We are here to revolutionize academic reviewing. We aim to
do so by assessing new books on English and American literature of the
nineteenth century within ninety days of their publication, by inviting authors
to respond to each review within thirty days of its submission, by linking key
words in each review to other online sites, by posting relevant pictures along
with our reviews, and by inviting comments from visitors to the site.
Background. On August 1 and 2, 2008, a proposal to launch an online review of books
on literature was discussed at a conference generously sponsored by the Leslie
Humanities Center of Dartmouth College (See list of participants below.)
Incorporating the rationale for the conference as well as a number of
suggestions that arose from it, we drafted a Prospectus that has been
circulated to interested parties during the past year.
The Need. At present, most books published by university presses must wait at least two years to be reviewed in print by academic journals. In other words, academic reviewing remains bound to the glacial pace of printing schedules. We find this pace intolerably slow and grossly unfair to any author who has already spent several years writing a book, another year waiting to get it accepted, and still another year waiting to have it produced.
Our reviews so far. Since launching the site in September 2009, we have posted just over 180 reviews as of 5 September 2011. For an update on this project as well as further news of online book reviewing generally, click above on NEWS.
Our reviewers. Ranging from doctoral candidates to chaired professors and emeriti, our reviewers constitute a cross section of specialists in literature. We strongly appreciate their exceptional contributions to this project and hope you will enjoy reading their work.
Books Announced and Topical Index. Every book that we review or plan to review is listed with its reviewer in the Books Announced list, which is alphabetical by author's surname. We also furnish a topic index to all the books reviewed.
Institutional Support. At Dartmouth College, the English Department, the Dean of the Humanities Division, and the Office of the Provost have generously funded this project.
Technical Support. Built by Geethmala Sridaran of India, an M.A. candidate in Computer Science at Dartmouth, this site is technically managed by Andy Foust, candidate for a Master’s degree in English at the University of Virginia.
Advisory and Editorial Boards. For the Advisory Board and Board of
Editors, see the Masthead. We are enormously grateful to our
advisers and editors for the indispensable part they have played in launching
this review.
James Heffernan, Founding Editor
Thomas Luxon, Associate Editor for Technical Guidance
DARTMOUTH COLLEGE CONFERENCE ON THE CASE FOR LAUNCHING
AN ONLINE REVIEW OF BOOKS ON
LITERATURE
August 1 and 2, 2008
REVIEW/ WEBSITE EDITORS:
George Landow, Professor of English,
Brown University; Editor, The
Victorian Web
Laura Mandell, Associate Professor
of English, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio; Founding Editor of Nines, website for studies in nineteenth-century English
and American culture
UNIVERSITY PRESS DIRECTORS AND EDITORS
Phyllis Deutsch, Editor in Chief, University Press of New
England
Philip Pochoda, Director, University of Michigan Press
William P. Sisler, Director, Harvard University Press
REPRESENTATIVES OF GRADUATE PROGRAMS IN ENGLISH
AND COMPARATIVE LITERATURE
Pericles Lewis, Department of English, Yale University
Marianne Hirsch, Professor of
Comparative Literature, Columbia University and former editor of PMLA.
DARTMOUTH PARTICIPANTS
James Heffernan, Emeritus Professor of English, Dartmouth
College
Jeff Horrell, Librarian, Dartmouth College
Julie Lirot, Adjunct Professor of Spanish and Portugese
Elizabeth Kirk, Associate Librarian
for Information Resources, Dartmouth College Library
Thomas Luxon, Department of English,
Cheheyl Professor and Director, Dartmouth Center for the Advancement of
Learning
Adrian Randolph, Leon Williams
Professor of Art History and Director, Leslie Humanities Center, Dartmouth
College
David Seaman, Associate Librarian
for Information Management, Baker-Berry Library, Dartmouth College
Thomas Summerall, President, Media-Lab
Mark Williams, Associate Professor
and Chair of Film and Television Studies and Founding Editor, Journal of
e-Media Studies.
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