Courtney Weiss Smith @cweiss-smith.bsky.social · 16/09/2026I’m a sucker for a Seventeen-style quiz, but I found this one—that I heard about on the Secret Life of Books podcast—genuinely intriguing. Among different types of readers, I am a *listener*: does this explain everything about me?! readerbank.org/experience/i... 262
Courtney Weiss Smith @cweiss-smith.bsky.social · 14/09/2026You guys, I finally bought blinds for my home office—because I felt like during zoom calls people kept staring at my sweet neighbors getting into their car; anyway this continues to be my favorite room of the house… 2100
Reposted by Courtney Weiss SmithJessica R Valdez @jrvaldez.bsky.social · 14/09/2026We're hiring in the long eighteenth century at LSU. Please spread the word and let me know if you have any questions. It's a wonderful department to work in! lsu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/LSU/job/0210...lsu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.comAssistant Professor - 18th-Century British LiteratureAll Job Postings will close at 12:01a.m. CST (1:01a.m. EST) on the specified Closing Date (if designated). If you close the browser or exit your application prior to submitting, the application progre... 05152
Reposted by Courtney Weiss SmithAlexander Huber @c18ah.bsky.social · 11/09/2026Today in eighteenth-century poetry: date of birth of James Thomson (1700-1748), Elizabeth Rowe (née Singer) (1674-1737), and Joanna Baillie (1762-1851). Poems are included in the #EighteenthCenturyPoetryArchive: www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org #c18th #poetry #DH #OTD 063
Courtney Weiss Smith @cweiss-smith.bsky.social · 03/09/2026I got a beautiful treat in the mail today You all should read Alexis’s wonderful book… 161
Courtney Weiss Smith @cweiss-smith.bsky.social · 27/08/2026Just re-upping this, as everyone starts to think towards the semester. Help us spread the word that Wesleyan is hiring a tenure track professor of early modern literature! Deadline September 15! 1103
Courtney Weiss Smith @cweiss-smith.bsky.social · 04/08/2026I haven’t yet seen the Odyssey so I have nothing to add to The Discourse except these amazing sculptures of sirens, which I just encountered at a museum: 1183
Courtney Weiss Smith @cweiss-smith.bsky.social · 17/07/2026I’m sorry to hear this news—what an amazing scholar! 021
Courtney Weiss Smith @cweiss-smith.bsky.social · 16/07/2026Any ideas for great undergraduate-friendly scholarly readings to be paired with Midsummer Night’s Dream on an introduction to the major course? (So a course not terribly historicist in general bent…) Also welcome ideas for fun theory readings that can stand alone to get prospective majors excited?! 243
Courtney Weiss Smith @cweiss-smith.bsky.social · 09/07/2026I’m about to submit the final version of my book: coming soon! <but first all those hitting-send 🦋 🦋 🦋…> 2170
Courtney Weiss Smith @cweiss-smith.bsky.social · 02/07/2026You all, it was a *huge* success. My students had a beautiful encounter with historical books that don’t ever leave Special Collections. Here is an English professor, two librarians, and a prison educator with a trunkful of rare 17-18thc books! More books in prison! Library access for everyone! 6365
Courtney Weiss Smith @cweiss-smith.bsky.social · 29/06/2026I’m so excited! This week in my @wesleyanuniversity.bsky.social Center for Prison Education course—rare books! I’ve been working with our amazing Special Collections librarians to facilitate bringing some early editions of 17th, 18th, and 19th century poetry into the prison… 15913
Reposted by Courtney Weiss SmithMonica Carol Miller @monicacmiller.bsky.social · 26/06/20266/26/26 Palindrome Day 12813
Courtney Weiss Smith @cweiss-smith.bsky.social · 18/06/2026I am *thrilled* to share that we are hiring again! A tenure track job in early modern literature! I’ve found Wesleyan a terrific place to work—help us spread the word? wesleyan.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/career...wesleyan.wd5.myworkdayjobs.comProfessor of EnglishThe Department of English at Wesleyan University seeks a scholar-teacher of early modern literature for a tenure-track appointment beginning July 1, 2027. We are open to candidates with comparative ap... 16344
Courtney Weiss Smith @cweiss-smith.bsky.social · 27/05/2026I am so proud to be part of this program! Shakur celebrated on campus this weekend, and I just left the commencement ceremony inside the prison today. A student provided artwork for the leaflet: 161
Courtney Weiss Smith @cweiss-smith.bsky.social · 21/05/2026in Estonia for the international network for the theory of history conference; have decided that this will be the vibe I’m aiming for this summer—somehow both jaunty & nonplussed… 070
Courtney Weiss Smith @cweiss-smith.bsky.social · 01/04/2026A Comment on Our Times; Or, Laurence Sterne predicted AI? 161
Courtney Weiss Smith @cweiss-smith.bsky.social · 19/03/2026I had an Athena joke, but I can’t remember it, what with this terrible headache… 040
Reposted by Courtney Weiss SmithMeredith Martin @mmvty.bsky.social · 25/02/2026so exciting that this book is in the world it is fierce and rigorous and also fun to read 2125
Reposted by Courtney Weiss SmithLisa L. Moore @lisalmoore.bsky.social · 19/02/2026Now that Faculty Council has been dissolved and our administrators from the Dean level up have been replaced by political appointees, a free press is the only place UT Austin faculty have to speak up. www.austinchronicle.com/news/ut-head...austinchronicle.comUT Head of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Speaks Out • The Austin ChronicleOn Monday, the Chronicle spoke with Lisa Moore, who has served since 2023 as the chair of UT-Austin’s Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department – a department that is now being collapsed with ... 14329
Courtney Weiss Smith @cweiss-smith.bsky.social · 06/02/2026Friends! We are looking for a visiting assistant professor with expertise in 17th century literature. Help me spread the word? It’s limited term, but I can promise wonderful students and lovely colleagues for a very nice bit of teaching experience… wesleyan.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/careers/job/...wesleyan.wd5.myworkdayjobs.comVisiting Assistant Professor of EnglishVisiting Assistant Professor of English: Seventeenth-Century Literature The Department of English at Wesleyan University seeks applicants for a full-time Visiting Professor with expertise in seventeen... 01819
Courtney Weiss Smith @cweiss-smith.bsky.social · 29/01/2026PSA @weslpress.bsky.social is now accepting applications for its Cardinal Poetry Prize, for poets over 40 who have not published a poetry book. www.weslpress.org/the-cardinal...weslpress.org- Wesleyan University Press$1,000 cash prize and publication by Wesleyan University Press Submissions will be open February 1–28, 2026. Click here to submit! Guidelines Author 035
Courtney Weiss Smith @cweiss-smith.bsky.social · 09/01/20267year old this morning: Mama can I look up where brain rot came from? Me: Oh, sure—I think it’s an internet thing but look it up… 7: It says here it’s from some author, Henry David Thoreau?! Me: ?!?!?! Dying laughing—but the OED also cites Walden for the first usage of the word… 34617
Courtney Weiss Smith @cweiss-smith.bsky.social · 05/01/2026It’s here! I’m delighted to share a new theme issue of @histandtheojrnl.bsky.social, “Philology Now.” Valeria López Fadul and I edited this issue, featuring smart contributions by Emily Apter, Peter de Bolla, Alan Durston, Cymone Fourshey, Claire Gilbert, Anthony Grafton… historyandtheory.org/64-4historyandtheory.orgPhilology Now – Volume 64, Number 4 — History and TheoryHistory and Theory, Volume 64, Number 4 2207
Courtney Weiss Smith @cweiss-smith.bsky.social · 31/10/2025Has anyone written about nonmetrical rhyming in contemporary poetry? Like in Maggie Millner’s Couplets? I want to read something about how people (who aren’t carrying around the kind of historical associations I am) understand forms and formings and breakings in this kind of verse… 282
Courtney Weiss Smith @cweiss-smith.bsky.social · 23/10/2025Cate Marvin’s “Death of the Humanities”: 2131
Courtney Weiss Smith @cweiss-smith.bsky.social · 26/08/2025First sign (literally) on campus of something I’m REALLY looking forward to this fall! www.wesleyan.edu/dac/exhibiti... 190
Courtney Weiss Smith @cweiss-smith.bsky.social · 14/08/2025Ah! I just saw that Ruth Mack’s new book is out! Forget what I was planning to do today, will be reading instead 🤩 www.sup.org/books/litera...sup.orgHandicraft Philosophies | Stanford University PressThe term "Enlightenment" still carries its tie to a grand philosophical tradition that in Britain moves through Bacon, Locke, and Hume. But the literature and philosophy of the Enlightenment was full ... 0102
Courtney Weiss Smith @cweiss-smith.bsky.social · 16/07/2025We are hiring a tenure track poet! I’m so excited / spread the word… wesleyan.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/career...wesleyan.wd5.myworkdayjobs.comAssistant Professor of EnglishThe Department of English at Wesleyan University seeks a published poet for a tenure-track appointment beginning July 1, 2026. Teaching responsibilities include two courses per semester in introductor... 312189
Courtney Weiss Smith @cweiss-smith.bsky.social · 05/07/2025being in Indonesia and having a perfect breakfast is not going to go wasted on me which is why I’m telling you about it… :) 1100
Reposted by Courtney Weiss SmithJohanna Winant @johannawinant.bsky.social · 29/06/2025in CLOSE READING FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY, @dan-sinnamon.bsky.social and I wrote a 36 page three-part introduction: What Close Reading Is, What Close Reading Does, and What Close Reading Has Been 30 pages of it is now online at @princetonupress.bsky.social press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...press.princeton.eduClose Reading for the Twenty-First CenturyA user’s guide to the fundamental practice of literary studies, providing context, examples, and practical exercises 413139
Courtney Weiss Smith @cweiss-smith.bsky.social · 20/06/2025I’m feeling pretty obsessed by @publicdomainrev.bsky.social / CP Cranch’s “literal renderings” of Emerson’s figures. The transparent eyeball! publicdomainreview.org/collection/c... 2100
Courtney Weiss Smith @cweiss-smith.bsky.social · 09/06/2025Writing the introduction to my book and basically trying to be reading and citing all of these books at the same time; gotta keep them all right next to me so I can delusionally attempt to simultaneously treat all of them in coherent sentences, going poorly… 5341
Courtney Weiss Smith @cweiss-smith.bsky.social · 05/06/2025Cleanth Brooks writing about “the much advertised demise of the Humanities” in 1947 😳 130
Reposted by Courtney Weiss SmithAnna Kornbluh @annakornbluh.bsky.social · 18/05/2025say it again: 4 million people work in higher ed, the largest employer in 10 states, second largest employer in 10 more, and in 60 of the 100 biggest cities ROI for NIH and NSF for local economies is conservatively 4x, often close to 10x demolishing higher education is economic sabotage 6547951843
Reposted by Courtney Weiss SmithDuke University Press @dukepress.bsky.social · 06/05/2025Who Wore It Better, Met Gala 2025 celebrities or Duke University Press book covers? Ava DuVernay or Work! by Elspeth H. Brown? #MetGala 312644
Courtney Weiss Smith @cweiss-smith.bsky.social · 12/04/2025The muse of poetry, looking appropriately un-chill. 1220
Courtney Weiss Smith @cweiss-smith.bsky.social · 08/04/2025Fun etymology in class today as we talk about how the word “vaccine” is from the Latin word for “cow.” Also nice to see 18thc English folks being super chill about vaccination, no modern parallels here… 😳 1185
Courtney Weiss Smith @cweiss-smith.bsky.social · 28/03/2025Rhyme-lovers, a call for papers! David Caplan is hosting another symposium on poetic form at SMU—the first one was *fabulous*, generating real conversation among scholars & poets. Propose a paper to join us for the second iteration?! www.smu.edu/dedman/acade... 11411
Courtney Weiss Smith @cweiss-smith.bsky.social · 25/03/2025We’ve just started the show but I’m actually cackling at Parker Posey on White Lotus. People are saying it’s a bonkers accent or she’s unrealistic, but let me tell you I’ve MET this woman! 030
Courtney Weiss Smith @cweiss-smith.bsky.social · 17/03/2025I write on Elizabeth Elstob in this book I’m trying to finish—she’s completely fascinating! 2100
Courtney Weiss Smith @cweiss-smith.bsky.social · 07/03/2025Posting again for the Friday crowd: What are some interesting models for non-workshop format creative writing courses, as a supplement (not replacement) for small workshops!? 010
Courtney Weiss Smith @cweiss-smith.bsky.social · 06/03/2025My department is brainstorming ways to scale up to some larger classes. We have plans on the scholarly side, but I want to ask hive mind: does anyone know of good innovative models for non-workshop style, slightly larger courses in creative writing? (To be taught in addition to small workshops ofc) 753
Courtney Weiss Smith @cweiss-smith.bsky.social · 02/02/2025Here are some neat historical resources for teaching if you, like me, are obsessed with Tyehimba Jess’ sonnet crown about the Fisk Jubilee singers! bookshop.org/p/books/olio...bookshop.orgOlioCheck out Olio - <b>Winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry</b> <p/><b>Winner of the 2017 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in Poetry</b> <p/><b>Winner of the 2017 Book Award from the Society of Midland A... 172
Courtney Weiss Smith @cweiss-smith.bsky.social · 03/01/2025Will someone talk to me about this wild moment in Phillis Wheatley’s “On Messrs Hussey and Coffin” when she breaks her couplets with a prose (?) wish? I can’t think of anything like it in period poetry. Can you? Has anyone written on this?! 4244