Deja interviews Renee, an ex-English major and current English Literature doctoral student. The two discuss discuss Renee's path into academia as a mature student, Toni Morrison, as well as the importance of keeping Black literature in the classroom.

Books Mentioned:

• Scattered and Fugitive Things: How Black Collectors Created Archives and Remade History by Laura E. Helton

• Black Girlhood in the Nineteenth Century by Nazera Wright

In this episode, Deja discusses her entree into English graduate study, blurring the lines between literary criticism and book reviews, and the function of the book review in the 21st century.

Citations

• bell hooks, "The Oppositional Gaze" - https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/english/currentstudents/postgraduate/masters/modules/femlit/bell_hooks.pdf

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• • "The End of the University and the Future of Criticism," Point Magazine's Substack. https://open.substack.com/pub/thepointmag/p/can-criticism-survive-inside-the?r=5hhw6c&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
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  Blog: https://cityofdeja.com

  Podcast Instagram: @diaryofanexengmajor

Bonus Episode [From the Archives]. Note: This episode was recorded in January 2024. In this bonus episode, Deja discusses the new age reader aesthetic and social media bookish influencers in the contemporary moment.

Citations

• ​Barry Pierce, “In the shallow world of BookTok, being ‘a reader’ is more important than actually reading.” https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/booktok-tiktok-books-community

• ​Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett, “Reading is precious – which is why I’ve been giving away my books.” https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jan/23/reading-is-precious-but-the-cult-of-book-ownership-can-be-smug-and-middle-class

My reviews of The Atlas Complex and HOFAS have since been published on my blog:

• ​House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas: A Lengthy, Cheesy, Whirlwind (Review). http://cityofdeja.com/2024/08/01/house-of-flame-and-shadow-book-review/

• ​Book Review: The Atlas Complex by Olivie Blake. http://cityofdeja.com/2024/03/21/book-review-the-atlas-complex-by-olivie-blake/

Blog: https://cityofdeja.com