The Editor's Fence

TKE EDITOR'S FENCE 1. Report on the ELT Seminar: The Aesthetic Movement (MlA, New York. Dec 1974): The Seminar met from 7:30 to 8:50 p.m. on December 28, with Karl Beckson (Brooklyn College, CUNY) presiding. Since the meeting room contained some seventy seats, over thirtyfive participants were admitted. Ruth Z. Temple's paper, "Truth in Labelling: Pre-Raphaelitism, Aestheticism, Decadence, Fin de Siècle," which reveals how these terms have been used and abused and which advocates abandonment of the terms "aesthetic" and "Aestheticism," provoked an extraordinarily lively response from the audience. Discussion centered on the appropriateness of the term "Aesthetic Movement" to characterize the work (and the lives) of those habitually referred to as "Aesthetes" and the relationship of l'art pour l'art to Aestheticism. Discussion also included the central ideas of James G. Nelson's paper, "The Nature of the Aesthetic Experience in the Poetry of the Nineties: Ernest Dowson, Lionel Johnson, and John Gray" and Karl Beckson*s "A Mythology of Aestheticism." When the meeting adjourned, some fifteen or twenty participants remained to carry on the discussion, which lingered until 9:25 p.m. (Fortunately, no meeting was scheduled to follow the ELT Seminar.) The papers have been printed in English Literature in Transition. XVIIi 4 (1974). 2. ELT Seminar: H. G. Wells (MLA. San*Francisco. Dec 1975): A seminar on H. G. Wells, subject to MLA approval, has been planned. William J. Scheick (University of Texas) will be Discussion Leader. A panel of discussants will consist of authors of papers to be published in ELT. XVIII: k (1975)ι prior to the meeting. Authors and their papers will be listed in the MLA program. Papers to be considered for the Seminar should be submitted well in advance to the Discussion Leader, and not later than 1 Aug 1975· Guidelines for the paper topics are suggested by the following list, which is not intended to be restrictive: the short stories; men, women, and marriage; Wells' post-war work (ideology and/or fiction); Wells' art of fiction (perhaps in works other than Tono-Bungey); etc. For information and submissions, address Prof. William J. Scheick, Department of English, University of Texas, Austin, Texas. 3· G. B. Shaw; Annotated Secondary Bibliography Seminar (MLA. San Francisco. Dec 1975ΠPending MLA approval, a second seminar on the three-volume ASB Series project on G. B. Shaw is being planned. H. E. Gerber, the General Editor of the Series, will be Discussion Leader. The panel will consist of Mr. Richard Congdon (or his representative), Director of the N. I. U. Press, which is publishing the Series; John Pfeiffer (Central Michigan University), compiler-editor of the first volume on Shaw; Elsie B. Adams (San Diego State College), compiler-editor of the second volume; Donald C. Haberman (Arizona State University), compiler editor of the third volume. Editors and contributors to published and forthcoming volumes in the Series are urged to attend this Seminar. The meeting will provide an opportunity for the compiler-editors of the Shaw volumes to give their progress reports and all participants to report problems th8t are being encountered and to raise questions relevant to work on the Shaw project. 4. Annotated Bibliographies in ELT: Completed and Projected: We have awaiting space in ELT completed annotated bibliographies on John Addington Symonds, Richard Le Gallienne, John Gray (primary and secondary), John Freeman, and others. In addition, as the Bibliography, News, and Notes section indicates, many similar projects are in progress. We hope to publish at least two of the completed ones in the current volume. 5. Postage and the Economics of Publishing: We are again mailing Nos 1 and 2 together in order to reduce postal costs and the cost of envelopes. For the same reason, we shall mail Nos 3 and 4 together , hopefully in October. We do this so that we will not have to reduce the number of pages per issue or again increase subscription rates. We ask our readers to be patient. ANNOUNCEMENTS 1. ELT at Wright State: Professor Thomas R. Whissen (Wright State University) writes that he is currently teaching a "senior and graduate level course entitled English 410/610: English Literature in Transition...