Recent News

  1. Anticipating “The Great Gatsby” with David Zimmerman

    Written by Mary Ellen Gabriel, Staff Writer, College of Letters & Sciences on April 25, 2013

    The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is one of English professor David Zimmerman’s favorite novels. In advance of the May 10 release of Baz Luhrmann’s new film, Zimmerman shares insights about the book and its characters, as well as the song he plays to his students about the beautiful illusions of the infamous Jay Gatsby.

  2. English Majors Reception & Awards Ceremony | Sunday, May 5

    Written by Kevin Boettcher on April 16, 2013

    The English Department will be celebrating our graduating seniors, as well as writing prize, digital media project, and scholarship winners, at a reception on Sunday, May 5th from 4:30 - 6:30 PM in the Alumni Room in the Pyle Center. The reception is free for students and will include appetizers and a cash bar. The event will also feature remarks from distinguished English alumnus Dr. Daniel Socolow, a former Director of the MacArthur Fellows Program. Read more about the schedule of events, our alumni speaker, and our full list of award winners...

  3. English Professor Levine talks Mad Men

    Written by Tom Ziemer, Staff Writer, College of Letters & Sciences on April 09, 2013

    Caroline Levine is a scholar of Victorian literature — one who’s spent plenty of hours poring over the words of Charles Dickens, George Eliot and the Brontë sisters. Yet one of the University of Wisconsin-Madison English professor’s newest publications is an essay on the popular television series Mad Men, an edgy drama centered on a Madison Avenue ad agency in the 1960s.

  4. Prof. Kelley: On writing about the remarkable intersection of literature and science

    Written by Prof. Theresa Kelley, Department Chair on February 20, 2013

    Writing Clandestine Marriage was fascinating for me. It was challenging, too, but above all, working on this book sharpened my interest in how literature meets, or sidles up to, science. Here I want to talk about two examples from the book that present literature at work in ways that tell a good deal about the permeability between forms of thought, even those that seem so evidently distinct, like literature and science.

  5. Milestones: Odyssey Project celebrates tenth year

    Written by Emily Madsen on February 20, 2013

    The Odyssey Project, now celebrating its tenth year at UW-Madison, is the source of many stories of transformation. The program, directed by UW English and Continuing Studies Professor (and UW English department alum) Emily Auerbach, aims to assist adults who are seeking a way out of poverty by giving them access to a free two-semester intensive course in the humanities. By the end of the 2012-13 school year, the program will have served 300 students, and its impact resonates in the lives around those 300 hundred students as well.