The Editor's Fence

90 THE EDITOR'S FENCE 1« MLA Seminar (Chicago. Dec 1973): E. M. Forster: The seventeenth consecutive Seminar on English Literature in Transition will be on E. M. Forster, with Professor Frederick P. W. McDowell (University of Iowa), Discussion Leader, heading a panel of Forster scholars. Each panelist will present a brief position statement, the full version of which will be published in ELT, XVI: 4 (1973). to be mailed prior to the MLA meetings» Papers, according to Professor McDowell, may deal with a significant theme, or issues raised, in Förster's works; his technique as a writer; his relationship to other writers, thinkers, or the thought currents of his agej analyses of individual works, in the context supplied by his canon as a whole or the social life of his time; or the present lacunae in Forster criticism and scholarship. All papers are subject, first, to approval by Professor McDowell (June-July 1973) and by the Editor of ELT (August 1973). Pending MLA approval of the Seminar, we shall announce date, time and place in a future number of ELT. Attendance at the Seminar is limited by MLA rules; applicants must apply in advance to Professor F. P. W. McDowell, Department of English, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa (522^0). 2. MLA Seminar on Annotated Secondary Bibliographies (Chicago, Dec 1973); The first Seminar on Annotated Secondary Bibliographies was held in Denver in I969· We have received MLA approval of the second Seminar for the Chicago meetings in December 1973· The first Seminar concerned itself with the planning of exhaustive book-length secondary bibliographies on Maugham, Conrad, and Hardy. Much has happened since then. Under the general editorship of Helmut E. Gerber, Northern Illinois University Press has published three volumes in a uniform aeries: W-. Somerset Maugham, comp and ed by Charles Sanders (1970); Joseph Conrad, comp and ed by Bruce E. Teets and Helmut E. Gerber (1971); Thomas Hardy, comp and ed by Helmut E. Gerber and W. Eugene Davis (about April 1973)· In addition, several volumes are nearing completion and are expected to be in print by end of 1973 or early 197^·: George Gissing. comp and ed by Joseph Wolff; E. M. Forster, comp and ed by Frederick P. W. McDowell. Further, other volumes have been contracted and are in progress: John Galsworthy, comp and ed by Earl E. Stevens and H. Ray Stevens; D. H. Lawrence, comp and ed by James C. Cowan; H. G. Wells, comp and ed by Alfred Borrello and William J. Scheick; Walter Pater, comp and ed by Franklin Court; Ford Madox Ford, comp and ed by Robert C. Schweik. Supplementary volumes on Conrad and on Hardy are already in progress. The series as a whole and individual volumes in it, we are happy to report, have been enthusiastically received as essential reference works, and the Conrad volume has been included in the MLA Scholars' Library. Sales have been encouraging, for the Maugham volume is nearly sold out, the Conrad volume is rapidly approaching that point, and the Hardy volume has received a large number of pre-publication orders. 91 We have been encouraged to plan the most complex and largescale project to date: a multi-volume annotated secondary bibliography on George Bernard Shaw. In the light of the events since I969, it seems appropriate to schedule a second Seminar at this time. H. E. Gerber will be Discussion Leader; place and time will be announced in a future number of ELT. Attendance is limited to editors and contributing abstracters to published volumes and those in progress, and to invited participants. Discussion will focus on procedures used to prepare the early volumes in the series, the recently revised Abstracters' Manual, and the proposed Shaw project. ANNOUNCEMENTS 1. People : Jack Wayne Weaver (Winthrop College) has been awarded a NEH Summer Research Grant to work in Ireland on AE. Joseph Wolff (Loyola University, Chicago) is on Sabbatical leave this term and will be in England this summer. Robert C. Schweik (SUNY, Fredonia) completes his year as Visiting Professor at the University of Trier-Kaiserslautern and will be returning to his post at Fredonia by end of summer. 2· Anglo-Irish Research: A...