Editor’s Comment

EDITOR’S COMMENT Siena College is sponsoring its fifth annual multidisciplinary conference on the fiftieth anniversary of World War II. The focus will be on the year '1940. Among the topics to be given special emphasis are Fascism and Naziism, the War in Asia, Spain, Literature, Art, Film, Political History, Popular Culture, Feminist Studies, and Jewish Studies. Please send inquiries to Professor Thomas O. Kelly, II, Department ofHistory, Siena College, Loudonville, NY 12211. * * * Hugh C. MacDougal has ashed us to announce the formation of the James Fenimore Cooper Society, an outgrowth of a series of conferences sponsored by the State University of New York College at Oneonta. The Society will seek to promote the exchange of infor­ mation between scholars and others interested in the life, literary achievements, and social commentary of Cooper, and to encourage Cooper studies at all levels. The Society has initiated a newsletter. Please contact Professor MacDougal at 32 Elm Street, Cooperstown, NY 13326. * » * The Essays on Literature series at Western Illinois University is open to essays for con­ sideration for a new book, The Cunning Craft: Original Essays on Detective Fiction and Contemporary Literary Theory. The general focus is on the paradigmatic function of detective fiction for literary theorists during the last twenty-five years. Send manuscripts to Essays in Literature Book Series, 114 Simpkins Hall, Western Illinois University, Macomb, IL 61455. * • », Our readers may be interested in the new Ralph Waldo Emerson Society. This group will hold an annual meeting, sponsor panels, and produce a newsletter. Articles, notes, and announcements are invited. Please send queries to Professor Wesley T. Mott, Department of Humanities, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 100 Institute Road, Worcester, MA 01609.» » • Two journals of interest to our readers are soliciting papers for special issues. Modern Fiction Studies will publish a number on John Updike in the spring of 1991. The deadline for manuscripts is December 1,1989. Write to Modem Fiction Studies, Department of English, Purdue University, West Layfayette, IN 47907. Twentieth Century Literature will run a special issue on Frank O’Connor in the fall of 1990. Send manuscripts to Michael Steinman, Depart­ ment of English, Nassau Community College, Garden City, NY 11530.» » » Oxford University Press has announced American Literary History, a quarterly devoted to contemporary literary history and theory. The journal covers American literature from the colonial period through the present. Gordon Hunter, Executive Editor, seeks submissions that deal with writers, works, or theoretical and historical problems. One issue each year will be devoted to a single topic. Address all correspondence to American Literary History, Department of English, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WS 53706.» » » Facts on File and Bruccoli Clark Layman have initiated a new Bibliography of United States Literature in sixteen volumes covering fiction, verse, drama, and non-fiction prose. The listings will be both primary and secondary. Each volume will be supervised by an editor working with a large staff of contributors and checkers. The Editorial Board for the project is chaired by Joel Myerson and includes Matthew J. Bruccoli, Edward Knappman, Richard Layman, Harrison T. Meserole, George Monteiro, and David Nordloh. Scholars are being recruited to compile the entries on individual authors; anyone interested in contributing should write to Bruccoli Clark Layman, Columbia, SC 29208. J.N. ...