 2010

The eighth annual Montevallo Literary Festival, a celebration of creative writing hosted by the University of Montevallo, April 23, 2010, featured readings of poetry and prose fiction as well as discussions of the theory, practice, criticism, and review of various forms of creative writing.  Festival activities included creative writing workshops as well as book exhibitions, receptions and book signings.  As one participant wrote of the Festival in its first year, the “small, intimate atmosphere” of the event “meant that even lunch and corridor encounters became part of the general flow of talk about writing.” 

We're pleased to announce keynote readers/workshop leaders Mitchell L. H. Douglas and Lorraine Lopez as well as a lineup of six invited creative writers Virginia Van Der Veer Hamilton, Kevin Wilson, Jennifer Horne, Lynnell Edwards, Graeme Harper, Bryn Chancellor, and Bill Cobb.

With the exception of the writing workshops and meals, all events are free and open to the public.  A $45 registration fee ($10 for UM students) covers all events, parties, and three meals at the Festival.  A $95 registration fee ($60 for UM students) covers the entire conference plus workshop in poetry or prose.  Click here for more information.

Faculty News

Batkie Presents, Work Forthcoming in The Chaucer Review

Stephanie Batkie presented a paper this fall at the Southeastern Medieval Association entitled, “Merita Perpetuata in Gower’s Vernacular Alchemy,” an extended version of which is due to be published in 2010 in an international essay collection published by the John Gower Society through Boydell and Brewer.  The collection commemorates the 600th anniversary of Gower’s death.  She also presented in the spring at the Sewanee Medieval Colloquium, giving a paper entitled “Preempted Pilgrimage and Langland’s ‘wikkede wey’” regarding the manipulations of pilgrimage narratives and vernacular readership in the 14th century devotional poem, Piers Plowman.  She has a forthcoming paper presentation in May 2010 at the Kalamazoo International Medieval Congress on the blending of historical chronicle with dream vision in the manuscript tradition of John Gower’s political allegory, entitled “Cronic Chameleons: Gower’s Shifting Eye in the Cronic tripertita.”  Additionally, her article “Thanne artow imparfit: Learning to Read in Piers Plowman” is to be published in volume 45.2 of The Chaucer Review.

Murphy Nominated for Pushcart, Publishes, Reads

Jim Murphy has had his short story, “Routine Blue,” published in issue #28 of OCHO, out of Bloomington, Illinois. The story has also been nominated by the editors for a Pushcart Prize and is available via the following link to a virtual issue of the magazine: http://issuu.com/didimenendez/docs/ocho28?viewMode=magazine=embed.  Jim gave a poetry reading at the University of North Alabama’s Annual Writers’ Series March 16, appearing with prose writers Michael Knight and Lorraine Lopez. He also gave a reading and conducted a poetry workshop during the Alfred Literary Festival, at Alfred University in upstate New York, March 25-27, where he joined fiction writers Rahul Mehta and Megan Staffel on the bill.

Crawford Published in Journal and International Collection

Nicholas Crawford has recently published an article (with A.E.B. Coldiron), “Shakespeare et le Coriolan ‘de l'empire lettré’” in the collection, Shakespeare, Les Français, Les France. Cahiers Charles V No. 45 (2008). Université Paris Diderot-Paris 7, 2008 (appeared Nov. 2009). The article investigates the oddity of Shakespeare’s negative reception in 18th-century France by comparing Shakespeare’s Coriolanus with the Coriolan of Jean François de la Harpe, one of the most influential men of letters of his day.  Crawford has also recently published an article, “Serving Theater in Volpone,” in Renaissance Papers 2008 (appeared fall 2009): 125-36. This article treats the play’s representations of servitude, subjectivity and theatricality in relation to the changing dynamic between commercial theater and the culture of patronage in Jacobean England.

Webb's “Diet Studies in the Romantic Period” Published

Samantha Webb published an article titled “Diet Studies in the Romantic Period,” in the July issue of the online scholarly journal, Literature Compass.

Rozelle Published in ISLE

Lee Rozelle published the article "‘I Am the Island’: Dystopia and Ecocidal Imagination in Rushing to Paradise, Super-Cannes, and Concrete Island.”  Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment 17.1 (Winter 2010): 61-71. 

King Presents two papers at American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies Conference

Kathy King presented two papers at the annual meeting of the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies, held March 17-21, in Albuquerque, N.M. Her papers were titled “New Directions in Haywood Studies” and “Women Without Gender? Or, Real Toads in Imaginary Gardens.” Her article, “Eliza Haywood at the Sign of Fame,” was recently published in Notes and Queries at http://nq.oxfordjournals.org/current.dtl.

Mahaffey and Rozelle Present at ACLA in New Orleans

Paul Mahaffey and Lee Rozelle presented papers at the American Comparative Literature Association Conference, held April 1-4, in New Orleans. Mahaffey’s paper was titled “Creolization, Ishmael Reed’s Neo-HooDoo Aesthetic, and the Third Space,” and Rozelle’s was titled “Resurveying DeLillo’s ‘White Space on Map.’”

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...