Book Announcement for Reading as Democracy in Crisis: Interpretation, Theory, History

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James Rovira

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Apr 3, 2019, 10:07:38 PM4/3/19
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Book announcement that may be important to members of the Bananafish group, because I dedicated the book to Scottie, Tim, and Will Hochman and talk about the Bananafish group as a reading community in the Preface. I also mention Chris Kubica :). 

It's an academic book priced for library purchase, so it's very costly, but consider having your library order it. 

Jim

****

I'm pleased to announce that Reading as Democracy in Crisis: Interpretation, Theory, History is now available for order on Rowman & Littlefield's website: 


The chapters in this book demonstrate how the variety of reading strategies represented by the figures and movements discussed within its pages were motivated in part by different historical circumstances, many of which involved periods of crises in democracy. These circumstances range from Plato's Thirty Tyrants to the French Revolution to the two World Wars and the Holocaust, from the Civil Rights movement to LBGTQ rights to the Arab Spring in Egypt to social media. It covers figures and movements such as Plato and Derrida; Hegel; Marx; Wittgenstein; Warren; Rosenblatt; Adorno, Foucault, Derrida, and Frow; Butler; and Object-Oriented Ontology alongside Digital Humanities. Chapters include:

1 Democracy as Context for Theory: Plato and Derrida as Readers of Socrates, by James Rovira
2 Historian, Forgive Us: Study of the Past as Hegel’s Methodology of Faith, by Aglaia Maretta Venters
3 Karl Marx: The End of the Enlightenment, by Eric Hood
4 Ludwig Wittgenstein: Toward a Dialectical Pragmatism, by Steve Wexler
5 Robert Penn Warren: Poetry, Racism, and the Burden of History, by Cassandra Falke
6 Louise Rosenblatt: The Reader, Democracy, and the Ethics of Reading, by Meredith N. Sinclair
7 Aesthetic Theory: From Adorno to Cultural History, by Philip Goldstein
8 Judith Butler: A Livable Life, by Darcie Rives-East
9 Networking the Great Outdoors: Object-Oriented Ontology and the Digital Humanities, by Roger Whitson

The following 30% discount code is valid until April 30, 2020: LEX30AUTH19. It should work on the publisher's website linked above.  

This book presents straightforward explanations of each figure's or movement's central ideas alongside an original thesis about each figure or movement, so it can also be useful for introducing students to different theoretical approaches to texts. 

Thanks very much, 

Jim

--
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James Rovira

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May 10, 2019, 2:13:19 PM5/10/19
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Hey guys -- following up on that book announcement below, here's the dedication: 

"For all Bananafishers everywhere, especially our dear departed Bananafishers, Robert 'Scottie' Bowman, Tim O’Connor, and Will Hochman."

And here's my explanation of the dedication in the Preface: 

"The Bananafishers referred to in the dedication were members of a listserv by that name dedicated to the works of J. D. Salinger. It was curated for many years by Tim O’Connor until his death and takes its name from Salinger’s story 'A Perfect Day for Bananafish,' which narrates the suicide of Seymour Glass. Tim tirelessly oversaw a very engaged community of Salinger readers, even hosting a get together for several of its members in New York City on probably more than one occasion. I once met a few members during one of Tim’s get togethers, and on other occasions, and I once joined Chris Kubica, associate producer of the documentary Salinger (2013) and coeditor of Letters to J.D. Salinger (University of Wisconsin Press, 2014), on a radio program in New York to discuss Salinger. When Tim passed away, the group migrated to Yahoo groups and then to a Google group. It is still active, but barely. Robert 'Scottie' Bowman was a longtime listmember and the first of the key members to pass away. A psychologist by profession, he is also the author of Run to the Sea (1965) and The Toy (1967), both excellent Hemingwayesque novels set in the United Kingdom. Will Hochman, the third person mentioned in the dedication, is the most recent of the Bananafishers to pass away. He was Associate Professor of English at Southern Connecticut State University until his passing, and he was Chris’s coeditor on Letters to J.D. Salinger. He originally submitted the proposal for the chapter on Louise Rosenblatt, but handed it off to his SCSU colleague Meredith Sinclair when he became ill, who stepped into his place admirably, quickly, and completely on point."

There, you've been remembered in print :). Thanks for being readers with me. 

Jim R

On Wed, Apr 3, 2019 at 10:07 PM James Rovira <james...@gmail.com> wrote:
Book announcement that may be important to members of the Bananafish group, because I dedicated the book to Scottie, Tim, and Will Hochman and talk about the Bananafish group as a reading community in the Preface. I also mention Chris Kubica :). 

It's an academic book priced for library purchase, so it's very costly, but consider having your library order it. 

Jim

****

I'm pleased to announce that Reading as Democracy in Crisis: Interpretation, Theory, History is now available for order on Rowman & Littlefield's website: 


--

Chris Kubica

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May 12, 2019, 12:14:37 PM5/12/19
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Jim,

This is so amazing. Thank you, sir.

P.S. I think we’re almost the only two folks left posting on here. ;)

-- 
Chris Kubica

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James Rovira

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May 12, 2019, 12:25:44 PM5/12/19
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Ah there’s a few others around I think :).

Jim R

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Michael Anello

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May 12, 2019, 12:54:55 PM5/12/19
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If all the oldie mcmoldies can last another decade, we'll have lots more to talk about, with more people too, I bet.  Congrats on your book, Jim.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/bananafish-list/18A43789-A2DF-498F-A5B2-C84ADAFC4894%40gmail.com.

Steven “N” Bays

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May 12, 2019, 1:06:52 PM5/12/19
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Still here. Patiently waiting.

Steve B 

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Amber Raley

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May 12, 2019, 9:04:00 PM5/12/19
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Howdy Chris & Jim and fellow Bananafish!

I'm still here though posting less as I try to be writing more... working on that Dissertation to become fully Piled Higher and Deeper :)

Thank you all for your words and reminders of this community. I miss Tim and Scottie... is Cecilia still about anywhere? 

Swimmingly,
Amber
--------------
I Could Live In Hope -- Low


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Chris Kubica

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May 12, 2019, 9:10:27 PM5/12/19
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I’m trying to think of all the bananafish I've actually met. 

Will, Jim and Amber are the ones that come to mind. :-)

Chris Kubica
President, Founder

James Rovira

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May 12, 2019, 9:55:28 PM5/12/19
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Amber

Cecilia is on FB - I can get you in touch with her if you aren’t.

Jim R

Sundeep Dougal

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May 13, 2019, 12:17:04 AM5/13/19
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Jim,

Good to hear from you after such a long time. But while Tim indeed did
a wonderful job in curating the Bananafish list and I miss him
greatly, the list was actually started by Stephen Foskett in 1996. But
that's just a matter of detail for the old timers now....

Sonny
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James Rovira

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May 13, 2019, 7:41:33 AM5/13/19
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Thanks, Sonny. Yep, I knew that Tim didn’t start the list, and I tried to be careful not to say that he did, just that he “curated” it for a long time, but I wish I’d remembered Stephen’s name. I would’ve mentioned it. I just wasn’t lucky enough to have been on the list when he was running it.

Jim R

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Stephen

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May 14, 2019, 10:42:36 AM5/14/19
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Thanks for the memories! I indeed started this thing but I don't need a mention. I'm just glad you mentioned these marvelous people who actually contributed!


On Monday, May 13, 2019 at 7:41:33 AM UTC-4, Jim wrote:
Thanks, Sonny. Yep, I knew that Tim didn’t start the list, and I tried to be careful not to say that he did, just that he “curated” it for a long time, but I wish I’d remembered Stephen’s name. I would’ve mentioned it. I just wasn’t lucky enough to have been on the list when he was running it.

Jim R

Sent from my iPhone

> On May 13, 2019, at 12:18 AM, Sundeep Dougal <sundee...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Jim,
>
> Good to hear from you after such a long time. But while Tim indeed did
> a wonderful job in curating the Bananafish list and I miss him
> greatly, the list was actually started by Stephen Foskett in 1996. But
> that's just a matter of detail for the old timers now....
>
> Sonny
>
>
>> On Mon, 13 May 2019 at 07:25, James Rovira <james...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Amber
>>
>> Cecilia is on FB - I can get you in touch with her if you aren’t.
>>
>> Jim R
>>
>> --
>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Bananafish" group.
>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to bananaf...@googlegroups.com.
>> To post to this group, send email to bananaf...@googlegroups.com.
>> Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/bananafish-list.
>> To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/bananafish-list/2D1DE7CD-8730-4181-B99D-2A7D7EEB5F95%40gmail.com.
>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
>
> --
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James Rovira

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May 14, 2019, 10:56:54 AM5/14/19
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Ha I’m writing you into the intro to the second edition! :). 

Thanks for what you started.

Jim

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Chris Kubica

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May 14, 2019, 4:52:40 PM5/14/19
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So more of us are still here than I thought. That’s good!

When and where’s the 25th Bananafish reunion? It would be far out if we had one.

:-)

(((()))),
 
Chris Kubica

Michael Anello

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May 14, 2019, 4:56:49 PM5/14/19
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Hopefully everyone doesn't eat so much they can't get out of the restaurant.

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