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Alexander Manshel

@manshel.bsky.social

1.8K followers 1.4K following 270 posts

Assoc. Prof., McGill English | Book: WRITING BACKWARDS (Columbia UP) | Articles: The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Nation, LARB, Public Books, Post45, PMLA, and MELUS | Next Up: The History of High School English |📍Montreal

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Alexander Manshel @manshel.bsky.social · Apr 29

For @newyorker.com, I wrote about how "The Great Gatsby," which turns 100 this month, went from flop to high school classic, and whether the novel can survive another hundred years
www.newyorker.com/books/page-t...

How “The Great Gatsby” Took Over High School

The classroom staple turns a hundred.

www.newyorker.com

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Alexander Manshel @manshel.bsky.social · 2d

Thanks, Nick! Means a lot coming from you!

Reposted by Alexander Manshel

Nick Sturm @nicksturm.bsky.social · 3d

Two+ years late to this great unpacking of the audiobook industry, how narrators mediate our experience of books, & the invisible labor of audiobook production at LARB by @manshel.bsky.social, @lbmcgrath.bsky.social, & @jdporter.bsky.social.

lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-...

The Work of the Audiobook | Los Angeles Review of Books

Alexander Manshel, Laura B. McGrath, and J. D. Porter discuss the economics and aesthetics of audiobooks.

lareviewofbooks.org

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Reposted by Alexander Manshel

Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 7d

We are thrilled to announce that our NEW Large Language Model will be released on 11.18.25.

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Alexander Manshel @manshel.bsky.social · 6d

Could not be more excited for this book to come out! If you’re interested in the history of American literature, or why the current literary scene looks the way it does, or how publishing actually works, MIDDLEMEN should be top of your list for next year!

Laura McGrath @lbmcgrath.bsky.social · 6d

Baby’s got a pub date! And some juicy catalog copy. MIDDLEMEN coming your way on April 26!

(Cover reveal soon!)

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Reposted by Alexander Manshel

Laura McGrath @lbmcgrath.bsky.social · 6d

Baby’s got a pub date! And some juicy catalog copy. MIDDLEMEN coming your way on April 26!

(Cover reveal soon!)

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Alexander Manshel @manshel.bsky.social · 7d

Yes! I also have an essay on the history of the Best American Short Stories (incl. data on its editors and contributors) and I’d love to teach the two pieces opposite each other!

Alexander Manshel @manshel.bsky.social · 7d

Such a fascinating piece, Nick! Bravo!

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Reposted by Alexander Manshel

Nick Sturm @nicksturm.bsky.social · 8d

It's the end of The Best American Poetry.

I wrote about the forty-year anthology project, poetry’s place in Big Five publishing, and editor David Lehman's culture wars vision of American verse.

defector.com/good-riddanc...

Good Riddance To ‘The Best American Poetry’ | Defector

When David Lehman, a poet then working as a book critic for Newsweek, proposed the project for The Best American Poetry anthology, he was searching for a national platform. His first anthology project...

defector.com

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Reposted by Alexander Manshel

John Downes-Angus @johndownesangus.bsky.social · 10d

I think Jill Lepore said that reading a book you’re going to teach is like eating a meal to figure out the recipe. Love writing the recipe/am so glad I work somewhere that lets me write my own stuff.

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Reposted by Alexander Manshel

Nate Wolff @natewolff.bsky.social · 10d

reminder:

Tropes invented by Herman melville
weird guy
Something in the natural world is a symbol weird animal
Only one bed at the inn!
Love triangle
Workplace romance
Interesting details
The sea

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Alexander Manshel @manshel.bsky.social · 14d

I'm still reloading!

Alexander Manshel @manshel.bsky.social · 16d

Michiganders! I'll be giving a talk at MSU next Tuesday afternoon. If you're interested in "High School English and the Making of American Readers," I'll hope to see you there!

Poster for a public talk by Alexander Manshel at Michigan State University. The talk is titled "High School English and the Making of American Readers" and it will take place on Tuesday, September 30 at 4 pm in Wells Hall B342. The talk is part of MSU's lecture series "University Studies Now."

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Alexander Manshel @manshel.bsky.social · 18d

SNEAKERS!!!

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Alexander Manshel @manshel.bsky.social · 20d

Seconded!

Reposted by Alexander Manshel

John Downes-Angus @johndownesangus.bsky.social · 20d

The American Lit kids are going to cut up our first three texts tomorrow—a 1493 Columbus letter, an excerpt from De Las Casas, and a Lenape myth—to make little collage poems, using art books/photography books as backdrops. Glad I teach HS so I can do arts n crafts/curious what they do.

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Alexander Manshel @manshel.bsky.social · 21d

I keep coming back to the Robert Frost line that “a liberal is a man too broadminded to take his own side in a quarrel.”

Alexander Manshel @manshel.bsky.social · 22d

For about fifty bucks you, too, can have the power (temporarily) vested in you

Alexander Manshel @manshel.bsky.social · 22d

This past weekend I had the distinct honor of officiating the wedding of two dear friends. Wondering where to put Ordained Minister in the Universal Life Church Dot Org on my CV

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Alexander Manshel @manshel.bsky.social · 22d

This past weekend I had the distinct honor of officiating the wedding of two dear friends. Wondering where to put Ordained Minister in the Universal Life Church Dot Org on my CV

Alexander Manshel @manshel.bsky.social · 22d

Very cool piece from Jed Kudrick and @sdileonardi.bsky.social on the history of translation in the US literary scene!

Public Books @publicbooks.bsky.social · 22d

New at PB: Jed Kudrick & @sdileonardi.bsky.social use data from the NYT bestseller list to map 3 popular waves of literature in translation in the US: the postwar popularity of European titles, the "Latin American boom," & the more recent explosion of Nordic noir.

How Translations Sell: Three U.S. Eras of International Bestsellers

A translation renaissance in US publishing just ended. And you probably missed it.

www.publicbooks.org

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Reposted by Alexander Manshel

Ben Railton @americanstudier.bsky.social · 28d

FrostBot makes it so you don't have to choose whether the world will end in fire or in ice/AI-driven climate crisis will suffice.

Alexander Manshel @manshel.bsky.social · 28d

FrostBot makes it so you never have to stop by a woods when it’s inconvenient, saving you miles so you can sleep, saving you miles so you can sleep

John Attridge @johnattridge.bsky.social · 28d

Readers have long been frustrated by Robert Frost's poem "The Road Not Taken". Thanks to AI, it is now possible to explore BOTH of the paths described by the speaker

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Alexander Manshel @manshel.bsky.social · 28d

FrostBot makes it so you never have to stop by a woods when it’s inconvenient, saving you miles so you can sleep, saving you miles so you can sleep

John Attridge @johnattridge.bsky.social · 28d

Readers have long been frustrated by Robert Frost's poem "The Road Not Taken". Thanks to AI, it is now possible to explore BOTH of the paths described by the speaker

Alexander Manshel @manshel.bsky.social · Sep 7

And, for that matter, has the Vice President read King Lear? Was he rooting for Tom and Daisy in the end? Does he think John Proctor deserved what he got?

Alexander Manshel @manshel.bsky.social · Sep 7

To Kill a Mockingbird, Gatsby, and the rest of the high school canon are as much a part of common culture as the Gettysburg Address or “I Have a Dream”

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Alexander Manshel @manshel.bsky.social · Sep 7

To Kill a Mockingbird, Gatsby, and the rest of the high school canon are as much a part of common culture as the Gettysburg Address or “I Have a Dream”

Reposted by Alexander Manshel

The Yale Review @yalereview.bsky.social · Sep 2

Is Mary Oliver embarrassing? Maggie Millner reckons with the poet's reputation as an unserious poet—and finds new meaning in her work.

Maggie Millner: “Is Mary Oliver Embarrassing?”

A reckoning with Mary Oliver’s reputation as an unserious poet explores how her best work has been misunderstood.

yalereview.org

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Reposted by Alexander Manshel

John Gallagher @earlymodernjohn.bsky.social · Sep 3

A huge moment -- Melvyn Bragg steps down from In Our Time after over a quarter of a century. What a programme and what a legacy! Just a model for how to make great, clever, engaging radio, and a twenty-seven-year experiment that proves there's a huge global audience for smart, scholarly programming.

Melvyn Bragg decides to step down from presenting In Our Time

After 26 years on the programme, the legendary presenter bids farewell to the series

www.bbc.co.uk

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