Department of English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University

A video portrait of Jack Halberstam, So We Moved: A Portrait of Jack Halberstam, is one of the works featured in Adam Pendleton's show at MoMA, "Who Is Queen?," opening Sept 18.
https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/5225

Halberstam comments on Pendleton's art and the process of having his portrait made in the New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/10/arts/design/adam-pendleton-moma-who-is-queen.html

Adam Pendleton Is Rethinking the Museum “Who Is Queen?” at MoMA is the artist’s most personal and ambitious show yet, exploring how we might live beyond labels in American society. “I want to overwhelm the museum,” he said.

Frances Negrón-Muntaner wrote about the film adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s "In the Heights" for The New Yorker

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-generic-latinidad-of-in-the-heights?fbclid=IwAR3bL4dVNDXrICE_tl3xF6ARrAcFi1Zy4CUE459WY4RXVaSN_FG2cjnQEWs

The Generic Latinidad of “In the Heights” The big point of this big film is to seek comfort in the small, but the movie misreads the moment.

Frances Negrón-Muntaner was one of a number of Columbia faculty members, students, and staff who spoke about Indigenous Peoples Day in a video interview with Columbia News. She was also featured in Columbia News during Hispanic Heritage Month.

What Is the History of Native American and Indigenous Peoples at Columbia University? This Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we’ve gathered Columbia students, faculty, and staff to reflect on the indigenous history of the land on which the University s...

Colm Tóibín's tenth novel, The Magician, is a portrait of the writer Thomas Mann. He discussed the book, among other topics, with Columbia News, as well as The New Yorker. The Magician has been reviewed in a number of outlets, including The New York Times, The Guardian, and The Washington Post.

https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Magician/Colm-Toibin/9781476785080

https://news.columbia.edu/news/colm-toibin-new-book-the-magician

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/sep/17/the-magician-by-colm-toibin-review-inside-the-mind-of-thomas-mann

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/31/books/review-magician-colm-toibin.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/colm-toibins-the-magician-imagines-the-adventurous-life-of-a-literary-great/2021/09/13/ed69ce8e-04db-11ec-8c3f-3526f81b233b_story.html

Review | Colm Toibin’s ‘The Magician’ imagines the adventurous life of a literary great Thomas Mann may have written some very heavy books, but this biographical novel offers a more lighthearted portrait of the German writer.

Jennifer Wenzel spoke on a panel w fellow energy humanities scholars Imre Szeman & Matt Huber for the
Humanities Institute at Duke on the topic, "What Can the Humanities Contribute to the Global Energy Transition?" Read more in the Duke Research Blog

Will the Humanities Save the World? - Research Blog The bad news about the energy transition, according to Dr. Matthew Huber, is that it’s not happening. At least, not at the scale we need it to. A June report stated that the share of fossil fuels in the world’s total energy mix is still about 80%, as it has been for several decades. “We […]

The Center for Jazz Studies, in collaboration with
Columbia University Office of the President, African American and African Diaspora Studies, English and Comparative Literature,
Core Curriculum, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery and the Heyman Center for the Humanities
Presents:
Such Sweet Thunder: Ellington Plays Shakespeare--Love and Power in Adaptation

A series of public events across the arts inspired by the "tone parallel" between Shakespeare and Duke Ellington

Such Sweet Thunder: A Listening Session

with
Courtney Bryan, Tulane University

Brent Hayes Edwards, Columbia University

Nicole Mitchell, University of Pittsburgh

Renowned composers and instrumentalists Courtney Bryan and Nicole Mitchell will join Professor Brent Hayes Edwards for a live listening session featuring the Duke Ellington Orchestra's 1957 recording of Such Sweet Thunder, sharing some of their favorite sections of Ellington's suite and discussing some of the innovative ways Ellington and his collaborator Billy Strayhorn orchestrated their classic "tone parallel" to Shakespeare.

December 2, 2021 7pm
Hybrid Event
Faculty House 64 Morningside Drive
Register for in-person or virtual attendance

Please note that though this is a public event, in accordance with Columbia University's COVID-19 protocols for public health,

in-person attendance is restricted to Columbia Affiliates ONLY. All other attendees can attend via the event livestream.
Please RSVP for a link to the event livestream and instructions for in-person attendance for Columbia affiliates
To Register:

Such Sweet Thunder: A Listening Session Such Sweet Thunder: A Listening Session with Courtney Bryan, Nicole Mitchell, and Brent Hayes Edwards

It Matters Now: Emergencies and Public Writing
Monday, December 13 | 5:30–6:45 p.m. ET
Featuring Viet Thanh Nguyen, University Professor; Aerol Arnold Chair of English; and Professor of English, American Studies and Ethnicity, and Comparative Literature, University of Southern California
Moderated by Denise Cruz, Professor of English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University; and Sue Mendelsohn, Director of the Writing Center; Associate Director of First Year Writing, Senior Lecturer in the Discipline of English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University
Reading: NYT Opinion Guest Essay, “I Can’t Forget the Lessons of Vietnam. Neither Should You."

The Columbia Public Writing Series Distinguished writers discuss the craft and strategy of writing to change minds—and the world. In each session, renowned writers join academic…

Writing Friendly Criticism in a Partisan Age
Wednesday, December 8 | 7:00–8:00 p.m. ET
Featuring Paul Sabin, Professor of History and American Studies, Yale University
Moderated by Nicole Wallack, Director of the Undergraduate Writing Program; Senior Lecturer in English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University
Reading: NYT Opinion Guest Essay, “How Liberals Can Attack From the Left—and Win”

Writing Friendly Criticism in a Partisan Age Featuring Paul Sabin, Professor of History and American Studies, Yale University Moderated by Nicole Wallack, Director of the…

In Case You Missed It: watch the 2021 Lionel Trilling Lecture "The Black Studies Project: 50 Years and Counting" by Dr. Hortense Spillers, with respondents Rich Blint and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, from October 6th, 2021.

The Black Studies Project: 50 Years and Counting October 6, 2021https://sofheyman.org/events/the-black-studies-project-50-years-and-countingBorn in the heat of struggle, the Black Studies movement in the Un...

Critical Race Theory and Writing for the General Reader
Thursday, November 11 | 5:30–6:45 p.m. ET
Featuring Jelani Cobb, Ira A. Lipman Professor of Journalism, Columbia Journalism School
Moderated by Amy E. Hungerford, Executive Vice President for Arts and Sciences and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences; Ruth Fulton Benedict Professor of English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University; and Fredrick C. Harris, Professor of Political Science; Dean of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Columbia University
Reading: The New Yorker, "The Man Behind Critical Race Theory"
The late legal scholar Derrick Bell is considered to be one of the founding scholars of Critical Race Theory. Columbia University Professor of Journalism Jelani Cobb, a staff writer at The New Yorker magazine, recently published a profile of Professor Bell, examining Professor Bell's work and legacy in the context of heightened public discourse on CRT. On November 11, Professor Cobb will speak about his own work, writing on race, politics, history, and culture, and he will discuss his approach to conveying academic ideas – like Critical Race Theory – while writing for a public audience.

All members of the Columbia community are welcome; Columbia email required for registration. To benefit most from each event, read the featured article in advance, linked on the website, or available upon request. For questions, please contact [email protected].

More information about the Columbia Public Writers series and upcoming events is available here:

The Columbia Public Writing Series Distinguished writers discuss the craft and strategy of writing to change minds—and the world. In each session, renowned writers join academic…

Modern Language Association: Brent Hayes Edwards
in Conversation
Register for a webinar with Brent Hayes Edwards
Thursday, December 4 2021, 2:00 PM EST

Join us for a virtual conversation with Brent Hayes Edwards, Peng Family Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University and editor of PMLA, about his work, his career trajectory, and his plans for PMLA.

Writing on literature and jazz, twentieth-century poetry, translation studies, francophone literature, Black internationalism, archive theory, and much more, Edwards brings an amazing record of interdisciplinary scholarship to his new position as editor of the MLA's flagship journal, PMLA. We'll ask Edwards about what it means to study literature in its culture(s), about the literature of the Black diaspora in its many languages, and about why he is drawn to 1920s and '30s Paris.

Edwards will be in conversation with the host, Paula Krebs, the executive director of the Modern Language Association.

Brent Hayes Edwards in Conversation - MLA Webinars Webinars from the Modern Language Association