Sigma Kappa Delta Xi Epsilon Chapter at South Texas College

09/24/2021

The world is a better place with proper punctuation. 😌

07/18/2021

02/01/2021

“Coming to this delightful spot during this divine weather, I feel as happy as a new-fledged bird, and hardly care what twig I fly to, so that I may try my new-found wings.”

01/20/2021

Fans of the mystery writer have no shortage of ways to pay homage to the scribe behind "The Raven" and so much more

08/06/2019

“We die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives.”

We are profoundly sad to report that Toni Morrison has died at the age of eighty-eight. She died last night at Montefiore Medical Center in New York.

The Bluest Eye, Morrison’s first novel, was published by Holt, Rinehart and Winston in 1970. Morrison followed with Sula in 1973, and nine subsequent novels, all of them published with Alfred A. Knopf.

Morrison’s novels were celebrated and embraced by booksellers, critics, educators, readers, and librarians. Her work also ignited controversy, notably in school districts that tried to ban her books. Few American writers won more awards for their books and writing. Morrison was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1988 for Beloved. In 1993, she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, with the Swedish Academy recognizing her as an author “who in novels characterized by visionary force and poetic import, gives life to an essential aspect of American reality.” In 1996, she was honored with the National Book Foundation’s Medal of Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, and in 2012, President Barack Obama presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Morrison also worked as an editor at Random House – the first female African-American editor in company history – from 1967 to 1983. There, she published Gayl Jones, Toni Cade Bambara, Henry Dumas, Huey P. Newton, Muhammad Ali, and Angela Davis, among others. Her work as an editor and publisher at Random House demonstrated a unique commitment to writers of color, and helped in opening industry doors to them.

And for over five decades, Morrison was also a part-time teacher of creative writing and literature, often bringing students together with other writers, at Howard University (from which she graduated in 1953), Yale University, SUNY Purchase, Bard College, Rutgers University, SUNY Albany, and Princeton University, where she retired as Robert F. Goheen Chair in the Humanities in 2006.

Many at Knopf and Random House came to know her as a valued colleague and dear friend.

The Morrison family issued this statement: “It is with profound sadness we share that, following a short illness, our adored mother and grandmother, Toni Morrison, passed away peacefully last night surrounded by family and friends. She was an extremely devoted mother, grandmother, and aunt who reveled in being with her family and friends. The consummate writer who treasured the written word, whether her own, her students or others, she read voraciously and was most at home when writing. Although her passing represents a tremendous loss, we are grateful she had a long, well lived life.

While we would like to thank everyone who knew and loved her, personally or through her work, for their support at this difficult time, we ask for privacy as we mourn this loss to our family. We will share information in the near future about how we will celebrate Toni’s incredible life.”

Robert Gottlieb, Morrison’s longtime editor at Knopf, said: “She was a great woman and a great writer, and I don’t know which I will miss more.”

Sonny Mehta, Chairman of Knopf, said: “Toni Morrison’s working life was spent in the service of literature: writing books, reading books, editing books, teaching books. I can think of few writers in American letters who wrote with more humanity or with more love for language than Toni. Her narratives and mesmerizing prose have made an indelible mark on our culture. Her novels command and demand our attention. They are canonical works, and more importantly, they are books that remain beloved by readers.”

February 18, 1931 – August 5, 2019

06/19/2019

The only thing Mary loves more than writing stories is to daydream. Sometimes her daydreams become very vivid. And sometimes they reveal her monster... Sound and…

04/29/2019

10/16/2018

Monty Python alumnus and critically-lauded director Terry Gilliam strove for three decades to make his take on Don Quixote, an ordeal that inspired two documentaries and that did not end in triumph even when the film premiered to acclaim at Cannes this year after its long gestation.

10/16/2018

09/25/2018

It is now nearly invisible in word-processing programs, but it was one of the most elaborate of manuscript ornaments

11/20/2017

From Salinger to Stevenson to Tolkien and more, the length of time it took our most beloved authors to write their literary masterpieces ranges drastically from 2 1/2 days (The Boy in Striped Pyjamas) to 16 years (The Lord of the Rings). This nifty comparison of 30 of the world’s most famous books breaks it all down (word count too!).

07/30/2017

Poet Percy Bysshe Shelley​ eloped with Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin on this day in 1814.

"I feel my heart glow with an enthusiasm which elevates me to heaven, for nothing contributes so much to tranquillize the mind as a steady purpose — a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye."
--from FRANKENSTEIN; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818) by Mary Shelley

Working from the earliest surviving draft of FRANKENSTEIN, Charles E. Robinson presents two versions of the classic novel—as Mary Shelley originally wrote it and a subsequent version clearly indicating Percy Shelley’s amendments and contributions. For the first time we can hear Mary’s sole voice, which is colloquial, fast-paced, and sounds more modern to a contemporary reader. We can also see for the first time the extent of Percy Shelley’s contribution—some 5,000 words out of 72,000—and his stylistic and thematic changes. His occasionally florid prose is in marked contrast to the directness of Mary’s writing. Interesting, too, are Percy’s suggestions, which humanize the monster, thus shaping many of the major themes of the novel as we read it today. In these two versions of FRANKENSTEIN we have an exciting new view of one of literature’ s greatest works. READ an excerpt here: http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/165585/the-original-frankenstein-by-mary-shelley-with-percy-bysshe-shelley-edited-by-charles-f-robinson/

04/24/2017

Kafka on why we read – lovely letter to his childhood friend: https://www.brainpickings.org/2014/06/06/kafka-on-books-and-reading/

04/19/2017

Who cares about the Oxford comma? That’s a $10 million question.

03/04/2017

The difference between 'grammar' and 'usage'

10/09/2016

The original thesaurus

08/30/2016

What's the difference between "assume" and "presume"? "Assume" is to "presume" as a brother is to a sister.