Jennifer Howard

This is the fourth post in a cross-blog conversation Mark Athitakis and I are having about Henry Adams’ novel “Democracy.” See Mark’s most recent post, “Skepticism Versus Cynicism,” here. Mark, So it’s as I feared, and Adams is a hard case. To quote you, “there’s no silver lining he can’t find a storm cloud in,” especially hanging over Washington. Or even over pastoral Mount Vernon, where Mrs. Lee and some of her admirers and hangers-on go on a picnic-pilgrimage. Rather than being refreshed or purified by their pilgrimage to the home of the father of our country, though, the party… Read more...

This is the second post in a discussion here and on Mark Athitakis’s blog, American Fiction Notes, about Henry Adams’ novel “Democracy.” which was published anonymously in 1880. See Mark’s first post in the conversation here, and a useful background piece on the book’s long history he found here. Mark, Adams does get off some great zingers, doesn’t he? I went in expecting cynicism; I wasn’t looking for humor. The two blur together all too easily, though, in Democracy. When Mr. Gore, the Massachusetts historian-turned-statesman, asks our heroine Madeleine Lightfoot Lee, the skeptical but curious New York widow, whether she’s… Read more...

For someone who grew up in Washington, D.C., I am not very well read in the literature of the city—the political literature, that is. I haven’t read many of the political novels set here. That has been partly a deliberate choice, a desire to concentrate more on the extra-political creative possibilities of this town. A lot of Washington lives have very little to do with politics; not everyone moves here to be a Type A politico or lobbyist or lawyer or, heaven help us, journalist. Many of my neighbors are people whose families have been here for three, four, five… Read more...

As I mentioned earlier, I didn’t get to the MLA this year; I was hanging out in Chicago with the historians. What’s been interesting to me, as I read reports from this year’s MLA in various venues, is to see themes re-emerge from previous years. Some of those reports inspired a sort of scholarly-conference deja vu. Twitter, anyone? Pedagogy? Rethinking standards of tenure and promotion? Out of curiosity, I went back and looked at my MLA coverage from years past. Here’s a sampling. One difference between then and now: I wouldn’t say “Twittering” in 2012; I’d say “tweeting.” (N.B. Some… Read more...

I’ve got a new short story out. It’s called “Mercury Rising,” and you can find it in Amazing Graces (Paycock Press, 2012), a collection edited by Richard Peabody. (Read a Washington Post profile of him.) Here’s the excerpt I read at Politics and Prose on Sunday, when we launched the book: “Call the fire department!” Everything Timmy said these days had an exclamation point at the end of it. Six was the age of enthusiasms. “He’s not on fire, stupid,” said William. “Don’t call your brother stupid,” Roberta said. “We’ll call 911.” She left the engine running while she plowed… Read more...

This winter, for the first time since I joined the Chronicle in 2005, I won’t be at the Modern Language Association’s annual conference. I’ll be at the American Historical Association’s confab instead. (Hello, Chicago in January!) Every conference has its own style. The MLA is not the AHA is not the APA is not the [insert association acronym here]. No matter whose meeting it is, though, conference-going is a grueling experience. Germs are abundant; sleep, good food, and power outlets are not. Sessions start too early and go too late. Here, learned the hard way, are my survival tips for… Read more...