[Many thanks to Peter Jordens for bringing this item to our attention.] Penn State York professor Jennifer Poulos Nesbitt printed a e book about colonialism and literature—Rum Histories: Ingesting in Atlantic Literature and Tradition (College of Virginia Press, 2022).
A brand new e book by Jennifer Nesbitt, affiliate professor of English at Penn State York, gives insights into the way in which necessary commodities form our desirous about the world. “Rum Histories: Ingesting in Atlantic Literature and Tradition” is now out there from the College of Virginia Press as a part of the New World Research sequence.
“Rum has such a tragic and violent historical past,” mentioned Nesbitt, “but it is a crucial a part of life-affirming, communal celebrations. This e book explores that paradox as it’s expressed in artwork.”
In keeping with the Virginia Press’ web site, Nesbitt’s e book discusses “a large spectrum of writing, from in style modern works reminiscent of Christopher Moore’s ‘Fluke’ and Joseph O’Neill’s ‘Netherland,’ to classics by Michelle Cliff, V.S. Naipaul, and different luminaries of the Caribbean diaspora.”
“It was a undertaking I simply fell into, proper in the course of writing my first e book,” mentioned Nesbitt. “I began to note how rum muddled the ethical compass of characters who genuinely needed to see fairness and justice within the wake of British imperialism. Consuming the alcohol made characters revert again to previous concepts and stereotypes — like they had been drunk on the previous,” she mentioned.
When Nesbitt completed writing “Narrative Settlements: Geographies of Ladies’s Fiction between the Wars,” printed in 2005 with the College of Toronto Press, she went again to the thought and, she mentioned, “It grew to become an obsession.” “As soon as I noticed it in a single novel I began to see it all over the place, not simply in Caribbean fiction,” mentioned Nesbitt.
Penn State has supported the event and writing of this necessary contribution to Caribbean literary research. Nesbitt acquired a fellowship from the Institute from the Arts and Humanities in addition to a sabbatical to finish this work. The e book can also be out there freed from cost by Penn State’s participation in Towards an Open Monograph Ecosystem program. Nesbitt’s work on this undertaking has fueled her instructing, bringing programs on Caribbean literature and historical past to the campus.
Along with her two books, Nesbitt has additionally printed articles on modern movie and tv, notably working with native NPR affiliate WITF, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, as a commentator on the tv sequence “Downton Abbey.” In 2020, she was named the editor of the digital journal “The Area Between: Literature and Tradition, 1914-1939.”
She is the 2020 recipient of the College School College Council Instructing Award and a frequent choose for the regional Poetry Out Loud competitors and the Martin Library Celebration of Poetry. She can also be this system coordinator of the English main at Penn State York.
Nesbitt, who grew up in New England, acquired a level in historical past and literature from Harvard College. After a stint in arts administration, she earned a doctorate from Emory College in Atlanta, Georgia. Previous to becoming a member of Penn State York in 2003, she taught English at Wilkes College, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
For authentic article, see https://www.psu.edu/information/york/story/rum-histories-explores-significance-celebrated-liquor
Rum Histories: Ingesting in Atlantic Literature and Tradition
Jennifer Nesbitt
College of Virginia Press, March 2022
236 pages
ISBN 9780813946597 (pb)
ISBN 9780813946580 (hc)
https://www.upress.virginia.edu/title/5240