Jim Murphy
Associate Professor of English
Campus
Phone: 205-665-6416
Campus e-mail: murphyj@montevallo.edu
Education
Ph.D., University of Cincinnati, 2000
ˇ Dissertation: Two Crossroads (poems) Readers: Don Bogen, Andrew Hudgins, Thomas LeClair
ˇ
Literary Historical Areas of
concentration: 20th Century American Poetry / American Fiction c. 1877-1954
/
American Nonfiction Since 1965 / Creative Writing
ˇ Theoretical areas of concentration: New Historicism / Race and Literature / Vernacular Theory
M.A., University of Cincinnati, 1996
ˇ Thesis: Left to Arden (poems) Readers: Don Bogen, Andrew Hudgins
ˇ Areas of concentration: English and American Literature / Creative Writing
B.A., summa cum laude, University of Missouri-Columbia, 1993
ˇ Phi Beta Kappa Alpha Chapter of Missouri
ˇ Major: English and American Literature / Creative Writing
ˇ Minor: Art History
Teaching Experience
University of Montevallo
ˇ Freshman Composition I & II (English 101, 102)
ˇ Honors Composition I (English 103)
ˇ World Literature I & II (English 231, 232)
ˇ Honors World Literature (English 233)
ˇ Introduction to the English Major (English 300)
ˇ Honors Special Topics: Blues People/Jazz Poetry (Honors 308)
ˇ Creative Writing Workshop (English 361)
ˇ Studies in One or Two Authors: Whitman & Dickinson (English 4/505)
ˇ Advanced Creative Writing Workshop (Poetry) (English 461)
ˇ Advanced Creative Writing Workshop (Creative Non-fiction) (English 461)
ˇ Special Topics in Literature: The Literature of Northern California (English 4/539)
ˇ Studies in Poetry: Postwar American Poetry 1945-1970 (English 4/512)
ˇ Senior Seminar: Perfect Unions? Literary Visions of Self and State (English 485)
University of Cincinnati College of Arts & Sciences
ˇ Freshman Composition (English 101, 102, 103)
ˇ Undergraduate Poetry Workshop (English 218)
ˇ
Readings in Literature:
Historical Perspectives in Modern and Postmodern American Fiction
(English 204)
University of Cincinnati College of Applied Sciences
ˇ Freshman Composition (English 1)
ˇ Composition: Introduction to Business and Technical Writing (English 2)
University of Cincinnati University College (Open Admissions Unit)
ˇ Freshman Composition (English 102)
Poetry Publications (Chapbook)
The Memphis Sun. Kent State University Press. Kent, Ohio and London, England, 2000.
Poetry Publications (Journals)
“Stag Hollywoodland.” The Texas Review (Huntsville, TX), forthcoming.
“River Minstrels, No Date Given.” The Cincinnati Review (Cincinnati, OH), forthcoming.
“Bellwether Radio.” Passages North (Marquette, MI), 2007.
“Dual Jazz Funeral.” Interdisciplinary Humanities (Lafayette, LA), 2006.
“Open Letters to James Wright.” Red Mountain Review (Birmingham, AL), 2006.
“A Superior Hairdressing” and “Fluorescent Blues.” The Louisville Review (Louisville, KY),
2005.
“Grant in the Valleys.” Birmingham Poetry Review (Birmingham, AL), 2005.
“Rayon is Probably the Most Misunderstood of All Fibers.” Hubbub (Portland, OR), 2005.
“Chroma Key.” The Wayne Literary Review (Detroit, MI), 2004.
“Angel Sketches at the Treasure House,” “Left to Arden” and “Natalie and Dennis.” Lilies
and Cannonballs Review (New York, NY), 2004.
“20th Century Limited” and “Through the Chagall Windows.” West Branch (Lewisburg, PA),
2003.
“Surf Mechanics.” The Asheville Poetry Review (Asheville, NC), 2003.
“In Desert Quiet.” Poetry Motel (Duluth, MN), 2003.
“Sun Stylus, Montgomery.” The Greensboro Review (Greensboro, NC), 2003.
“In the Republic of Tinnitus” and “The Hecklers.” Birmingham Poetry Review (Birmingham,
AL), 2003.
“Basement Occupations.” Valparaiso Poetry Review (Valparaiso, IN), 2003.
“Charleston Language Lesson.” The Southern Review (Baton Rouge, LA), 2003.
“N.O. Prescription.” The Sow’s Ear Poetry Review (Abingdon, VA), 2003.
“Peaceable Kingdoms.” The Louisville Review (Louisville, KY), 2002.
“Sin City Keys.” Alaska Quarterly Review (Anchorage, AK), 2002.
“The Family Cadillac for Sale.” Southern Humanities Review (Auburn, AL), 2002.
“Music at the Furnaces.” TriQuarterly (Chicago, IL), 2002.
“Night Visitation.” Sewanee Theological Review (Sewanee, TN), 2002.
“Opposite of Berryland” and “Fragments of the Irish Empire.” Fine Madness (Seattle,
WA), 2001. “Fragments...” reprinted in March Hares: The Best of Fine Madness, 2003.
“Dunbar’s Apparition,” “Five Points of 1906,” and “Twain.” StorySouth
(http://www.storysouth.com, 2001.
“Breadth of a Night Blizzard.” Cimarron Review (Stillwater, OK), 2001.
“This Paradise Valley—A Blues for Robert Hayden” and “Autumn Techne.” Gulf Coast
(Houston, TX), 2001.
“Ouro Preto, Bishop-Neruda.” The Southern Review (Baton Rouge, LA), 2001.
“Elmore James Steps Out of a Stalled Car.” The Alabama Literary Review (Troy, AL),
2000.
“Seeks Clinical Opinion.” Center (Columbia, MO), 2000.
“Ideas of Deep Storage.” Mankato Poetry Review (Mankato, MN), 2000.
“‘A Monday Date.’” Mangrove (Miami, FL), 2000.
“Routes to Kansas City Star.” Southern Poetry Review (Charlotte, NC), 2000.; reprinted
in the Kansas City Star (Kansas City, MO), 2001.
“An Opera of the Future.” Phoebe (Fairfax, VA), 2000.
“Brokers’ Holiday” and “The Continental’s Gaming Tables.” The Clackamas Literary
Review (Oregon City, OR), 1999.
“One Step to Fox Trot.” The MacGuffin (Livonia, MI), 1999.
“Twilight Call, Louis Armstrong Park.” Epicenter (Riverside, CA), 1999.
“Some Fantastic Improprieties.” Turnstile (New York, NY), 1998.
“The Undecorated.” Tomorrow Magazine (Chicago, IL), 1998.
“Junk Travel Through West Memphis.” Painted Bride Quarterly (Philadelphia, PA),
1997.
“Stone Doves of William Edmondson.” Brooklyn Review (New York, NY), 1997.
“Charles Bon Considers Heaven.” The Devil’s Millhopper (Aiken, SC), 1996.
“Playing Moon.” Riverwind Annual (Nelsonville, OH), 1996.
“October Sunbath on the Practice Field.” Great River Review (Winona, MN), 1996.
“Private Tangier.” Puerto del Sol (Las Cruces, NM), 1995.
“Double Hull.” Chants (Orono, ME), 1994.
Scholarly Publications
“‘Recognizing the Step:’ Rodney Jones and the Southern Speaking Poem.” Mississippi
Quarterly 57.3 (2004): 389-406.
“‘Here Only the Sea Is Real:’ Robert Hayden’s Postmodern Passages.” MELUS 27.4
(2002): 107-127.
A Conversation with Mark Jarman. Image: A Journal of the Arts and Religion 33 (2002): 63-78.
“Pursuits and Revolutions: History’s Figures in Steve Erickson’s Arc d’X.” Modern Fiction
Studies 46.2 (2000): 451-479.
Academic Conference Presentations
“Are You Talkin’ to Me?: Dialogue Drills for Student Writers.” Associated Writing
Programs Conference, Atlanta, GA, 2007.
“Mass Transit to Magic Bus: Journeys in Creative Nonfiction.” Associated Writing
Programs Conference, Chicago, IL, 2004.
“Making Certain It Gets Read: Introducing Contemporary Literature in Undergraduate
Writing Workshops.” Associated Writing Programs Conference, New Orleans, LA, 2002.
“The Fire of Poetry: Dylan Thomas, W.H. Auden and Poetic Responses to the Second
World War.”- Alabama State Poetry Society Meeting, University of Montevallo, 2001.
“‘Here Only the Sea Is Real:’ Robert Hayden’s Postmodern Passages.” – Twentieth
Century Literature Conference, University of Louisville, 2001.
“‘I Wanted Them to Go Beyond Themselves:’ Miles Davis, Autobiography, and the
African American Oral Tradition.” – Intersections: Multi-Ethnic Literatures at Century’s End Conference, University of Cincinnati, 1999.
“Pursuits and Revolutions: History’s Figures in Steve Erickson’s Arc d’X” – Society for
the Interdisciplinary Study of Social Imagery (SISSI) “The Image of America” Conference, Colorado Springs, CO, 1999.
“Up-Staging Race: Artifice and Identity in Jean Toomer’s Cane” – Southwest
Symposium on Literature and Language, Arizona State University, 1998; “Languaging” Conference on Literature and Linguistics, University of North Texas, 1998.
“Blues Walking Like a Man: Cultural Contexts of Robert Johnson” – (Con)Texts
Conference on Literature, University of Cincinnati, 1997.
“‘A Cluster Containing Night’s Darkness:’ War Poetry of Walt Whitman and Yusef
Komunyakaa” – Annual Conference on Literature and Creative Writing,
Louisiana State University, 1996.
Book Reviews
Review of Sons of the Rapture, by Todd Dills. Featherproof Books, 2006. Forthcoming in
First Draft, publication of the Alabama Writers’ Forum, Montgomery, AL.
Review of Native Guard, by Natasha Trethewey. Houghton Mifflin, 2006. Published in First
Draft, publication of the Alabama Writers’ Forum, Montgomery, AL, 2006.
Review of Pax Atomica, by Campbell McGrath. Ecco Press, 2004. Published in
Birmingham Poetry Review, University of Alabama-Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, 2006.
Review of Ecstatic in the Poison, by Andrew Hudgins. Overlook Press, 2003. Published in
Southern Humanities Review, Auburn University, Auburn, AL. 2004.
Review of Racial Politics and Robert Penn Warren’s Poetry, by Anthony Szczesiul. University
Press of Florida, 2002. Published in Mississippi Quarterly, Mississippi State University,
Starkville, MS. 2004.
Review of Waxworks, by Frieda Hughes. HarperCollins, 2003. Published in Southern
Humanities Review, Auburn University, Auburn, AL. 2004.
Review of Open House, by Beth Ann Fennelly. Zoo Press, 2001. Published in First Draft,
publication of the Alabama Writers’ Forum, Montgomery, AL. Fall 2002.
Review of Invited Guest: An Anthology of Twentieth Century Southern Poetry, eds.
David Rigsbee and Steven Ford Brown. The University Press of Virginia, 2001. Published in First Draft, publication of the Alabama Writers’ Forum, Montgomery, AL. Summer 2002.
Review of Horizon Note, by Robin Behn. The University of Wisconsin Press, 2001.
Published in First Draft, publication of the Alabama Writers' Forum, Montgomery, AL. Spring 2002.
Review of Domestic Work, by Natasha Trethewey. Graywolf, 1999. Published in First
Draft, publication of the Alabama Writers’ Forum, Montgomery, AL. Spring 2001.
“John Brown’s Bodies.” Review of Cloudsplitter, by Russell Banks. HarperCollins,
1998. Published in Impact Weekly, Dayton, OH. May 2000.
“Tending Fire With James Carville.” Review of Stickin’: The Case for Loyalty, by
James Carville. Simon & Schuster, 2000. Published in Impact Weekly, Dayton,
OH. April 2000.
“The Shell Game of American Justice: Now You See It . . .” Review of No Equal
Justice: Race and Class in the American Criminal Justice System, by David Cole. The New Press, 1999. Published in Impact Weekly, Dayton, OH. April 2000.
Awards & Grants Received
Special Projects Grant (with Prof. Scott Stephens) “Prints and Poems” Collaborative project,
University of Montevallo, 2006-2007.
University Scholar, University of Montevallo, 2004-2005.
Pushcart Prize Nomination, 2004.
Semi-Finalist, Backwaters Poetry Prize, 2004.
Semi-Finalist, Eastern Washington University Press Poetry Competition, 2003.
Runner-up, Editors’ Prize, Tupelo Press Poetry Competition, 2003.
Inclusion in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers, nominated 2003, 2006 (2004, 2007 ed.).
Semi-Finalist, Brittingham Prize Competition, University of Wisconsin Press, 2002.
Semi-Finalist, X.J. Kennedy Poetry Prize, Texas Review Press, 2002.
Semi-Finalist, Morse Poetry Prize, Northeastern University Press, 2002.
Semi-Finalist, Tupelo Press Poetry Competition, 2002.
Tennessee Williams Scholarship, Sewanee Writers’ Conference, 2001.
Finalist, Ohio State University Press/The Journal Award, 2001.
Ricking Dissertation Fellowship, University of Cincinnati, 1999-2000.
Stan and Tom Wick Poetry Award Selection, Kent State University, 1998.
Elliston Poetry Fellowship, University of Cincinnati, 1996-97.
Taft Research Fellowship, University of Cincinnati, 1994-95.
Elliston Poetry Prize, University of Cincinnati, 1995, 1998.
Taft Memorial Fund Group Travel Grant, University of Cincinnati, 1995.
Taft Memorial Fund Individual Travel Grants, University of Cincinnati, 1996,
1998 (2), 1999.
Sand River Poetry Prize, The Devil’s Millhopper, University of South Carolina
at Aiken, 1996.
McCormick Poetry Prize from The University of Missouri-Columbia, 1990.
On Campus Professional Service
Director, Montevallo Literary Festival, UM, 2004-present.
Assistant Director, Montevallo Literary Festival, UM, 2002-2004.
Faculty Advisor, Sigma Tau Delta Honor Society, UM, 2002-2003.
Faculty Senate, UM, 2002-2003.
Committee for Freshman English, UM Dept. of English, 2002-present.
Workshop Leader, Pedagogy Panel for Shelby County (AL) teachers of high school English,
UM, 2004.
Workshop Leader, The Write Connection Conference for Young Writers, UM, 2001.
Panelist, “The Ethics of Teaching Creative Writing,” ACETA Annual Meeting, UM,
2001.
Chair, Committee for the Writing Minor, UM Dept. of English, 2001-2002.
Committee for the English Major, UM Dept. of English, 2001-present.
Annual Fund Campaign Committee, UM, 2001-2002.
Student Publications Committee, UM, 2000-present.
Faculty Advisor, Literary Magazine, UM, 2000-present.
Chair, Visiting Writers Committee, UM Dept. of English, 2000-present.
Off Campus Professional Service
Poetry Co-Editor, Red Mountain Review. Birmingham, AL, 2007-present.
Invited Workshop Leader, “Writing Our Stories” Anti-Violence Writing Project, Alabama
Department of Youth Services’ Mt. Meigs Campus, June 2006.
Invited Workshop Leader, "Writing Place and Time: Personal Geography and History into
Poetry." Pelham Public Library Literary Café, Pelham, AL, April 2005.
Director, Birmingham Consortium of Higher Education (BACHE) Visiting Writers Series,
2003-2005 term.
Associate Editor, Thicket, sponsored by Alabama Southern Community College, 2004-2006.
Invited Workshop Leader, (Creative) Writing Across the Curriculum, Alabama Humanities
Foundation, Bibb County Public Schools, January 2004.
Invited Workshop Leader, “Writing Our Stories” Anti-Violence Writing Project, Alabama
Department of Youth Services’ Chalkville and Vacca Campuses, May 2003.
Judge, National Society of Arts and Letters Student Poetry Competition, Birmingham
Region, 2003.
Invited Speaker, “Muse and Market: Poets and Publishing.” Calhoun State
Community College, Decatur, AL, 2002.
Judge, Mary Evelyn McMillan Undergraduate Writing Award, ACETA/Samford
University, Birmingham, AL, 2002.
Invited Workshop Leader, Paradise Writers’ Group, Santa Rosa Beach, FL, 2001.
Advisory Committee Member, Writing Today Conference, Birmingham-Southern
College, 2001-present.
Panelist, “Poets and Publishing,” Writing Today Conference, Birmingham-Southern
College, 2001.
Judge, Barksdale-Maynard
Prize for Poetry, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2001.
Birmingham Consortium of Higher Education (BACHE) Visiting Writers Series
Committee, 2000-present.
Poetry Judge, Impact Weekly Creative Writing Awards, Dayton, OH, 2000.
Poetry Readings
The 2nd Hand Series, Birmingham, AL, Jun. 2007.
JARS (Journals Allied Reading Series), Birmingham, AL, Nov. 2006.
Seven Mountains Poetry Conference, Colrain, MA, Oct. 2005.
Gulf Coast Association of Creative Writing Teachers, Fairhope, AL, Apr. 2005.
Mississippi Philological Association, Mississippi Valley State University, MS, Jan. 2005.
Mississippi State University, Starkville, MS, Oct. 2004.
Mississippi Philological Association, Mississippi University for Women, Columbus, MS, Jan.
2004.
Rhoda Ellison Lecture Series Writers’ Festival, Huntingdon College, Montgomery, AL, Nov.
2003.
Montevallo Literary Festival, Montevallo, AL, Mar. 2003.
Jefferson State Community College, Red Mountain Reading Series, Birmingham, AL, Apr.
2002.
Southern Voices Conference 10th Anniversary Reunion, Hoover, AL, Feb. 2002.
The University of the South, Sewanee, TN, Jul. 2001.
Huntingdon College, Montgomery, AL, Jun. 2001.
Writing Today Conference, Birmingham-Southern College, Birmingham, AL, Mar. 2001.
Southern Voices Conference, Hoover Public Library, Hoover, AL, Feb. 2001.
ACETA Annual Meeting, University of Montevallo, Feb. 2001
Wick Poetry Program Feature Reading, Kent State University, Nov. 2000.
Sigma Tau Delta English Honor Society Initiation, University of Montevallo, Nov. 2000,
2005.
Graduate Student Reading Series, University of Cincinnati, Apr. 2000.
Wick Poetry Program Fifteen-Year Anniversary, Kent State University, Apr. 1999.
Memberships
Modern Language Association
Associated Writing Programs
Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literatures of the United States (MELUS)
The Association of College English Teachers of Alabama (ACETA)
Gulf Coast Association of Creative Writing Teachers (GCACWT)
Alabama Writers’ Forum
References
Available upon request