'In September 1974 Murray T. Lynn submitted a doctoral thesis to the Graduate School of Canada’s McMaster University, entitled ‘The Concept of Enthusiasm in the Major Poems of John Dryden’. Beginning to read his fittingly enthusiastic ‘Acknowledgements’, we cannot immediately discern if the topic reveals the influence of A. D. Hammond, his thesis supervisor, or R. E. Morton of McMaster’s English Department who is said to have ‘offered many helpful suggestions’ or Austin Flanders of the University of Pittsburgh whose classes ‘awakened an interest in the period’. Later, however, Lynn reveals it was in fact the University of Toronto’s Peter Hughes, in a year spent at McMaster in 1970–71, who was the source of his interest in ‘the topic of enthusiasm’. Not of course to dismiss the support of his wife, Bernadette, whom, he writes, ‘deserves special mention for her patient typing of a lengthy manuscript and for her valuable suggestions.’' (Graeme Harper : In What Way Does Enthusiasm Matter? : Editorial introduction)
'A great many successful poets earn their living as members of the university community. While teaching, research and administration can provide a reasonable and a reliable income, it has an impact not only on how much time is available for writing, but also what sorts of thinking emerge; on the ways in which relationships and responsibilities intertwine, and how to find ways to balance competing priorities. In this conversation between two poet academics, Jen and Katharine talk through their own experiences, grounded in scholarly thinking, and particularly address the role of language, meaning and materiality in the charting and the crafting of a life.' (Introduction)
'Teresa Dovey once advocated that writers inhabit genres and forms and ideological positions as hermit crabs inhabit shells. In this paper, I position the writer as ‘hermit crab’ suggesting a position of displacement that is generative. From this position, a palimpsestic approach to writing can work as a liberating force, enabling an author to move between genres, forms and ideological positions, resulting in fruitful experimentation, innovation and new knowledge. As a writer of books across a range of genres, I have been inspired by J.M. Coetzee and Umberto Eco, both of whom, I propose, use this (Barthesian) atopic process to interrogate, innovate and stimulate their writing praxis.' (Publication abstract)
