The Editor's Fence

11 THE EDITOR'S PENCE Seminar on English Literature In Transition: The Aesthetics of Realisms (1880-1920): At the New York MLA meetings In December, I97O, the Seminar dealing with the ELT period will be held for the fourteenth consecutive year. Continued excellent attendance and lively discussion at previous meetings as well as continued support of ELT clearly suggest that we have not exhausted suitable topics of discussion. Many of the poets and short story writers in this period have in recent years been given more space in general anthologies; besides the three volumes on the drama, poetry, and short story of this period published by Pegasus, a growing number of other specialized anthologies are now on the market; many of the novelists of the period are being recognized by an increased quantity and better quality of critical studies as well as reprints of their work; and more courses concentrating on the literature of this period are being offered at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. With such groundwork well established, some of the theoretical problems of the literature are being given a second look and in some instances a first look. Between the years I88O and 1920 there had, in fact, been vigorous debates about the "new realism," "decadence," "aestheticism," and so on. At the time the discussions were somewhat more colored by passion than reason. In recent years, however , serious scholars have begun to turn their attention to some of the basic problems the "revolutionary" writers of the ELT period raised. One of these clearly had to do with the whole broad question of "realism" (actuality, verisimilitude, naturalism, mimesis - or whatever the label) in literature, particular as it concerns prose fiction. At the December MLA meetings in New York, therefore, the topic of discussion will be the Aesthetics of Realisms. The plurals are, of course, intended to suggest the complexity of the subject. We hope to have a panel of three or four persons, each of whom will have contributed a paper on some aspect of the subject to the issue of ELT which will be published early in December. Each author-panelist will briefly summarize the highlights of his paper in, essentially , a position statement. The meeting will then be open for what we hope will be a lively discussion. I hope to publish at least one general paper and two or three more specific ones on individual authors or particular aspects of the subject (eg, point of view in its relation to the sense of realism, historical reality and its translation into fiction, setting and the sense of reality, and so on). Contributions to be considered for publication in ELT and as the basis for discussion by the Seminar should reach me no later than mid-October. The authors of accepted papers will be asked to serve on the Seminar panel. The Discussion Leader will be H. E. Gerber, Department of English, Northern Illinois University, DeKaIb, Illinois (60II5). Date, place, and time will be announced in the earliest issue of ELT after the details have been provided by the MLA. The annual MLA program will also list the Seminar meetings. ill I remind all those interested in attending that requests for admission to the Seminar will be honored in the order in which they are received to the limit prescribed by the MLA. Requests should be addressed to the Discussion Leader. ANNOUNCEMENTS 1. Modern British Literature I: 1880-191^ at Geneseo: In the preceding number of ELT I called attention to ELT courses being offered at Ottawa. This time I am pleased to have Professor Donald J. Watt's report that the English Department of State University College, Geneseo, N. Y., offers a two-semester sequence in modern literature·, one course covering the period 1880-191*4· and the other the period 191¿J—1939. The course, according to Professor Watt, "is offered in alternate years at the undergraduate and graduate levels." Any other such reports? 2. Maugham In the ASB Series: Additional instrumentation is about to be added to the song I seem to be singing about the still-rising interest in the ELT period. The book-length annotated bibliography on W. Somerset Maugham, compiled...