College English, Vol. 74, No. 1, September 2011

Table of Contents

• From the Editor

• Empathy and the Critic

  Ann Jurecic

  • Show Abstract
  • Hide Abstract

  Abstract: Empathy is a much-discussed term in the humanities these days. While some critics value it and argue that literature desirably promotes it, other critics worry that appeals to this emotion will neglect important matters of social context. In the literature classroom, the best approach is to take time to consider how texts complicate the impulse to empathize.

• In the Name of Citizenship: The Writing Classroom and the Promise of Citizenship

  Amy J. Wan

  • Show Abstract
  • Hide Abstract

  Abstract: Rather than simply invoke citizenship as an ideal for their students to achieve, writing instructors should address the various possible meanings of the term, which represent divergent traditions of political thought.

• Putting Their Lives on the Line: Personal Narrative as Political Discourse among Japanese Petitioners in American World War II Internment

  Gail Y. Okawa

  • Show Abstract
  • Hide Abstract

  Abstract: The author examines the circumstances and rhetoric of two petitions by Japanese Hawaiians, among them her grandfather, who were interned on the U.S. mainland during World War II. In particular, she explains how these writers were arguing for political subjectivity and voice within the discourse of their oppressors.

• Review: The Old Curiosity Shop and the New Faculty Majority

  Jim Cocola

  • Show Abstract
  • Hide Abstract

  Abstract: Reviewed are The Marketplace of Ideas: Reform and Resistance in the American University by Louis Menand and No University Is an Island: Saving Academic Freedom by Cary Nelson.

• Announcements and Calls for Papers

* Journal articles are provided in PDF format and can be opened using the free Adobe® Reader® program or a comparable viewer. Click here to download and install the most recent version of Adobe Reader.