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Peter J. Rabinowitz and Corinne Bancroft ’10 were invited to lead an interactive session at the National Council of Teachers of English Conference on Nov. 21, in Washington, D.C. Rabinowitz is the Carolyn C. and David M. Ellis ’38 Distinguished Teaching Professor of Comparative Literature.

Frank Lentricchia, Utica College graduate and literary critic, novelist and film professor, will present two events at Hamilton as part of the English Department’s Fall 2014 Reading Series. Lentricchia will read from his most recent work, Dog Killer of Utica: An Eliot Conte Mystery, on Monday, Nov. 3, at 4:10 p.m., in Dwight Lounge, Bristol Campus Center. He will present a talk titled “Writing as an Italian-American?” on Tuesday, Nov. 4, at 7:30 p.m., in the Burke Library All Night Reading Room. Both events are free and open to the public.

Barbara Gold (Classics), Steve Yao (English) and Brent Plate (Religious Studies) attended the Meeting of Directors of Humanities Centers at Small Liberal Arts Colleges at Wellesley College on Sept. 27.  This is a subgroup of the CHCI (Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes), an international group of colleges and universities that have (or will have/hope to have) humanities centers.

Kashmiri-American poet Agha Shahid Ali, a former Hamilton College professor, will be honored through a series of events taking place at Hamilton on Sept. 19-20. The symposium, which is a part of The Beloved Witness Project, will celebrate his life as a renowned poet, teacher and influential author.

Best-selling author and Bard College professor Daniel Mendelsohn will present a lecture, An Odyssey: A Father, A Son, and An Epic at Hamilton College on Thursday, Sept. 18, at 4:10 p.m., in the Taylor Science Center’s Kennedy Auditorium. The lecture is free and open to the public.

An article by Visiting Assistant Professor of English and Creative Writing Andrew Rippeon has been published in the current issue of Contemporary Literature. His article, "Bebop, Broadcast, Podcast, Audioglyph: Scanning Kamau Brathwaite's Mediated Sounds," examines the role sound media have played in the development of the Barbadian poet's politics and poetics.

For her Emerson Grant this summer, Hannah Chappell ’15 is working with Professor of English Onno Oerlemans on a project titled “Moving Through Language: The Intersection of Literature, Dance and Performance.” She'll research authors whose texts contain elements of dance; choreographers and dancers whose work includes elements of literature;  and examine how literary theory can be applied to dance.

The Cantos, by 1905 Hamilton alumnus Ezra Pound, is an 800-page, unfinished epic poem that is divided into 120 sections, or cantos. The work is widely regarded as controversial due to its experimental style, being loosely structured and arcane, and Pound’s publicized fascist sympathies. “A good deal of the political and economic material in the Cantos is [infamously] wrong-headed,” John Rufo ’16 stated, “but the poetic method and forms are not inherently fascist or anything like that.”

Before England was united under the monarchy, kings had to establish their legitimacy to gain and maintain power. Loyalty to the king, and support of his authority, were not yet attached to the crown, but had to be won. To discover how this was done, Matthew Currier '16 is examining royal diplomas, a type of charter specific to the crown.

A History of Religion in 5 1/2 Objects by Visiting Associate Professor of Religious Studies S. Brent Plate has continued to generate reviews and interviews. In its July issue, the Utne Reader excerpted the book for its online site under the title of "Drums: The Rhythme of Life"; the website "Spirituality and Practice" named it one of "The Best Spiritual Books of 2014 (so far),” describing it as “an elegant and illuminating book on the spiritual importance of objects in the religious life.”