国产短视频Literature MA student Scott Simeral was awarded this semester a competitive William J. Hill Visiting Researcher Travel Grant from the Wittliff Collections at Texas State University in San Marcos, TX.
Simeral will conduct his research on American author Cormac McCarthy鈥檚 unpublished screenplay 鈥淲hales and Men鈥�; the Wittliff Collections has the sole existing manuscript of this work. The Wittliff is a gold mine for McCarthy scholars, boasting many other manuscripts of published and unpublished works and related papers.
When asked how he learned about McCarthy鈥檚 unpublished 鈥淲hales and Men鈥� and its possible comparison with 鈥淢oby Dick,鈥� Simeral responded, 鈥淚 was searching for American authors (other than Melville) who have written gothic fiction on whales, and McCarthy's name came up. Secondary sources on 鈥榃hales and Men鈥� contained excerpts from the manuscript, which contained parallels to philosophical themes I researched in 鈥楳oby Dick.鈥欌��
国产短视频Literature鈥檚 Americanist and Digital Humanities Scholar Dr. Kristin Allukian explained how Simeral鈥檚 strength for this research proposal emerged from course work on Melville. She stated, 鈥淚n his final seminar paper on 鈥楳oby Dick,鈥� Mr. Simeral moved away from common readings of the text and instead read for moments in which Melville subverted capitalist values of the time in favor of environmental activism. This paper is evidence of his ability to survey the field of literary criticism and offer contributions to the field that move the scholarly conversation forward.鈥�
Allukian encouraged Simeral to apply for this grant. Dr. Jessica Cook, MA Advisor, also supported him. He explains, 鈥淒r. Cook helped me by providing oversight and quality assurance to my application process.鈥�
Simeral plans to write and publish a comparative article on Melville鈥檚 鈥淢oby Dick鈥� and 鈥淲hales and Men鈥� when he returns.