Association of Literary Scholars, Critics, and Writers explained
The Association of Literary Scholars, Critics, and Writers (ALSCW) was organized in 1994 as the Association of Literary Scholars and Critics by a group of over 400 scholars troubled by what they saw as an over reliance on post-modern theory in the academy. Among the founding members were Robert Alter, Joseph Brodsky, Denis Donoghue, John Hollander, Alfred Kazin, Mary Lefkowitz, Richard Poirier, Christopher Ricks and Roger Shattuck, "a Who's Who of the American literary establishment."[1] Since 1999, the association has published a review, Literary Imagination.[2]
Goals of the ALSCW
- To provide space for encounters between scholars, critics, editors, and teachers, and fiction writers, poets, playwrights, and screenwriters
- To foster connections between the academic study of literature and the wider literary culture extending beyond the academy
- To sponsor and disseminate studies of curriculum and wider topics relating to literature (such as the teaching of composition, and the reading habits of a well-informed, critically alert citizenry; to create links between the teaching of literature in primary and secondary schools, and instruction in colleges and universities
- To encourage debate and exchange between and among scholars of ancient and modern literatures, and between and among those who study Western texts and the texts of every culture and continent in the world
- To explore the literary dimensions of other arts, including film, drama, painting, and music
- To support, encourage, and guide the study of literature.
Presidents
1995 - Ricardo Quinones
1996 - Roger Shattuck
1997 - Robert Alter
1998 - Eleanor Cook
1999 - Austin E. Quigley
2000 - Mary K. Lefkowitz
2001 - John Hollander
2002 - James Engell
2003 - Stanley Stewart
2004 - Michael Valdez Moses
2005 - Rosanna Warren
2006 - Tom Clayton
2007 - Morris Dickstein
2008 - Christopher Ricks
2009 - Clare Cavanagh
2010 - Susan Wolfson
2011 - Greg Delanty
2012 - John Burt
2013 - Sarah Spence
2014 - John Briggs
2015 - Adelaide Russo
2016 - John Briggs
2017 - Ernest Suarez
2018 - Richard R. Russell
2019 - Kate Daniels
2020 - Lee Oser
2021 - Lee Oser and David Bromwich
2022 - David Bromwich
2023 - David Mikics
Notes and References
- News: Grimes. William. In the Literary Field, An Upstart Alliance Based on Tradition. 26 August 2010. The New York Times. 7 December 1994.
- News: New Journal Aims to Refocus Literary Studies on Literature. 26 August 2010. Chronicle of Higher Education. April 23, 1999.