MLS
Modern Language Studies
An Open Letter to Subscribers of MLS and the Members of NEMLA
Dear Subscribers and Members:
As many of you may have heard, Modern Language Studies has
transferred operations to Susquehanna University where the Departments of English, Modern
Languages, and Art will collaborate in the editing and redesigning of the journal. All of
us at Susquehanna University are excited and honored at this opportunity to serve the
members of NEMLA. We will ensure that MLS continues to be of interest to teachers
and scholars in all areas of English, American, and comparative literature, and the
literatures of the modern languages, and we are committed to following the lead of
previous editors in making MLS a compelling site of intellectual, cultural, and
literary exchange. I want to take this opportunity to quickly outline for NEMLA members
how we plan to enlarge that legacy.
MLS offers contributors, subscribers, and editors an
opportunity to examine vexing and provocative intersections among languages, literatures,
disciplines, narrative forms, and knowledges. Articles and reviews in MLS have
always reflected the eclectic interests and the strong research profiles of NEMLA members,
and one of our primary goals in redesigning the journal is to expand the format so that it
provides a broad range of publishing possibilities. To that end, we plan three main
sections for the redesigned journal:
A section for critical essays of roughly 6000 words in
length. These essays should continue to speak to the broad interests of the MLS
subscribers. We are also interested, however, in essays that recognize the global contexts
of teaching and scholarship in languages and literatures. We therefore not only welcome
critical essays in languages other than English, but also translations of critical essays
from those languages and regions that are accorded relatively less space in American
journals-Asia, Africa, the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent, the Caribbean, and
Eastern Europe. These translation can be of articles that examine issues and materials
relevant to those regions, but we are especially interested in articles that reflect those
regions' perspectives on issues and materials specific to English, American and
comparative literature, and the literatures of the modern languages.
A section for essays on the Profession and Pedagogy of 3000
to 6000 words in length. Essays in this section may address pedagogical theory,
practical teaching strategies, faculty/student collaboration, curriculum development,
information technology, small college/research university dynamics, interdisciplinarity,
institutional politics, graduate and faculty unionization, part-time faculty, tenure and
promotion, the legal reverberations of affirmative action, and other related topics.
Creative non-fiction that explores and dramatizes similar terrain, and that observes and
articulates what is at stake in these issues for people and communities, is also welcome.
A section for short reviews of significant, intriguing, or
unusual primary source materials. These reviews will assess and underscore those
materials' importance either for various research profiles or for curricula and classroom
syllabi. Of particular interest for this section are short reviews of scholarly editions,
hypertext/internet literatures, visual culture, popular culture, and, of course, novels,
short stories, poetry, plays, films, and creative non-fiction. The rationale behind this
section is that almost every journal reviews the secondary source materials and scholarly
discourses in a multitude of disciplines and fields, but there are currently no journals
that help their subscribers keep abreast of primary source materials that may be of
particular interest to various researchers and teachers. We believe that there is a need
for a review section such as this, and we invite contributors to share their brief
critical evaluations with MLS subscribers.
MLS is currently soliciting submissions for all these
sections. NEMLA membership is not required to submit to MLS; however, membership is
required for publication. We encourage, in particular, submissions for the sections
devoted to pedagogy and the profession and short reviews of primary source materials. All
manuscripts submitted should use MLA style for citations and notes, with notes placed at
the end of the text. MLS requires three copies of each submission, which should be
sent to:
Modern
Language Studies
Susquehanna University
Box
1861
514
University Avenue
Selinsgrove, PA 17870
Please include an e-mail address for acknowledgement; if you have no e-mail address a
SASE should be included for acknowledgment. If you wish the essays returned to you,
include a SASE with appropriate postage. Manuscripts submitted as Microsoft Word e-mail
attachments will be accepted and should be accompanied by a cover message that includes
the author's relevant affiliations and a U.S. or international postal address. Please
address all e-mail submissions and correspondence to mls@susqu.edu.
MLS is also in need of readers, especially readers from
languages other than English and in literatures other than American. Please send a current
CV and a list of topic areas of expertise to the address above.
On behalf of the current editorial board, I thank you for your
continued support of MLS during this time. I look forward to working with the NEMLA
board and with NEMLA members to keep MLS a vibrant, diverse, and important
publication.
Sincerely,
Laurence Roth
Editor, Modern Language Studies
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