2009 Publications by Women Studies Affiliates

The Global Village Revisited:  Art, Politics, and Television Talk Shows

By Kathleen Dixon

“In The Global Village Re-visited, Kathleen Dixon deftly interrogates taken-for-granted ideas around the public sphere and the global village. Most importantly, the implicit assumption that cultural transfer only flows from the United States outward is challenged here with intriguing examples from Belgium and Bulgaria. As such, the book reminds us that media and discourses circulate in ways that require vigilant attention to production, distribution, and consumption.”—Kimberly Springer, King’s College London

Cultural studies scholarship on the television talk show, especially the “audience discussion” genre, was guardedly hopeful about its democratic or feminist potential. In this exciting new volume, Kathleen Dixon investigates the relationship between the talk genre and democracy, but through a new emphasis on art, broadly defined. The Global Village Revisited: Art, Politics, and Television Talk Shows explores three case studies from Belgium, Bulgaria, and the United States, and reveals how these cases interanimate to produces a new view of the talk show as a global phenomenon, and as a negotiation among the forces of late capitalism, the unnamed but still palpable audience, and the individual rhetors, artists, and technicians who make the shows. Dixon treats the globalization of media and culture as a dynamic process that yields different results according to time and place. While the way in which television talk shows serve democracy may be hard to define precisely, The Global Village Revisited demonstrates the importance and necessity of this question in cultural studies.

Published 2009, Lexington Books
ISBN  978-0739123409

The Letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning to Isa Blagden 1850-1861

Edited by Philip Kelley and Sandra Donaldson
Associate Editors: Scott Lewis, Edward Hagan, and Rita S. Patteson.

The Indian-born novelist Isa Blagden (1816?–73) held a unique place in the Brownings’ circle by virtue of her intimacy with both poets. No other friend saw as much of them during their married life in Florence, and, according to one contemporary, no other friend was “admitted into the mysteries of their inner thoughts.” Florentine Friends presents the 232 letters the Brownings wrote to Isa over a twelve-year period. EBB’s letters, which constitute the greater share of this correspondence, reveal her intellectual and emotional commitment to the Risorgimento, Italy’s struggle to become an independent nation. Of particular interest are her thoughts on Napoleon III and his role in Italy’s fate. Also discussed are some of the Brownings’ most significant works: RB’s Men and Women and EBB’s Casa Guidi Windows, Aurora Leigh, and Poems Before Congress. Both poets comment freely on Isa’s first novel, Agnes Tremorne. RB’s letters to Isa, though few in this volume, display a warmth and spontaneity, that, in his correspondence, he reserved for her alone. The editors have provided: an introduction; a provenance of the letters; a chronology; comprehensive annotations; a family tree of Isa and her relatives the Brackens; and a bibliography of Isa’s works, manuscripts, and letters.

Published 2009, Wedgestone Press
ISBN 978-0-911459-33-3

Companion to British Poetry before 1600
By Michelle M. Sauer

Winner, Editor’s Choice, Reference Text 2008 (Booklist)

Covers the period from 500-1600, canonical and non-canonical works, and includes Irish, Welsh, and Scottish works as well

From the review by Merle Jacob:  “[The] Companion to British Poetry before 1600 is an outstanding reference work that should be in high-school, academic, and public libraries where students study British literature.”

Published 2008, Facts on File
ISBN:  978-0816063604

How to Write about Geoffrey Chaucer
By Michelle M. Sauer

Part of Harold Bloom’s “How to Write about Literature” series

Designed to assist students in developing paper topics about Chaucer

Covers The Canterbury Tales and other works

Published 2009, Chelsea House
ISBN:  978-1604133301

Companion to British Poetry before 1600
By Michelle M. Sauer

· Winner, Editor’s Choice, Reference Text 2008 (Booklist)

· Covers the period from 500-1600, canonical and non-canonical works, and includes Irish, Welsh, and Scottish works as well

· From the review by Merle Jacob:  ”[The] Companion to British Poetry before 1600 is an outstanding reference work that should be in high-school, academic, and public libraries where students study British literature.”

Published 2008, Facts on File
ISBN: 978-0816063604

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