Alok Yadav || Home page

Department of English / George Mason University
Office Robinson A471 / Office Hours TBA
Email ayadav@gmu.edu / Phone 703-993-2765
(Spring 2007)

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Literature in the News (see archive)

§ Robin DeWan, "Finding an Audience Elsewhere" (on Finnish literature and film) (24 Jan. 2008)
§ Over 800 pieces of oral epic and folk literature collected from Central Highlands of Vietnam (24 Jan. 2008)
§ Norimitsu Onishi, "Mobile phone novels ring up big sales, but critics fear for Japanese literature" (23 Jan. 2008)
§ Wayne Hunt, "Baghdad Burning: The Blogosphere, Literature and the Art of War" (Jan. 2008)

Current Syllabi || Course Materials || Resources for English Literary Studies
Rethinking English in Global Contexts || Multicultural and World Literature Anthologies

"'A mere matter of words,' we say contemptuously, forgetting that words have power to mold men's thinking, to canalize their feeling, to direct their willing and acting. Conduct and character are largely determined by the nature of the words we currently use to discuss ourselves and the world around us."
---Aldous Huxley, "Words and Their Meanings" (1940)

My Book

Before the Empire of English:
Literature, Provinciality, and Nationalism in Eighteenth-Century Britain
(Palgrave Macmillan, 2004)

Current Syllabi (on leave 2007-08)

(Not Applicable) || Back to Top

Course Materials (on leave 2007-08)

(Not Applicable)

Archived Course Materials

Jane Barker, "On the Difficulties of Religion"
Jane Barker, Bosvil and Galesia || Aphra Behn, The History of the Nun
Eliza Haywood, The British Recluse || Eliza Haywood, Fantomina
Samuel Johnson, London || Alexander Pope, Windsor-Forest
Jonathan Swift, "Description of a City Shower"

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"Certainly the eighteenth century remains one of the historical periods that fascinate me most . . . because I find it increasingly rich and multi-faceted and full of contradictory ferments that are still going on today."
---Italo Calvino, "Two Interviews on Science and Literature" (1968)

Resources for English Literary Studies

MLA Style Guide
(A guide to MLA style for essays, covering format for in-text citations and works cited lists.)

Historical Outline for Restoration & 18th-Century British Literature
(A chronology of historical events and significant publications from 1642-1820, meant to provide a sense of context for students of the period.)

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Multicultural and World Literature Anthologies

A list of anthologies for those looking for a wider range of literature than that found in more traditional anthologies of British or American or Western literature.

Rethinking English in Global Contexts

A list of readings for those interested in rethinking English studies in contexts of global and local cultural diversity. References are categorized under the following headings:

I. United States focus
§ Rethinking American Literature/American Studies
§ Rethinking Writing, Composition, and Communication Studies
§ Rethinking American Social and Cultural History
II. International focus
§ Rethinking English/Cultural Studies in Global Contexts
§ Rethinking the English Language in Global Contexts
§ Rethinking the Global Scene