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  • Editorial Note
  • Gordon Hutner

The twentieth-anniversary year of American Literary History has provided us with the occasion to reflect on the past and meditate about the present. To that end, our first issue this year (20.1–2) was developed out of two symposia, in the spring and fall of 2007 at the University of Illinois, devoted to the current state of the field. That double issue was followed by one solely concerned with reviewing books from the last two decades (20.3). Our celebration now continues with proceedings from another symposium at Illinois during the spring of 2008. In January, we will publish still more articles marking the journal's anniversary, especially featuring European scholars who have been studying the changes in American literary historiography, along with contributions by some prominent American theorists and historians.

The format of the symposia was to invite speakers to present their arguments that addressed current issues in American literary historiography. A respondent was invited to give commentary for each presentation, and each paper was discussed vigorously by all in attendance. The presenters then had several weeks to revise their papers, on the basis of the comments—both formal and informal—that their work stimulated. The formal respondents had a look at the final version of the papers and then were asked to make whatever changes to their remarks that they thought appropriate.

Throughout, we aimed to make the scholarly values and viewpoints wide and diverse. All in all, I believe these 30 essays provide as comprehensive a view of our contemporary practices as can be found in any single volume. Plus, the commentaries yield an incalculable enrichment to that discourse. I think that any professional or graduate student will find in our combined contents as much of an entry into American literary studies as one could hope. When the review issue of 20 articles about recent books is added to this mix, the twentieth-anniversary issues of ALH may be at least as probing and as fresh and as challenging as those of the very first year. [End Page 665]

From the outset, the journal was committed to scrutinizing new ideas with the same vigor as it was determined to examine received wisdom. For 20 years, we have tried to remain open to new arguments and to circulate them. This desire to test the boundaries of the three words of the journal's title has animated our efforts in the past and will surely galvanize our accomplishments in the future. ALH has always tried to meet our readers' complex, sometimes conflicting needs and demands. In that endeavor, we could not have succeeded, as I believe we have, without the resounding support of so many professors—dozens each year who have helped the journal resist complacency and the several whose aid has been indispensable.

This is also the occasion for me to thank the very many wonderful assistants with whom I've worked—at Wisconsin, Kentucky, and Illinois. Each one has made the journal better, and for that I'm deeply grateful. [End Page 666]

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