In taking the helm of Prose Studies, we are honored to continue the journal’s longstanding commitment to a diversity of scholarly perspectives and to a capacious definition of “nonfiction prose.” We aim to continue to promote that vision of the journal as a scholarly meeting place where readers can find discussions of Francis Bacon’s aphorisms alongside analyses of the graphic memoirs of Alison Bechdel and Gene Yang, and where Victorian literary giant George Eliot, contemporary Chicana writer Cherríe Moraga, and climate activist Greta Thunberg’s writings can “speak” to one another.
We are equally curious about how seventeenth-century British newspapers shaped the public spheres of their day and about the ways in which Twitter today serves as an effective, if fraught, modality for Black activism in the U.S. and beyond. Indeed, resonances among the journal’s divergent topics like these suggest the advantageous position of prose studies and Prose Studies to explore the intersections of theory and activism.
Building on the journal’s tradition of featuring a diverse range of authors and ideas, we are committed to expanding that range because we believe that inclusivity and expansiveness are essential to scholarly rigor in literary studies. We are, likewise, committed to translating this commitment to inclusivity to our editorial practice. To this end, we see our tasks as editors less as gatekeeping than as fostering rich and varied critical conversations and as honoring the myriad voices in prose and the field of prose studies.
We welcome new and returning readers and authors to join us on this exciting academic journey.
Anna & Lisa