Happy new year from the Rutgers Desk of Modernism/modernity! As the new co-editor of Modernism/modernity, it is a privilege to introduce the 30.3 September issue, despite a delay of a few months.
There have been changes at the journal. After successfully shepherding the journal through the tumultuous years of Covid, Anne Fernald stepped down as senior co-editor of the journal but she continues to be a trusted sounding board. I also want to thank Alys Moody for her inspiring work as co-editor for the last two years. The new Rutgers editorial desk now joins the Concordia desk. The new managing editor is Rudrani Gangopadhyay who has worked hard with me to put the September issue together here. We also have a new team of Review editors for the first time. Martin Harries and Stefanie Sobelle undertake the work of reviews in the journal and we are thrilled to have them on board. This issue has been the work of many hands—from the initial work put in by Anne Fernald, to the superb and generous help given by senior co-editor, Stephen Ross and the Concordia desk managing editor, Paisley Conrad, Harrington Weihl at Print+, and the work of the people at the Rutgers desk (Rudrani Gangopadhyay, Carmen Bisgnano, Marcus Cook), the review editors, Martin and Stefanie, and the helpful people at JHUP. I am excited to be part of this vibrant and collaborative world of Modernism/modernity.
One fascinating aspect of this September issue is a cluster of essays, almost a dossier of sorts, on cinema, with four essays touching upon issues as separate as Kafkaesque cinema (Angelos Koutsourakis), racial memory in Call Me by Your Name (Dustin Friedman), documentary film and Rukeyser’s screenplay for it (Kate Partridge), and early-Soviet cinema’s role in inculcating (or “vaccinating”) people into corporeal efficiency (Asiya Bulatova). Besides these, do see the timely piece on censorship, its internalization as well as its parody, in Malewicz’s striking ink redactions (Kamila Kociałkowska), and an essay on Nancy Cunard’s modernist-decadent style of writing (Birgit Van Puymbroeck). Finally, there are intriguing readings of canonical modernist figures like Joyce and Williams: on Joyce’s negotiations with Black American cultural figurations (Amadi Ozier), and William Carlos Williams’s “measure” and the science of measurement (Christian Gelder). Among the many and varied reviews in this issue is the wonderful and timely review essay by Peter Kalliney of four recent books on decolonization and the Cold War.
On Print+, there is much to linger on. Two of the recent highlights are “Modernist Periodical Studies and the Transnational Turn” and "Amateur Hour, or, Feminism Against TERFism."
There will be a lot of fascinating work coming your way in the months ahead as we try to catch up on the calendar. Watch this space!
—Anjali Nerlekar