University of Missouri Books

I think Joseph Carroll has written a work that is perhaps too ranging in content. He has an admirable intellect and his knowledge is so sweeping that he reminds one of those Victorians who converged the unexpected into their immediate intellectual pursuit. Wide learning is very much absent from academic centers where specialization is the rule. Carroll's unique intellect is a welcome sign in this respect. I was mostly intrigued by his estimate of Arnold's participation in the debates between the rising professional scientists and the entrenched Greek studies at Oxford. I think the book could have been more beneficial if focused on late nineteenth century Britain when the concept of human nature that developed from the study of Greek literature was not so radically incompatible with evolutionary theories propounded by Spencer, Huxley, and Darwin.

A good place to begin such an analysis might be the commonplace notebooks of men like Wilde, and the Essays, Speculative, and Critical of John Addington Symonds. Therein lies the truth of the the thesis that compatibility existed between Arnold's "Literature and Science" (1882). Arnold proposed: "Let us, therefore, all of us, avoid indeed as much as possible any invidious comparison between the merits of humane letters, as means of education, and the merits of the natural sciences."

Those critics that Carroll takes to task for their lack of knowledge about their own subject matter (i.e. critics of late nineteenth century writers like Wilde, Symonds, Pater, Vernon Lee, Grant Allen, etc.) would be presented with stronger arguments for why they should begin reading Spencer, Huxley, and Darwin. These writers all contributed to the various magazines, reviews, and periodicals of their time making their knowledge of scientific issues an everyday concern. One of the salient features of such reviews is the propensity for synthesis
which grew decidedly more idealist toward the 1890's. Out of that environment emerged the New Woman, Fabianism, and the very society that financed Wilde's rise.

I was surprised that Carroll did not quote Wilde's Intentions where the darling of queer theory made his statement avant la lettre: "Aesthetics, in fact, are to Ethics in the sphere of conscious civilization, what in the sphere of the external world, sexual is to natural selection." (Ellman, 406) Did Geoffrey Miller not propose this same thesis? Surprisingly the Victorians were brave in their speculations and showed little fear to venture new readings. Evolutionary psychologists interested in history and literature have a gold mine in the Fornightly Review, Cornhill Magazine, Mind, Nineteenth Century, etc. This is where the New Historicists dip and double dip. What they must find there in those archives of the politically incorrect necropolis of DWEMS must be a sadist's delight. Thousands of old white Victorian fannies to kick and whip. A scholar needs to enter such sites with a healthy dose of scepticism and an open mind. Carroll's method will prepare the Victorian scholars of the future, hopefully, to think and observe before they speak and write. So much of our literary theory today is bred in an isolation tank. What Carroll proposes is that we take a good hard look at the evolutionary science being written today and connect to it.

Carroll has chosen his fate well. He has the backing of great minds from the nineteenth century, minds that mostly appear unfathomable to today's dwarfs. This book deserves close study if for that reason alone. I don't know that he argues convincingly that the greater concerns of the queer theorists are banal, I do concur with him however, that much of what passes for literary study really belongs back in the locker room or the public facilities.

There is such a thing as tactful and insightful literary exploration of same-sex themes in texts. I don't think Carroll argues against that. Although these concerns are not the burden of Carroll's argument, it might have benefitted his case to have presented the subject with more grace. In particular, his characterization of Sedgwick seems unfair in light of her equally brave move to have relentlessly worked to carve out a space for alternative readings of Victorian literature. The attack on queer theory as pure rhetoric simply will not do when one considers that the more substantive issues lead directly to concerns germane to biological study. Though much is said of Foucault, no time is given to Boswell or Simon LeVay. This is a great error in his attack on queer theory and readers will quickly perceive a lack of balance. Again, considering that this book was written in the mid ninties, some slack must be given.

I have other major concerns with some of his readings that I cannot voice here, but I think this work is valuable as a source for ideas not available in Sparta (my term for the empire of academia).

Investigative reporting has proved a challenge from America's first newspaper publication, but was a subtle practice until the 1960s when it became a vital issue. THE EVOLUTION OF AMERICAN INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM offers the first history of the medium, surveying how such journalism took place from colonial to modern times, considering its rise to its critical position during the 1960s and 70s, and the founding of an investigative journalist group in the 70s to promote active investigative process. Social and newspaper history combine in a fine study of freedom of speech rights and journalistic effort.

This Pulitzer-Prize-nominated collection of poems has become a treasure in my life. I think it's out of print now, but if you can find a copy, you will appreciate why I've written this here.

Sir Francis Bacon is said to be the father of the scientific method. That is, a scientist looks at a given set of facts and establishes a theory that explains those facts. Then that theory is studied, perhaps experiments are performed, and usually the theory is used to predict some further point. If predictions made using the theory are proven sound, the theory gains strength. But it remains a theory essentially forever. Newton's Theory of Gravity, for instance, is still a theory even though there has never been an observed violation.

In this book the author points out that writers of fiction began to use the recent scientific findings in their books, and unknowingly perhaps began to follow the scientific method as they moved their stories along. Most of the fictional writers the author studies are French, reflecting, perhaps the use of French as the language of science at the time.

He is able to point out incidents in the books of each fo the writers that reflect their knowledge of science and of the scientific method.

"Davidson is a wonderful writer, a real find. There are a lot of writers out there who can put a story together and make the surfaces of their work gleam. What is special about Davidson's stories is something else altogether. He has the ability to make you care deeply about his characters. They become, for all their occasional quirkiness, as real as the folks next door."
--Steve Yarbrough, author of Prisoners of War

"Field Observations is a collection of short stories that excel in their lucidity of storytelling. Davidson writes in a sparse and often virtually transparent style that allows us to get deeply involved with these stories before we even recognize that just as we get to know these finely-drawn characters, they are changing before our eyes and recognizing that the wolrd is far different that they once imagined."
--John King, Sycamore Review

First Black Actors On The Great White Way tells the stories of the actors, critics and others involved in the production of Three Plays for a Negro Theater in the early 1900s, examining changing race relations and perceptions in light of both wartime and theater production of the times. An intriguing survey of black acting's changes in an early period of American rights issues just emerging.

"Woodrow Wilson never banged his shoe on a lectern, threatening to bury anyone. He never claimed to be a Berliner, nor offered to name names. But a ... book by Donald E. Davis and Eugene P. Trani ... makes the case that Wilson was, all the same, the first cold warrior. According to [this book] when Wilson was inaugurated in 1913, the American diplomatic corps in Russia was a shambles. Wilson entered the presidency avowedly uninterested in foreign affairs. He was quickly faced with a world war and then, in 1917, the Russian Revolution. Afraid of how the new government in Russia would affect the outcome of the war and uncertain how to talk productively to the radical Bolsheviks, Wilson embarked on a policy of diplomatic quarantine that lasted until 1933, prefiguring the Cold War."
--not reviewed by author, but taken from the Indiana University's Alumni Magazine's independent review

During the Great Depression, Stu Paine signed on as a dogsled driver for Admiral Byrd in his attempt to reach the South Pole. It was Paine and his companions who set the record for the "farthest South" any American had yet gone. Now his daughter has edited his diaries for publication, with lots of contemporary photos. The result is a book that is raw and real. Paine's diaries have given me more of a picture of Antarctica than a dozen books I've read about that vast, cold land.

For example, he wrote on August 14, 1934: "Nature, strong + big, has let human ambitions contaminate her realm only at great cost. But it is only for a while -- We will return. Other expeditions will come + go, hanging like flies on an edge of a dish, to the edge of Antarctica, here to-day, gone tomorrow. And all the while the blizzards come, the temperature sinks to the seventies +eighties [below zero F], the seals + penguins + gulls come +go, the overwhelming forces of the ice pressing down from the plateau will go on, tremendous, grand + awful. How few see it -- what a pity, a land of inspiration and to most people a land of monotony + terror. As in no other place, peace holds sway, the peace of God perhaps --"

A great book for Arctic and Antarctic fans and also for those who love reading diaries to get a glimpse of the person who wrote them.

Written by former Truman State University director of the graduate program in music David C. Nichols, Founding the Future: A History of Truman State University is an eye-opening chronicle of the proud history of Truman State from its visionary founding over a hundred years ago to modern changes and transformations, such as the introduction of value-added assessment and student reactions. Founding the Future also looks beyond Truman State's rich history toward its future legacy, from study abroad to the development of liberal education outside the classroom. Black-and-white photographs, notes, and appendices round out this glowing tribute to the evolution of an American font of higher learning.

I have been an admirer of Gordon Weaver's short stories since I read "Getting Serious" (winner of the Best American Short Story in 1980 and included in this collection) twenty years ago. I won't say that it is the "best" short story I ever read - but I will say that it is one of the few that I have come back to again and again because of the way it speaks to me about life, loss and memory - the way each of us "fictionalizes" our past to make sense of it and how the dreams and aspirations of our youth collide with the realities of middle age. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to meet with Mr. Weaver in 1992 in Stillwater, OK before he retired from his english professorship and tell him how important his work had been. Highly recommended.