Contemporary Literature

Quarterly of scholarly essays on contemporary writing. Published @UWiscPress.

[Contemporary Literature @C_L_Journal]

To our readers and contributors: while we will continue to post here for the moment, Contemporary Literature is seeking bluer skies at https://t.co/CJyRwxgms0.

Follow us there to stay up to date on recent issues, CFPs, and more! 🦋✍️

[Contemporary Literature @C_L_Journal]

What kind of body-politic emerges as the body itself unravels? In "The Coloniality of Sodomy: Culeros, Erotic Sovereignty, and the Unraveling of Man in Héctor Tobar’s The Tattooed Soldier, Salomé Herrera explores bodies, borders, and the queer erotics of material disintegration.

[Contemporary Literature @C_L_Journal]

Our newest issue, Contemporary Literature 66.4, is now live, with exciting recent work by Fatmah Al Thobaiti, Salomé Herrera, Tori McCandless, Michael Trask, and Matthew Hart. Read it here: https://t.co/NTj6WrPOYs

[Contemporary Literature @C_L_Journal]

Congratulations to Dr. Raquel Kennon, CL Book Review Editor and recent winner of the Chancellor's Distinguished Teaching Award at UW-Madison! Raquel's work shines both inside and outside the classroom, and we're lucky to have her on board at CL. https://t.co/1YquNoKnxQ

[Contemporary Literature @C_L_Journal]

"Is poetry of any use in the face of actual planetary crisis?" In Contemporary Literature 66.3, Elin Käck tackles poetry, politics, environment and emergency. https://t.co/NTj6WrQmO0

[Contemporary Literature @C_L_Journal]

Our newest issue, Contemporary Literature 66.3, is now live, with exciting recent work by Laura García Moreno, Elin Käck, Kasia Mika-Bresolin, Monika Szuba, Rachele Puddu, Miriam Jaffe and Aimee Pozorski. Read it here: https://t.co/tnc370vy59

[Contemporary Literature @C_L_Journal]

From @beatdomjournal, an interview with CL author Brett Sigurdson about Jack Kerouac's archives: https://t.co/VxUExxkwcg

[Contemporary Literature @C_L_Journal]

Contemporary Literature issue 66.2 is out now, featuring new work on the poetics of recipes, small-press publishing, neurohumanities, and more! Contributors include Lucy Biederman, Monika Kaup, Pei-Chen Liao, Emmy Waldman, and Nayound Yang. Read it here: https://t.co/tnc370vy59

[Contemporary Literature @C_L_Journal]

How was the future of literary criticism imagined in the past?

From the archives: two essays by Hayden White and Edward Said, included in Contemporary literature V17.N3.

Read it here: https://t.co/NxIrR5kXON

[Contemporary Literature @C_L_Journal]

How have poets post Black Arts Movement navigated the politics of form? In 66.1, Lizzy LeRud explores interplays of formalism and (non)conformity in recent radical poetry. Read "A Thousand 'We Real Cools':New Forms in Recent African American Poetry" here: https://t.co/tnc370vy59

[Contemporary Literature @C_L_Journal]

Contemporary Literature issue 66.1 is out now, featuring exciting new work by Inbar Gidron, Cynthia Hogue, Lizzy LeRud, Brett Sigurdson, and Emily K. Yoon. Read it here: https://t.co/tnc370vy59.

[Contemporary Literature @C_L_Journal]

How does digital celebrity shape the self-consciousness of contemporary autofiction? Hannah A. Jorgensen answers in "Authentic Flesh, Digital Bits," featured in CL 65.4. Read it here: https://t.co/XN1SNiVvc3

[Contemporary Literature @C_L_Journal]

Contemporary Literature issue 65.4 is out now, featuring new work by Brooke Conti, Katy Dadacz, Kristin Emanuel, Hannah A. Jorgensen, and Weishun Lu. Read it here: https://t.co/tnc370vy59.

[Contemporary Literature @C_L_Journal]

Read Georgina Colby and Michael Dowdy's stunning essays in 64.1 and 64.4:

"Housing the Stranger: Feminist Sheltering in the Work of Bhanu Kapil" (https://t.co/dBI3tWKMKy)

"'Mexican or Something': Reading the Novels of Mexicanesque Appalachia (https://t.co/OPJRveOE5m

[Contemporary Literature @C_L_Journal]

We are thrilled to announce that Jessica Swoboda has been awarded the 2025 L.S. Dembo prize for her wonderful article, "Rachel Cusk's Attention Ecology."

Honorable mention also goes to Georgina Colby and Michael Dowdy. Details to follow... 🧵

[Contemporary Literature @C_L_Journal]

To read Swoboda's narratological treatment of attention economies/ecologies, click here: https://t.co/ipiKYr12DF

[Contemporary Literature @C_L_Journal]

Corinna Norrick-Rühl and Alexander Starre go "book-clubbing" in their new #openaccess article: "Genre, Diversity, and Metanarrative in Reese's Book Club"
https://t.co/NTj6WrQmO0

[Contemporary Literature @C_L_Journal]

A new wave of Chinese science fiction "depict[s] waste, not ordered progress, as the substance of China’s contemporary reality and the genre’s primary concern." In issue 65.3, Martha Swift examines the underside of science fiction's high-tech futures. https://t.co/tnc370vy59

[Contemporary Literature @C_L_Journal]

Contemporary Literature issue 65.3 is out now, featuring new work by Charlie Ericson, Sam Ladkin, Corinna Norrick-Rühl, Alexander Starre, Matt Prout, and Martha Swift! Read it here: https://t.co/tnc370vy59

[Contemporary Literature @C_L_Journal]

CL 65.3 is shaping up to be an exciting issue. Stay tuned this week for its release and remember to follow us at https://t.co/CJyRwxgms0 for future updates on releases, issue highlights, and more!