#American Scholar

[uwmspeccoll]

It’s Fine Press Friday!

This Friday we highlight another book by Gaylord Schanilec and Midnight Paper Sales, out of Stockholm, WI. It’s Come to This, by Twin Cities writer Patricia Hampl, was printed in 2023, in a limited edition of 70 copies signed by Hampl, Schanilec, and Lila Shull – who drew and printed the cover lithograph of ginkgo leaves. The wood engravings are by Schanilec – the large river panorama based on a photograph by Hampl. Typefaces used include Oldrich Menhart’s Monotype Menhart,Hermann Zapf’s Michealangelo, and an italic cast by Nick Gill. Molly Brown assisted the printing “in the wilds of Western Wisconsin,” on the Vandercook Universal III. The paper was handmade in the mid-20th century, at the Velke Losiny Paper Mill in what is now the Czech Republic. According to the colophon, this was when the formula included more sizing, and the formidable paper therefore "retains its pleasing 'rattle.'" Matthew Lawler Zimmerman bound the edition at Studio Alcyon.

“Life’s a journey—no wonder it’s our most ancient metaphor. A platitude, but only truth can harden into cliché.” Written during Covid isolation at her home in St. Paul, It’s Come to This explores escape – that “Midwestern birthright, the desire to be somewhere else” – as well as the significance of a long pandemic: “At your age, a year is a serious percentage of what’s left.” With the background of Midwestern summer storms, the George Floyd protests, and menacing Boogaloo Bois, Hampl walks her dog along the Mississippi feeling both isolated from and deeply connected to the events around her. The text first appeared in The American Scholar in October of 2021. “What exactly, has come to what?” Hampl wonders to her dog. “What is this it I sigh into, what is the this I keep falling upon? What distress and what comfort does this muttered mantra express?”

Shull’s rich pattern of ginkgo leaves across the cover speaks to the dog’s favorite spot to stop along their walks. “I get it.” Hampl concludes to her companion. “And now, standing by the side of the moving water, apparently we have achieved our destination, the ghostly This.”

View more work by Gaylord Schanilec and Midnight Paper Sales.

View other Fine Press Friday Posts.

--Amanda, Special Collections Graduate Intern

[yourdailyqueer]

Simone Person

Gender: Non binary (he/they)

Sexuality: Queer

DOB: N/A

Ethnicity: African American, white

Occupation: Poet, writer, scholar

[florasstudyjournal]

assignment work, 19.03 WED

Happy wednesday!! My assignment is due this Friday so I’m getting ahead on the mini-study to write it. It’s only a short response, but I feel I need something to work off??

Anyways, the essay is basically on a keyword or phrase that contributes to American writing and America itself. It’s the importance of the keyword/phrase, its meaning, and then its themes in the American context.

Also peep the iced tea — it’s lemon and earl grey !!

[philosophybits]

The scholar is the delegated intellect. In the right state, he is, Man Thinking. In the degenerate state, when the victim of society, he tends to become a mere thinker, or, still worse, the parrot of other men's thinking.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, The American Scholar

[allegorypaintings]

Philosophy and Christian Art

Artist: Daniel Huntington (American, 1816-1906)

Date: 1868

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA, United States

Description

Although most of Huntington’s long career was taken up in painting more than one thousand portraits, he also painted landscapes and probably thought of himself as a painter of allegories and ideal subjects. His interest in religious and allegorical painting had been kindled by the Raphaelesque Italian and German ideal subjects he had seen in Rome on his first trip to Europe in 1839. By the 1860s his models were the Venetian artists of the High Renaissance, especially Titian (c. 1488-1576), whose example can be seen in the costumes and figure types depicted in Philosophy and Christian Art. The model or the type of the old man also appears in Huntington’s Sowing the Word, 1868 (New-York Historical Society). The influence of the Venetian school can also be seen in the rounder forms and richer palette of his paintings of this period. Even the half length format seems to echo Venetian examples. The model for the painting to which the young lady gestures, however, appears to be The Adoration of the Shepherds, 1650, by José Ribera (1588-1652) in the Louvre, Paris. The painting is conceived as a conversation between embodiments of opposing, but equally worthy points of view. The wisdom of the aged scholar, reading a book by lamplight, is contrasted with the intuitive perceptions of the young woman who examines a work of art by the daylight signified by the window.

[importantwomensbirthdays]

Mary Frances Berry

Civil rights activist Mary Frances Berry was born in 1938 in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1980, Berry was appointed to the US Commission on Civil Rights, and served as the Commission's chair from 1993 until 2004. She was one of the founders of the Free South Africa Movement, which helped to end apartheid in South Africa. For this work, she won the Nelson Mandela Award from the South African government in 2013. Berry is the author of twelve books and currently a professor emerita at the University of Pennsylvania.

Image source: Kennedy Space Center

[thebellekeys]

changes i think luca guadagnino could (should) make in his upcoming “american psycho” film:

set the film in the west coast, preferably the bay, silicon valley, nocal in general. the real american psychos of the 2020s drive teslas and work for apple. finance bros just don’t measure up to tech bros these days. plus i think california’s homelessness problem would make patrick’s own hatred for the poor and vulnerable more impactful.

have an openly gay actor play patrick. this isn’t necessary, per se, just my cooper koch agenda at work, but i think it’d be a great nod to the homoeroticism of the text and bret easton ellis himself having been closeted. especially since patrick tries (and fails) to present as the straightest dudebro ever.

play into patrick bateman’s donald trump obsession even more by having sebastian stan play trump in a cameo. goes without saying but the novel has been, unfortunately, rather clairvoyant. i just think it’d be genius to lean into that.

not to be obvious again, but patrick should have the personality of one of those health and lifestyle influencers who also hit their vape nonstop.

cast a ridiculously hot nepo baby (i’m thinking kaia gerber or lily rose rn) as evelyn. that’d make the bit of patrick being lowkey more into paul than her even funnier.

[fullscoreshenanigans]

Your analyses are the best. They are so fun to read and I over think everything afterwarrs

Thank you!

For analyses above my level, I highly recommend checking out these if you haven't already read them:

The two chapters of Kei Toda's Reading The Promised Neverland with a British/American Literature Scholar (2020) that have been translated into English by fans (Chapter 2: Religion by @thathilomgirl & @0hana0fubuki0 | Chapter 3: Gender by @1000sunnygo)

Anime Feminist's "Emma’s Choice: The gender-norm nightmare at the heart of The Promised Neverland" article (2018) (good follow-up to Toda's chapter on gender)

Jackson P. Brown's "Thoughts on… The Promised Neverland, and Black Women in Manga" (2018) blog post and Zeria's video essay/blog post (2019) on Krone's depiction

Jairus Taylor's "The Unfulfilled Potential of The Promised Neverland Anime" (2021) which made me more open to the idea of a remake of S1

For tumblr posts (some of these I'm linking through my blog because I either had a minor link addition or think the OP's/prev's tags deserve to be seen and rebloggable, but you can just click through to the original post):

@puff-poff's exploration of the demon world's culture (Part 1 & Part 2)

@just-like-playing-tag's examination of the farm system, Emma character analysis launched by a minute change in S2e02, and mini-Isabella analysis regarding her treatment of Ray (along with her blog just being a wealth of knowledge in general)

@hylialeia's post on the series' handling of Norman's plan/the oppressed and oppressors

@avadescent's analysis of the S2 ED album art (Norman and Emma are perpendicular; Emma and Ray are parallel.)

@linkspooky has a lot of analyses from when the series was running but special mention to this analysis of Norman's character

@vobomon also has a lot but special mention to her Norman is autistic and Norman has PTSD posts

@goldiipond's "Ray is autistic" essay

@emmaspolaroid with some of the best Emma and Emma & Isabella meta in general

@nullaby's post on Isabella and Ray's relationship

[marejadilla]

Thomas Woodruff, "Hollyhocks and Scholar Rocks" from “Francis Rothbart, The tale os a fastidious feral” serie. Acrylic on linen.

Thomas Woodruff was born in New Rochelle N.Y. in 1957, is best known for his imaginative and intricately detailed paintings.

[brunhielda]

Am currently rereading “Wizard of Oz” in prep for running a high school musical based on said book.

Let me tell you, reading an introduction by someone who either did not know of or chose to completely ignore Baum’s feminist beliefs is absolutely WILD.

I finally had to stop when Mr. Barbarese said “Oz is a place where good dominates, but where you will also find that impossible contradiction, the good witch. This is by all evidence Frank Baum’s invention and arguably his lasting contribution to the representational vocabulary of Western Literature.”

EXCUSE you?!

Ignoring all feminist folktales in which women use what is traditionally “witchcraft” to save the day, only for it to be labeled something else because the woman is good, or even older tales in which “the witch” is a purely neutral character seen only as an agent of change- ok. Fine. Annoying and dismissive, but expected.

But to completely miss the work done by BAUM’S OWN MOTHER-IN-LAW, Matilda Gage, on the discussions around the word “witch” and how it was used to describe ANY woman of power to dehumanize her, whether she was in the right or no, the very essays that BAUM BASED HIS GOOD WITCH OFF OF- that was too far.

You do not get to mention the shift in public consciousness around the word “witch” without mentioning Matilda. No sir. You have lost all credibility.

I mean, he was already on thing ice for struggling to understand anything basic about Dorothy’s traveling companions- (he recognized the irony without understanding why it was there, like, huh?) but I was willing to look past it for the intriguing contrast and comparisons he was making between Oz, Wonderland, and Neverland. Then he tried to talk character archetypes again and just fell flat on his face.

Like- wow. Way to somehow say “this author had powerful female characters” while also completely leaving women out of the discussion. I just… how???!

This intro read like all my earliest academic essays- trying to prove a point while dismissing or ignoring anything that might refute or confuse the issue, leaving it full of complex academic jargon without much depth.

According to this text- J. T. Barbarese is “an authority on children’s literature, (and) teaches at Rutgers University in Camden New Jersey” as of the publication of this edition in 2005.

I now have some concerns for those who studied Children’s Literature at Rutgers in the early 2000s.

Can we just decide you need to be a woman or at least somewhat queer to try to analyze anything Ozian? Can we make that a ruling?

Sorry- obscure rant over. Please go on with your day. 🙏

[afrotumble]

W. E. B. Du Bois, Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune, and Horace Mann Bond

Source: Du Bois Papers

Special Collections and University Archives, U Mass Amherst Libraries

[yourdailyqueer]

Thandeka

Gender: Female

Sexuality: Lesbian

DOB: 25 March 1946

Ethnicity: African American

Occupation: Minister, theologian, scholar, entrepreneur, activist

[softdedue]

Honestly as a Jewish person I understand that it’s easy for a lot of Jewish people to feel defensive right now—we have been raised to feel persecuted at every turn, after all, and why should this situation be any different—but it is so important to step back and take stock of the actual events that are occurring.

The actions of Israel are not justified. The creation of Israel was never justified. Any Jewish person who disagrees with either of those statements on any level, any Jewish person who still believes that the situation with Israel is in any way “complicated” with regard to morality, is complicit in this genocide and deserves to face the consequences of that. Jewish people who support genocide do not deserve to have their hands held any more than any other person who supports genocide. Having suffered through a genocide as a people ourselves should only make us more horrified by what these monsters are claiming to do in our people’s name.

I saw a post yesterday that said global antisemitism made the actions of Israel “understandable”. How could we expect Jewish Israelis to feel safe anywhere other than their own country if the rest of the world hates them? Well, I challenge you this: how could you live with yourself if you felt pride for a country that could do such things?

I am an American. I am hated by many people for being an American. I think those people are entirely justified in hating me for being an American, and I agree with their criticisms of my country, because I know my country fucking sucks. Any Israeli who doesn’t feel critical of their country deserves my hatred. That’s kind of the point.

Obviously we need to talk about the spread of antisemitism in response to this horrific tragedy. We should not hate Israelis for being Jewish, and we should not hate average Jewish people around the world for being Jewish. But we also need to acknowledge the Jewish role in this tragedy as well, and to keep the true victims—the people of Gaza—at the forefront of our minds. It is understandable that there would be antisemitic backlash at this time. We must have grace with a world who is reeling in the horror of us—yes, us—slaughtering their children by the thousands.

This is not our moment to speak out about injustices done against our people. This is our moment to apologize, and to distance ourselves from the monsters who have condoned this, and to speak out in support for our Palestinian brothers and sisters who are facing adversity that makes the acts currently being committed against us look like nothing.

Free palestine

[philosophybits]

The state of society is one in which the members have suffered amputation from the trunk, and strut about so many walking monsters, — a good finger, a neck, a stomach, an elbow, but never a man.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, The American Scholar

[sivavakkiyar]