College English, Vol. 80, No. 4, March 2018

Table of Contents

• “You Can’t Make This Stuff Up”: Complexity, Facts, and Creative Nonfiction [FREE ACCESS]

  Chris Mays

  • Show Abstract
  • Hide Abstract

  Abstract: This article explores the genre of creative nonfiction, highlighting the largely hidden processes that influence our appraisals of it. Using a framework that builds from genre theory, this work argues that by exposing and confronting the complexity of the mechanisms by which we judge writing to be factual, we can productively intervene in debates about writing’s veracity, and more broadly, we can better understand why we tend to discount divergent views on facts.

  Keywords: creative nonfiction, fact, genre theory

• Spectators, Sponsors, or World Travelers? Engaging with Personal Narratives of Others through the Afghan Women’s Writing Project

  Bethany Mannon

  • Show Abstract
  • Hide Abstract

  Abstract: This article studies the Afghan Women’s Writing Project and proposes three conceptual tools for examining the ways readers and editors of digital storytelling projects interact with writers and texts. The author advances discussions of personal narrative and the role this form of writing plays in transnational feminism and forms of humanitarian activism that increasingly take place online. Digital storytelling projects effectively circulate these personal accounts, but they benefit from scholarship that advises self-critical approaches to representing their subjects.

  Keywords: Digital Storytelling, personal narrative, transnational feminism

• AND GLADLY TEACH Hearing a Play: Learning from Radio Shakespeare

  Cynthia Lewis

  • Show Abstract
  • Hide Abstract

  Abstract: This article discusses the intricacies of producing a Shakespeare play for a radio audience. In 2015, in collaboration with Davidson College's classical radio station, WDAV, the author and her Radio Shakespeare class produced and performed The Merchant of Venice in its entirety, consulting the history of radio performance of Shakespeare, listening to several performances, and reading theory of radio performance alongside selected criticism of Merchant. Of all the outcomes, the effects of performing without a traditional live audience were most surprising.

  Keywords: Close Reading, Collaborative Learning, innovative pedagogy, Shakespeare, teaching drama, teaching through performance

• Announcements and Calls for Manuscripts [FREE ACCESS]

* 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.