Published in solidarity with Prof. Dr. Feryal Saygılıgil, https://youtu.be/t_dbPuUVamI?si=YGjBropEtLK4RnTB

^{Here are my edits and queries for your chapter on The Magician’s Wife.}

^{On the strength of your analysis, I’m considering adopting this novel for three classes in the fall for which I had last year taught Waiting for the Barbarians.}

^{Like Coetzee’s novel, Moore’s would appear to allow me to give attention to the history of imperialism and colonization, but with a focus on a female protagonist rather than a narrator implicated in the very torture he undergoes.}

^{The irony in Coetzee’s novel and it’s rather explicit “sexual aspect” made it rather difficult to teach since so many of my students struggle with narratives that challenge their inclination to identify with major characters.}

^{It’s also important to try to get representations of the Middle East into an American classroom in view of a rising xenophobic tendency here to dehumanize if not demonize Said’s Other.}

^{Meanwhile, I’ve added two more lines from your essay to my Faulkner notes: (viz. Di Brandt) “the mother’s place under patriarchy is the cemetery” (the plot of As I Lay Dying summarized in a single phrase) and “the amniotic fluid of the primeval unity with the body of the lost mother” which is precisely how Doreen Fowler interprets the river crossing in the novel complete with rope/umbilical cord and three sons vying with the body of the mother adrift in a coffin. Fowler expressly cites Lacan, but Kristeva and Irigiray are no doubt referenced in the larger study from which her essay on As I Lay Dying is excerpted.}  

Fri 7/19/2024 6:40 PM

From: Magee, Kevin

To:

Yesterday evening, about 24 hours ago, I went to CeeCee’s in Vermillion to dine with several of my colleagues, among whom I intended to interest one colleague in inviting a Polish scholar who, over the course of a several year correspondence, once asked me to formulate a title for one of her books that would communicate to readers her feminist approach without including the term feminist in the title due to career concerns in an overwhelmingly male-dominated profession. Late this morning, I googled her name, and discovered that she had passed away.

The attached (incomplete) record of our correspondence is offered both as a tribute to Dorota’s intellectual friendship and her meticulous accounting or zlotys and dollars. She always paid me what I asked—and I always asked as little as possible—never regretting my hours bending over and before her English-language sentences.

May I also add that our correspondence began several years after a young Fullbright Scholar from the same university in Lodz, returned to Poland. Europeans and Americans are not alike, as everyone I met in Poland never failed to remind me—Professor Butler may have forgotten the slight to the sensibilities and fierce philological pride of Polish colleagues when Butler indulged, once upon a time, in a shoe-buying spree at rock-bottom prices.

f/L – forgive, please, tone – I am in pain.

Fri 5/29/2015 10:19 AM

Dear Kevin,

You may remember my book about Laurence Unheroic Heroines, which you kindly proofread at the University of Lodz. I am now editor-in-chief of a journal in the Institute of English Studies in Lodz. We have not found a proofreader for the fifth issue (edited by Jaga Maszewska). Would you please help us? We would send a fee to your bank account. We cannot offer much, but we would appreciate your kind assistance. The text would be about 300 pages.

I look forward to hearing from you

With best wishes

Dorota Filipczak

Editor-in-chief of Text Matters: A Journal of Literature, Theory and Culture

Sat 5/30/2015 12:24 PM

Yes, I should have adequate time this summer for such a project, but I have a few questions about the kind of proofreading required.

Does the proofreader for Text Matters compare the authors’ original submissions to a printer’s copy? Or, on the other hand, does the proofreader check original submissions for any questions about sentence-level consistency and documentation prior to the manuscripts going to the printer? In either case, given the obvious distance, will I work with hard copies or electronic copies?

Regarding documentation, does Text Matters use a single style, whether MLA, APA, or CMS, and if so, is it the individual author’s responsibility or the editors’ (including proofreader) to make sure that each submission uses consistent and accurate in-text and bibliographic documentation?

These questions are based on my experience as both a proofreader and an author.

When I read your manuscript for Unheroic Heroines, I remember reading with the combined purpose of a proofreader and (minimal) copy editor. When I read the Agnieszka Salska festschrift that Jadwiga and Zbigniew edited, I compared the original manuscripts against the printer’s copy in addition to reading at an earlier stage for content to propose a table of contents based on thematic relationships. For my own publications with certain journals, I’ve even reviewed proofreader’s questions over the phone regarding a manuscript before approving the printer’s copy.

Currently, however, I would only feel comfortable proofreading the authors’ manuscripts against the printer’s copy to make sure no errors have entered in the process, although I would expect that as editor you would be interested in checking with authors about any obvious manuscript errors (I see them all the time in textbooks from major U.S. publishers).

I’m teaching several classes this summer, but enrollment is very small, so I have some free time apart from gardening and my own poetry. But I would need to be finished with proofreading by August. Does this time frame correspond to your needs for Text Matters?

Please give Jadwiga Maszewska my warm regards.

All best,

Kevin

 Sat 5/30/2015 2:44 PM

Dear Kevin,

Thank you so much. Above all, I would like to stay in touch about proofreading regardless of what you say to my explanation below.

This time, I’m afraid, we would appreciate your reading the electronic copy as soon as possible (I know it sounds outrageous and probably unrealistic). Adam Sumera would be going through major issues connected with MLA (our style sheet) at this stage, and when we have polished things up, there would be time for your corrections. We are in dire straits, because there are no native speakers in the institute (strange as it may sound) who could proof the issue for us. Andrew Tomlinson or Matthew Chambers would be doing this as a part of their duties, if they had not lost their jobs (however shocking it may sound, that’s a fact) because of the new strategies connected with assessing the staff at Polish universities. The remaining native speakers are either busy or do not qualify for this job. It is a sheer coincidence that during my conversation with Jaga I asked her if she could possibly find out where you are. It did not occur to us earlier to ask you for help; we kept thinking of people within our range.

The issue should come out in mid-October (there is no other way, or we’ll lose the precarious status we have). The graphic designer from the department of editing is going to do the typesetting in late June. I am really begging for a time slot in your schedule for whatever seems absolutely essential to make the text better. If you find it possible to help us, we will proceed in a more civilised way in the future, should you consider staying with team then. Do let me know what you think.

On a different note, I would gladly ask you for your help with an article I’m going to publish (8 pages). Of course, I would send the money for proofreading  to your account.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Ongoing best

Dorota

Sat 5/30/2015 5:44 PM

Dorota, my summer teaching is lightest between now and June 25, so sooner may well be better for me than later in terms of an immediate turn around. Still, specific deadlines are always most helpful.

As soon as I receive electronic copies from you, I’ll start reading them. Do I correctly understand that I will only be proofreading from electronic copies of the authors’ manuscripts and not against a printer’s copy?

Thanks, Kevin

Fri 6/5/2015 1:59 PM

Dear Kevin,

Thank you so much for this. Adam is currently preparing the texts for you. We’ll email the articles by Polish authors only. It won’t be such a tall order. We are very grateful for your assistance.

Best

Dorota

Tue 6/16/2015 7:29 AM

Dear Kevin,

I guess Jaga discussed the fee with you a while ago. We’d be delighted if you could proofread the attached as a native speaker.

Many thanks and all the best

Dorota

Sat 6/20/2015 11:40 PM

Dorota,

I hope that I haven’t taken too long to read these six files, just as I hope that my corrections and/or comments are useful and meet your publication’s needs and expectations.

Printing privileges at my campus allow me to read from hard copies, line by line, after which I “filter” the electronic files through software we use for composition courses, which helps confirm occasional questions about indefinite and definite articles, etc.

I do notice several global inconsistencies, such as the difference between “nineteenth century” and “20^th century” across the essays, not to mention mixed British and American spellings (for example, “centre,” “humour,” “skepticism” or “scepticism” [Microsoft Outlook just auto-corrected the latter as I was typing]).

I also note apparent collocation problems, at the same time checking my own questions of spelling and usage with the Oxford English Dictionary to which I have online access through my campus server.

At the beginning of each article I note the number of “edits and/or queries” in bold and highlighted in yellow, and I do the same with every correction or comment in the texts of the essays.

For what it’s worth, I noted the most “edits and/or queries” in Gasztold’s and Partyka’s essays (20 and 37 respectively). The other four pieces average about half a dozen each.

All best,

Kevin

Sun 6/21/2015 3:32 AM

Dear Kevin,

Thank you so much for the proofed versions I’ve just received. We do appreciate your wonderful assistance. I’ll email your comments and proofed versions to Adam, who is in charge of editorial process. All of your comments are extremely useful.

I attach two more texts that have just been prepared for you. With so many things on our hands Adam and I have left our own articles for the end, hoping you would not mind.

With many thanks and best wishes

Dorota

Thu 6/25/2015 3:00 PM

Dorota,

Attached are yours and Adam’s essays. I’ve allowed myself to include several “copy editing” queries with your essay since we have consulted on such matters before. 

For example: The casting decision that resulted in one actor playing Charles, Rodolphe and Léon was really significant. All of them become [was especially significant since, combined, they represent?] a fiction that Emma never ceases to indulge in.

Most importantly, however, Mieke Bal’s title, Death and Dissymmetry is misspelled twice (as Dissymetry), once in the text and once in the Works Cited. 

I also query the adjective “sexy” in the context in which it is used since everyday American usage equates “sexy” and “sex appeal,” and I don’t recall ever reading “sexy” as a synonym for “intimate” or “private.”

Regarding definite and indefinite articles, my sense of accuracy is based on how English uses these articles as adjectives, but I’m not immune to subjective impressions of clear and correct usage. 

I’ve also proofread for consistency regarding quotations following full-sentence introductions with colons. The previous six essays consistently capitalized the first letter of the quotation, so I have marked inconsistencies (I think once in your essay and several times near the end of Adam’s essay).

Since British spelling for words like “fulfil,” “centre,” and “theatre” are consistent, I haven’t queried these as I did in the previous group of essays. In one place, in Adam’s essay, the American spelling for “signaled” is even corrected to the British “signalled,” so I’ve only looked for inconsistencies in spelling.

Finally, I’d like to add that your essay’s discussion of The Doll was especially illuminating since I teach every semester a 1996 novel by Stephen Millhauser, Martin Dressler, central to which is a failed marriage to a character which my students readily recognize as a “trophy wife.” It’s quite a struggle to move discussions to the problem of the structure of the protagonist’s desire, who, as you put it, “wants a fiction, not a real woman”, not to mention the problem of the trapped subjectivity of the novel’s “doll-wife.” Commentators on Martin Dressler have noted the pervasive presence of Dreiser in this novel set in late nineteenth-century New York, but no one has mentioned Prus.

As always, if you need these essays returned any sooner, just let me know.

My best,

Kevin

Fri 6/26/2015 2:35 AM

Kevin,

Thank you so much for your most helpful corrections and wonderful comment on The Doll. I must read the novel you teach. I haven’t yet come across it. It was so good to discover something new.

I’m passing your email on to Adam, who manages the editing process.

I am a bit anxious because today is the date when we should  submit the essays to the editor who is going to typeset them. When can we possibly expect the other essays. You may remember I sent the articles in two installments. We received the first one a while ago, and I have just received the attached. However, I begin to wonder if the second email with articles reached your mailbox. From the conclusion to your letter I suppose it did. We would appreciate it if you could return the other proofed essays to us at your earliest convenience. We can still postpone typesetting, but people will be going on holidays soon, and it may become difficult for us to work smoothly.

Ongoing best

Dorota

Fri 6/26/2015 7:02 AM

Dorota,

Apart from yours and Adam’s essays, I’ve only received one email with six attachments (Fw: pliki do korekty językowej – cz. 1). Could you resend the earlier email? In addition to this address, you should copy it to kmagee@bridgemail.com (a gmail address).

The good news is that I have only five essays to grade this weekend, so I will be able to work on any essays I haven’t yet received this weekend to return on Sunday evening.

All best,

Kevin  

Sat 6/27/2015 5:11 PM

Dorota,

I hope that I haven’t rushed the attached five essays.

I did notice for the first time inconsistencies in the heading, Abstract, among these and previous essays. Sometimes the heading appears in all caps, ABSTRACT, sometimes only with an initial capital A; sometimes the heading is followed by a colon, and sometimes not. I haven’t marked this inconsistency, though, since it would mean going back into the previous files, and  there may well already be a “house rule” that the typesetter uses.

I did question the use of “US” as an abbreviation for the noun in several essays, based on a rule that I quote from a standard US style manual for student writers (the abbreviation is said to be acceptable as an adjective only). Again, Text Matters may well have a different rule for abbreviations for individual countries.

According to my folder, I have read and returned all but essays 2, 4-6, and 9 (which I have not received). That is, to date I have proofread 13 essays attached to three separate emails from you.

About the interview with Prof. Salska—I feel at a disadvantage by not being able to consult the transcript, for the transcription has a number of errors (I corrected and/or queried 39). I’m hoping you noticed that the text seemed somewhat hastily transcribed.

Prof. Salska mentions Marc Chenetier, who gave a paper on Stephen Millhauser at a conference in Lodz when I was there, and so introduced me to the author of Martin Dressler.

All best,

Kevin

Mon 3/7/2016 1:16 PM

Kevin,

You did great job for TM5. Thank you so much.

Please consider proofreading a collection of articles for a fee. My sister Malgorzata Dabrowska is a Byzantinist. She spent three years at Rice, Houston, teaching, so her English is pretty good. I corrected her texts, but they would need final proofreading by a native speaker.

It would be about 120 pages (or less). The fee could be transferred to your account, or I would hand it in when you come over to Jaga’s conference.

With best wishes

Dorota

Fri 3/11/2016 8:01 AM

Hi Dorota,

I’m sorry that I haven’t been able to respond any sooner. It is presently Spring Break and I’ve been traveling in the Rocky Mountains. This is the first day I’ve had internet access since the beginning of the week.

Of course, I’d like to help you. Deadlines are my only concern, as always, since eight weeks remain in the semester and I’m responsible for nearly 80 students, so my time is limited.

Why don’t you send me a copy of the manuscript, and we’ll talk about the fee later?

All best, Kevin

Fri 3/11/2016 2:49 PM

Hi Kevin,

Thank you so much for your reply. It was very kind of you to respond while you were in the mountains.

How wonderful to find you in the Rockies. I was travelling across them by train once from Edmonton to Vancouver. I shall never forget the views or the moose that blocked the railway station making it impossible for us to move on  until they wandered off.

I attach the copy which was converted from scans of articles to make a collection, so there may also be misprints connected with this particular conversion.

I removed three texts in French; we are hoping to find a French proofreader for them (they are mentioned in the contents).

Apart from this attachment there would be short acknowledgements, preface and text on the cover, but this is not ready yet.

Please let me know what you think when you have seen the manuscript.

Ongoing best

Dorota

Mon 3/21/2016 3:42 PM

Hi Kevin,

Has the manuscript reached you? Perhaps you are still in the Rockies. Do let me know when you could proofread this and how much it would cost.

All the best

Dorota

Wed 3/23/2016 6:19 AM

Hi Dorota,

Yes, I’ve received the manuscript. I’ll have a break in my weekly grading of five writing-intensive courses on the weekend of April 2-3 and expect to be able to get through most of the manuscript then. I don’t know what is the typical rate for proofreading, but I was able to review about 15 pages per hour when I was working on manuscripts for Text Matters. My guess is that I will need 8-12 hours total to review “The Hidden Secrets.”

I’d guess that $100.00 more or less would cover this estimated time, but I’d rather put in the hours first and let the author decide based on how helpful she finds my comments and corrections. I’m sorry if this sounds vague, but I’ve been working 60-70 hours a week on a salary since returning to the U.S. Higher ed grind so I really don’t know what my time–or anyone’s proofreading time–is worth.

Kevin Magee, Instructor

Fri 3/25/2016 5:24 AM

Hi Kevin,

Yes, the dates would be great for us, and the fee is fine. I’m sure the author will be very pleased to add a bonus.

One thing I need to mention is that the text was converted from scans into word, hence bizarre misprints. If you find it too much of an ordeal, let me know. I can ask Tomek Fisiak (my former doctoral student) to wade through it first.

He has agreed to join the project and will read the typeset version.

A short preface and acknowledgements will be added, but that does not amount to many pages.

All the best at Easter time

Dorota

Tue 4/5/2016 10:59 AM

Dorota,

I’m sending you my markup of your sister’s manuscript as both an MSWord and a pdf file.

Corrections and queries are highlighted in yellow, and additions such as definite/indefinite articles, obvious missing words, and punctuation are highlighted in cyan.

Errors, including scanning corruptions, are marked in red. The scanning errors were so numerous that I could not avoid correcting them as I found them, at the same time my corrections are not comprehensive, especially in the footnotes.

For some reason, the formatting of the manuscript prevented me from doing global searches for consistency, especially with respect to the capitalization of proper nouns in English. Examples of global searches that are needed include: Church union or Church Union? Papal or papal when the term is used as an adjective and not a proper noun? Diacritics or not for the Peloponnese? Which is the correct spelling, Cypriot or Cypriote? I queried these and other inconsistencies.

Please let me know if the author feels that her manuscript needs a second inspection on my part, especially after the scanning corruptions are corrected. I will not have any extra time until the second week of May, when the summer semester begins and my workload will be limited to only two classes.

Regards,

Kevin

Tue 4/5/2016 11:36 AM

Kevin,

This is wonderful job. I will pass the manuscript and your remarks on to Malgorzata asap. She is going to Italy for a research visit tomorrow morning, so she will not be able to deal with the text until  the first week of May, which will fit in with your schedule ideally. I am going to talk it over with her immediately. I suppose the next reading may be necessary.

We’ll wait till you have time.

However, there is a more urgent thing, a brief (12 pages) article for a foreign journal which we did not include through omission. Would there be a chance of your proofing it in April?

I might have one or two texts that need proofing for Text Matters. It would all be for a fee. Of course, my sister’s manuscript would be one thing, and TM –another.

With many best wishes

Dorota

Wed 4/6/2016 12:13 PM

Hi Kevin,

Malgorzata liked your corrections and said they were very helpful. I need your bank account number (Swift code etc.). Next week I could send you the money.

Would 150USD be the right sum if it included your rereading the manuscript again, introducing corrections  and correcting two other articles by Malgorzata (about 20 pages)?

Do let me know how my bank should describe it. Should I say “proofreading”

when I name the reason for transfer?  How can I put it so that it would look ok?

As for problematic words: Church Union would be capitalized, but papal would not as an adjective. No diacritics I suppose for the Peloponnese. I am never sure about Cypriote or Cypriot; please correct that as you think it should be corrected. I shall look at other queries you’ve had. Ideally, we would appreciate it if you could resend the MS corrected. Malgorzata is in Rome without netbook, doing research in the Vatican archives. Therefore, May is much better to finalise it all, but the text I mentioned yesterday is urgent.

I look forward to hearing from you

Best

Dorota

Wed 4/6/2016 7:03 PM

Dorota,

It might be better to wait with a bank transfer until all the proofreading, including Text Matters, is completed. But I will wait to hear what you think, and I need to check with my bank, Wells Fargo, which I do know handles international transfers, but for a fee, of course, which is why it might be best to do a single transfer. 

In the meantime, yes, I can work on the more urgent 20 pages belonging to  Malgorzata’s manuscript, but I will not be able to work on these two articles this weekend. April 17-18 would be the earliest I would be able to complete two articles of about 20 pages.

Are you still thinking about having someone else check the scanning corruptions? It’s very difficult to adequately proof footnotes without an original source, especially when scanning is involved.

Regards,

Kevin

Wed 4/13/2016 3:29 PM

Dear Kevin,

Thank you so much. Let me know when you have checked with the bank.

I will arrange about the transfer whenever you find it convenient.

Meanwhile I attach “The Trebizondian Empress” which has already been reviewed for a journal abroad, and Trebizond/Pontos recently reviewed for Text Matters. They are both about 30 pages long.

When you have

finished your proofreading, you will tell me whether the sum of 150 USD is OK.

As for your final query, yes, I will ask Tomasz Fisiak to compare the original texts with footnotes in the scanned version.

Ongoing

best

Dorota

Sun 4/17/2016 10:41 PM

Dorota,

Attached to this email are corrected files of the two articles. I have included pdf files to preserve markings in case of any accidental changes caused by opening files across different word processors.

I have highlighted in yellow errors needing correction, and I have entered in red proposed corrections to the text.

I also proofed footnotes and the Works Cited to the second essay, but I can’t feel confident about catching all errors since I’m not familiar with the citation style.

All best,

Kevin

Tue 4/19/2016 2:05 PM

Kevin,

I believe I also need IBAN for the money transfer.

Best

Dorota

Tue 4/19/2016 2:30 PM

Hi Dorota,

As far as I understand, US Banks do not use IBANs. That is what the Swift Code is used for. The only information I can find about IBANs on the Wells Fargo website is for commercial accounts, not personal banking. I’ll try to stop by my bank again this week, but it probably won’t be until Friday afternoon at the earliest.

Best,

Kevin

Tue 4/19/2016 2:37 PM

OK, thank you.I shall wait. I simply need to make sure what it looks like on your side.

Best

Dorota

Wed 4/27/2016 2:15 AM

Kevin,

I’m going to the bank now. I’ll get in touch after that visit.

Best

DF

Wed 4/27/2016 9:54 AM

Hi Kevin,

I paid 170$ into your account. I wanted to cover receiver’s costs to make the whole sum available to you, so I added 20$ for that purpose. The bank (zachodni WBK alias Santander) tells me the money should reach you after two or three days (weekends excluded). Do let me know when it shows up on your side. The routing number was put into the box that states the reason for payment, so it says: “transfer” and provides routing number. Swift and account numbers were also there and the address of your bank showed up on the clerk’s screen immediately. I hope all is well. From the amount of time it took them to figure out everything you might think we are in the middle of nowhere. I hope this is not the case.

I’ll keep in touch about the texts.

Ongoing best

Dorota

Wed 4/27/2016 12:40 PM

Thanks so much, Dorota. I’ll write you as soon as I see the transaction to my account.

All best,

Kevin

Sun 5/1/2016 8:03 AM

Hi Dorota,

I’m writing to let you know that the transfer shows in my account. I’ll write again at the end of the week to review what work remains to be finished with your sister’s manuscript.

Thanks, Kevin

Sun 5/8/2016 3:06 AM

Hi Kevin,

Thanks for this. Neither małgorzata (who was in Rome last month) nor I managed to deal with her text. Probably Tomasz Fisiak will deal with references, so he might perhaps contact you about little details if you agree. Meanwhile I have forgotten about my text for TM, which has already been edited due to the courtesy of my Canadian reviewer. However, I’d like you to have a final look at it before it goes into TM MLA adjustments section. Could I send it to you? It is not long (11 pages).

Best

Dorota  

Sun 5/8/2016 3:20 AM

Hi Kevin,

Will you please send the two attacments again? I lost them in my files.

D.

Sun 5/8/2016 4:04 AM

Kevin,

It’s Ok. I found what I wanted.

Best

D.

Sun 5/8/2016 7:14 AM

Kevin,

I need to ask you if you could possibly help me by proofing my own book about Brian Moore, the writer who was born in Belfast and died in Malibu.

I hope I can finish it before the end of the semestre, so I would like to book your time, if possible. Since the money transfer is horrendously expensive I’d rather send the whole sum after you finish provided you agree to put the cost of proof-reading the Lowry text (mentioned in the previous email) on the same bill.

I look forward to your response

Best

Dorota

Mon 5/9/2016 7:25 AM

Hi Dorota,

Today, Monday, May 9, I finish grading for the spring semester. Tomorrow I drive to Denver (an all day trip), so through May 11-14 I’ll have time to apply the proofing changes in Malgorzata’s manuscript. I should also have time to turn around the 11 pages you mentioned within a week. Is that enough time? I start teaching again on May 16, but I’m only responsible for about 20 students between May 16 and June 25, so I should have plenty of time to work with you on your own book.

I need to get as much done as possible before the Fall Semester, which begins the last week of August, since I can be assigned as many as 110 students.

I’m sorry the cost of wire transfers coming into the U.S. is so high. Are there alternatives? In the U.S., rebates and similar small amounts of money (50 or 100 dollars) are more and more frequently sent by means of prepaid Visa and Mastercards, which can be sent relatively securely by mail and which may cost far less than a wire transfer. According to google, Citibank has a branch in Lodz (Address: Piotrkowska 115/119, 90-430 Łódź, Woj. Łódzkie Phone: +48 42 639 75 94), and they may sell prepaid Visa or Mastercards.

Otherwise, I’m quite content to defer any compensation until the end of the year so that only a single sum needs to be sent. 

I should also add that I enjoy the intellectual stimulation, whether reading about the history of royal marriages in Byzantium, or Malcolm Lowry (I only very recently found a new edition of Under the Volcano is a discount bookstore here in town), or articles in Text Matters.

Now, back to grading the last 20 essays on Ismene and Antigone…

My very best,

Kevin

Mon 5/9/2016 1:18 PM

Hi Kevin,

Thanks a lot! I didn’t mean to grumble about the transfer (but I probably did). We’ll sort it out in the usual way now that I know how to proceed.

I do not know how much assistance on my or Malgorzata’s part you would need in order to reread her MS. I’m afraid she may not be able to introduce your changes till June/July. She should read the text as a matter of course in order to deal with your queries. So this may have to wait, if possible. Let us return to it at a later date.

I attach Lowry (which will go into a separate bill). A week should be fine.

Thank you!

Your deadlines will organize my time, which is good. I’ve got 5 chapters on Moore, but I need intro and conclusion. When I am through with the introduction, I will start sending the material to you.

I am glad our texts are of interest! I will tell Małgorzata about your remark. She’ll be pleased. Let me ask your advice on one thing. The next issue of TM is called Gothic Matters, but the section that includes my text and Trebizond by M. as well as a text on liminality in Harrison’s poetry still lacks the title. I would hate to use an unimaginative term such as miscellanea. How about  liminalities or intersections, encounters or misencounters? I would appreciate your advice on this. All texts are different but they all combine different worlds or contexts, and this is a connection.

By the way, Antigone is a continuing source of inspiration for me.

Best

Dorota

Thu 5/12/2016 3:43 PM

Dorota,

Attached are my edits/queries in both .doc and .pdf files, in addition to your Works Cited which I have attached separately with the same edits as in the article. It was easier for me to read the citations by formatting the Works Cited according to MLA guidelines (hanging indents, double spaced, etc.)

I have several comments to add since I’m not sure that my queries are clear in the text of your article:

1. I suggest changing “a multimodal piece of fiction” to either “multimodal fictions” or “the multimodal work” since the original phrase indicates a single “piece” of writing influenced by Lowry’s rather than a plural category.

2. The justified margins occasionally separate elements of punctuation from the words they punctuate–several of these are highlighted although I don’t know how the extra space can be removed short of using lefthand margins (another MLA formatting guideline).

3. I recommend changing “this remains beyond the scope” to “her role in the translation lies beyond the scope” in deference to a standard grammatical injunction against using demonstrative pronouns to restate the subject of the sentence.

I will need to add your felicitous phrase, “simultaneity of experiences channeled through the observer’s sensory perceptions” to my lecture notes for explaining the purpose of the interior monologues in Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying.

Also, I guess I’d vote for “intersections” for no better reason than a very important cultural space once carried that name in San Francisco (Intersection for the Arts). Mieke Bal’s installation might have found more participative than passive viewers there. Maybe the space still exists. I knew it in another life.

Very best,

Kevin

Sun 5/15/2016 11:34 AM

Hi Kevin,

many thanks for this! I do appreciate all the advice and all the comments and have introduced them into my Lowry text. It is interesting that you should find my phrase useful in the context of “As I Lay Dying”. I read that book as a student but later the institute apartheid division into British and American components made me lose touch with Faulkner, though recently I have come across a study of affinities between Faulkner and Conrad and was quite intrigued.

Yes, intersections will be great. Thank you. My isolation from things American explains lack of knowledge of the immediate context from San Francisco which  is SO interesting. I need to challenge Mieke with the idea of  exhibiting her work there if the place still exists.

I have been writing a different piece for a conference on Canadian literature in Torun (due to take place) next week.

We seem to be doing more and more things at once, which is mad. You must have noticed that the conditions in the Polish Academia began to deteriorate rapidly several years ago.

My obvious question is would you possibly look at the attached piece of work (less than 6 pages). There are no references yet. The version for publication will come later. This is the version for reading during the event which is quite prestigious. I would only need language corrections before Wednesday if there is any chance of your doing it. I apologize for such a short notice. I did not know if I would make it there. I was too busy to write anything until today. If you cannot look at it now I will understand. Malgorzata will send the text on Trebizondian empresses because she added several sentences and references which she’d like you to look at.

I should soon go back to Moore so as to fit in with the arrangements in your teaching schedule.

With many best wishes

Dorota

Sun 5/15/2016 12:18 PM

Dorota,

I’ll be able to review your presentation Monday evening. I just learned yesterday that one of my two scheduled courses for the next six weeks was reassigned after I refused a last-minute demand for a salary reduction. Poland’s universities aren’t alone in their troubles if the root causes involve shrinking budgets and declining enrollments.

All best, Kevin

Sun 5/15/2016 12:52 PM

Thank you, Kevin! It is invaluable help. Also, I am not being naive about things “elsewhere”. We are all struggling to survive in the academia.

Ongoing best

Dorota

Mon 5/16/2016 9:24 PM

Dorota,

Attached is a copy of your conference presentation with my edits, which are more than a few, but I tried to be thorough; queries about collocation accompany typical deletions or insertions of articles. If I can quote Wallace Stevens (from memory), is it “The the” or “The THE” (the repetition in italics?). The definite article is often called a limiting adjective, but it must also function in other ways that I can only explain on the basis of usage, and such explanations are always unsatisfactory because they are ultimately intuitive. So I try to keep the “intuitive” changes to a minimum, without forfeiting my “ear” for English, or at least American English.

Your paragraphs on Joan of Arc fill an immediate gap for me since I show pictures of different stagings and book covers to introduce the figure of Antigone when I teach Sophocles’ play. The image I’m sending I use to associate Antigone with Joan of Arc to emphasize what is an archetype. It’s probably no coincidence that the image is of a French study of Antigone. At the same time, if someone asks me, “Who was Joan of Arc?,” my only reference point is Dreyer’s silent film (which I know only because of Artaud’s role in it).

Meanwhile, I’ve added two more lines from your essay to my Faulkner notes: (viz. Di Brandt) “the mother’s place under patriarchy is the cemetery” (the plot of As I Lay Dying summarized in a single phrase) and “the amniotic fluid of the primeval unity with the body of the lost mother” which is precisely how Doreen Fowler interprets the river crossing in the novel complete with rope/umbilical cord and three sons vying with the body of the mother adrift in a coffin. Fowler expressly cites Lacan, but Kristeva and Irigiray are no doubt referenced in the larger study from which her essay on As I Lay Dying is excerpted.   

My continuing best,

Kevin

Tue 5/17/2016 10:37 AM

Kevin,

Thank you so much! This is really great! All the corrections are useful. I have introduced them and am ready to go and face the conference. What a wonderful feeling.

Also, I am impressed by all the parallels you have found with Faulkner’s novel. I am glad my texts connect with your interests. This also inspires me to think of the affinities I haven’t noticed. Thank you for the photograph.

The connection between Antigone and Joan seems to come naturally, because of how they both ended up, and because they had spoken and acted when only men were supposed to do it.

I need to send you my article where I analysed female\responses to WWI in Canada in light of Antigone. I shall find it after my return and email it.

With very best wishes

Dorota

Sun 5/29/2016 11:02 AM

Hi Kevin,

I am sorry I fell silent. Health problems distracted my attention from other things for some time, but I am ready to go back to what you suggested, as I want to stick to our arrangement, as I said earlier.

Rereading your email (below) alerted me to your schedule. I naively supposed I would be able to complete the introduction to my book earlier, but it is not likely to happen soon with the end of the semestre on my hands. I suggest then that you start reading successive chapters, and intro + conclusion will follow some time later. I decided to focus exclusively on Brian Moore’s eponymous heroines, and each chapter goes to one of them in chronological order.I attach the first chapter then. Four others are also ready and each is more or less the same length. Intro & conclusion should not exceed 20 pages, so we can probably leave them for the end.

There may be some gaps in bibliography, but I am too much pressed for time with other commitments, so will deal with technicalities later in June. What matters for me at this stage is language, style and syntax as well as clarity of the argument which is sometimes obfuscated by interference from Polish.

Do let me know if you accept the arrangement.

Malgorzata will have some questions concerning one of her texts where she added some passages. I will convey her message when it reaches me.

With best wishes

Dorota

Sun 5/29/2016 1:48 PM

Hi Kevin,

Malgorzata responded to your queries in blue ink (either in OK or in the phrase that may need looking at.

Please do look at cosmetic additions in red (references mostly).

This is urgent unlike my text so please look at the text at your earliest convenience. She will need it by 1st June if you can possibly make it. Malgorzata is very pleased with your corrections and will soon deal with her book.

We would like to continue this cooperation. If it is OK with you, I will wait for the bigger sum to accumulate and then send the money to your account. Please keep an eye on the bill.

Ongoing best

Dorota

Mon 5/30/2016 11:19 AM

Dorota, I’ll be able to work with Malgorzata’s text tomorrow, Tuesday afternoon, May 31, and I’ll send it to you late afternoon or early evening then–

Best,

Kevin

Mon 5/30/2016 11:34 AM

Kevin,

Great! Thank you.

Best

DF

Tue 5/31/2016 3:59 PM

Dorota,

Attached to this email is a copy of Malgorzata’s text and 20 further queries and corrections after making the approved changed to her text. I’m attaching these further queries and corrections separately in an effort to keep the corrected text as clean as possible, so the only grey highlighted words/passages in Malgorzata’s text are my queries (nine in all), themselves highlighted in blue in the separate attachment for ease of reference.

I plan on working with your text no later than this Thursday afternoon.

My regards,

Kevin

Tue 5/31/2016 4:07 PM

Thank you so much, Kevin. I’m passing your queries to Malgorzata.

Best

DF

Wed 6/1/2016 3:33 PM

Kevin,

Thank you so much for your detailed comments and invaluable corrections. Malgorzata was delighted, and her text is already with the editors.

Please ignore the 1st chapter of my book for a moment. Instead, could you possibly read the attached abstracts by Malgorzata and me respectively. The other text is an article I am submitting for somebody else’s book. It has been proofed or so the editor says, but I am not sure if it was well done.

Since the book proposal will be carefully examined by Routledge I would like the text to be impeccable.

I should finish a rudimentary intro to my book on Sunday. I would like you to read it because it will more or less delineate the approach I am going to adopt. Also, I am in a quandary as far as the title of Chapter One goes. The alternative and possibly better title is: “Facing Fantasy and Failure in The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne.“

All the best

Dorota

Thu 6/2/2016 6:40 PM

Dorota,

Attached are the two abstracts and your article. In the latter, you will want to determine whether you wish to refer to the Striga or the striga since the uppercase and lowercase forms are both used. I have also added the definite article, but of course if in your source the reference is only to Striga or striga, without the definite article, it will need to be removed.

I also suggest rewording “she fell off the horse and wounded her leg” to “she fell off her horse and injured her leg.” Wound does not collocate with a fall from a horse, etc. Injured does collocate, however, as would “broke her leg,” depending on the specific details in the narrative.

Also, in your abstract, I queried the quotation “Joyced in his own petard” – isn’t it “Joyced by his own petard”? I searched for the second quotation in google and retrieved an essay by you on Lowry and Julian Green which contains the quotation using “by his own petard”.

I plan on working on the chapter you sent previously this weekend.

And it was pleasantly surprising to come across references in your article to Mary Shelley and Claire Clairmont. Before one of my many moves many years ago my working library included the three-volume edition of Mary Shelley’s letters; I remember in particular her tracing of a passage from Milton. If memory serves me, there’s also a line in one of Byron’s letters, “Shelley has got to Milan with the bastard and its mother,” which attests to the distance between direct speech and literary style in that era.

All best,

Kevin

Sat 6/4/2016 11:14 AM

Kevin,

This is great! Thank you so much! Also, your remarks are extremely useful. “Joyced by his own petard” was unfortunately my oversight, much to my embarrassment. Amazingly, Lowry says “in his own petard”, but it seems logical enough, because he means the book.

Your remark on Mary Shelley and Byron is very interesting. It made me think.

I attach the rudimentary introduction to the book (3 pages), which will be expanded, but I wrote it to grasp the organizing principle of the book. The title is there as well. 

I forgot to include an abstract for the text on Albanian Virgin. If possible, please do correct it at your earliest convenience.

Ongoing best

Dorota

Sun 6/5/2016 10:03 PM

Dorota,

Attached are three texts, the two you most recently sent in addition to the chapter on Brian Moore’s novel. Consistent with the comments you sent with the Moore chapter, I did not check your Works Cited since the entries are bibliographic notes and as such, incomplete.

While I recall only a single correction to the abstract, I have included a number of queries alongside obvious corrections to punctuation, spelling, and definite/indefinite articles, especially for the chapter on Moore. At a later stage, if you like, I can read the chapter again simply for fluency, since spelling and punctuation corrections can interfere with a focus on sense and syntax. At the same time, I hope that I have queried evident challenges with collocation and in several instances, questions of clarity caused by modifiers and their distance from the subject in a sentence.

All this goes without saying that your English is typically authoritative and definite and only very rarely “shadows” Polish.

“She remains in her house with her poetry, derided by the townsfolk until she dies” reminds me of one of the narrators in another novel by Faulkner, Absalom, Absalom!

I’m curious, though, in view of the evident influence of Dickens and Joyce on Moore (you also mention Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway), is there any perception by you or mention by other critics of the influence of Dorothy Richardson’s Miriam as a possible source of an “eponymous heroine”?

All best,

Kevin 

Fri 6/10/2016 3:09 PM

Kevin,

I suppose chapter 2 is waiting its turn in your computer, and it is quite OK with me. I need to ask you a question on Text Matters in connection with what I mentioned some time ago.

The dean agreed to pay for proofreading by a native speaker. Would it be possible for you to go through the chosen texts (Adam will tell me how many there are) that sound problematic? Of course, my book would have to wait. I have just received the answer from the dean, and the deadline for the issue of TM is set.

Ongoing best

Dorota 

Sat 6/11/2016 1:31 PM

Hi Dorota,

By chapter 2 do you mean the text you sent me on Monday, June 6, “I Am Mary”? To my knowledge, this is the only text that I have not yet proofread, and I expect to have it completed by tomorrow, Sunday. The cycle for grading essays for the course I’m currently teaching this week and the next two weeks (6/7-6/23) falls on the middle of the week, so I have only the weekends for proofreading.

How immediate is the deadline for Text Matters? If we suspend working on your book for the moment, I will have most of next weekend, June 17, 18, and 19, for working on essays that need the attention of a native speaker. 

The following weekend, June 24-27, I will be in Denver, and when I return a new summer session starts for which I am scheduled to teach three courses although one if not two courses will probably be canceled, so I don’t expect that I’ll have any less time to proofread until the end of August.

You mentioned summer holidays (“before the holidays”) in your June 6 email. What are the dates by which you would prefer to have Chs. 3, 4, and 5 from your book read by me?

Thanks, Kevin

Sun 6/12/2016 11:28 AM

Hi Kevin,

yes, I only sent chapter 2 after Judith; 3,4 &5 will have to wait till you can deal with them. At the end of June or at the beginning of July we need to submit issue 6 to the editor responsible for typesetting. The essays definitely need your kind attention, so the weekend of June 17,18 and 19 will be just right.

When I mentioned summer holidays I meant (roughly)  the beginning of August. However, I am not supposed to meet any deadline for the book. Therefore, the schedule is up to you. It depends on how much time you can devote to the book in the summer. The journal is more important at this stage. You have kindly corrected two articles from  issue 6, that is, the one on Lowry and Sienkiewicz and the one on images of Trebizond. Adam should be able to tell me tomorrow how many articles by other authors need proofing.

I asked Grażyna about the way of transferring the fee for your proofing TM now that the dean has allocated the money for the purpose. She says it will not be a problem in this case. My suggestion is then that I have that money transferred to you soon after you have completed the process of proofing TM 6. 

With many best wishes

Dorota 

Sun 6/12/2016 8:26 PM

Dorota, attached is Ch. 2, “I am Mary Dunne.” I’ll await, then, files from Text Matters by Friday, June 17.

Thanks, Kevin

Wed 6/15/2016 3:55 AM

Hi Kevin,

I just want to let you know that Adam Sumera (Managing Editor of TM) will be sending the articles from issue 6 to you before the weekend

We will be very grateful for your kind attention.

Best

Dorota

Sun 6/26/2016 12:02 PM

Kevin,

Sorry to have fallen silent. I was ill and then busy. I know that Adam has received the corrected texts for TM, so it is time we thought about the payment.

Please let me know how much you would like us to pay you for the texts sent by Adam + my text on Lowry and Sienkiewicz (which goes into the issue) + Malgorzata Dabrowska’s text on Trebizond and the Pontos (meant for the same issue). If this last text   (Trebizond and the Pontos) has been accomodated  in my sister’s fee, please replace it with my text on Isobel Gunn.

This would leave my text on Munro/Kadare + the Moore book on the separate bill. However, since Tm6 had to jump the queue I do not know when you could read the remaining chapters of the Moore book.

Let us first deal with the payment from the University. When you tell me the amount I will make inquiries as to the procedure. it will take longer than the private arrangement but I do need to process it before holidays (that is till mid-July).

On a different note, Adam and I are facing a real dilemma, because the ussue editor from Lausanne keeps using Gothic alternately with gothic (lower case). Which would be the right choice?

Please let me know about your schedule and the bill for TM6

Ongoing best

Dorota

Tue 6/28/2016 10:10 PM

Dorota,

Here’s my accounting for the Text Matters essays:

Fisiak               10:45-11:15

Pitrzak             11:15-11:45                                        

Gorny              11:45-12:00

Soltysik           12:00-12:30

Soltysik           12:45-1:45

Lowczanin      1:45-3:30                                            

Stepien            3:45-5:00                     SIX HOURS Saturday, 6/18

Arong              12:45-2:15

Yeterian           2:15-3:15

Lernhardt         3:30-5:30

Luksza             5:30-6:30                     SIX HOURS Sunday, 6/19

Interview         8:30-9:00                     HALF HOUR, 6/28

Lowry/Sienkiewicz                             ONE HOUR 30 MINUTES, 5/12

Isobel Gunn                                         ONE HOUR, 5/16

I include the times for the contributors’ essays since I was concerned about keeping track of patterns, i.e., the shorter reviews typically took between 15-30 minutes while the full-length essays varied depending on the number of corrections and queries.

In total, 15 hours are recorded, and at 15 dollars an hour (minimum wage in California and Washington State), the total would be $225.00.  At 13 dollars an hour (standard wage for service sector labor in South Dakota), the bill would be $195.00. Please let me know if these rates are in range of previous “native speaker” proofreading charges.  

Regarding your question about capitalizing “Gothic,” here is the entry for the term in the Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms, which capitalizes Gothic, whether used as an adjective or as a proper noun:

A story of terror and suspense, usually set in a gloomy old castle or monastery (hence ‘Gothic’, a term applied to medieval architecture and thus associated in the 18th century with superstition). Following the appearance of Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto (1764), the Gothic novel flourished in Britain from the 1790s to the 1820s, dominated by Ann Radcliffe, whose Mysteries of Udolpho (1794) had many imitators. She was careful to explain away the apparently supernatural occurrences in her stories, but other writers, like M. G. Lewis in The Monk (1796), made free use of ghosts and demons along with scenes of cruelty and horror. The fashion for such works, ridiculed by Jane Austen in Northanger Abbey (1818), gave way to a vogue for historical novels, but it contributed to the new emotional climate of Romanticism. In an extended sense, many novels that do not have a medievalized setting, but which share a comparably sinister, grotesque, or claustrophobic atmosphere, have been classed as Gothic: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) is a well-known example; and there are several important American tales and novels with strong Gothic elements in this sense, from Poe to Faulkner and beyond. A popular modern variety of women’s romance dealing with endangered heroines in the manner of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre (1847) and Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca (1938) is also referred to as Gothic. See also fantastic, horror story, preromanticism. For a fuller account, consult Fred Botting, Gothic (1996).

As it turns out, I’m presently teaching a single class twice a week with five students, so I have plenty of time for the next six weeks to work with the rest of the chapters to your book on Moore.

All best,

Kevin

P.S., I’m considering adapting Cormac McCarthy’s The Road for my 2017 Introduction to Literature courses on the strength of one of the contributors’ essays on the same.

Wed 6/29/2016 3:02 PM

Kevin,

Thanks for all this. In fact, I got the Dean’s agreement for 1 500 zlotys. After deducting the necessary tax that has to be paid in Poland (20%), the sum will be reduced to 1 200, and a part of it will have to cover transfer costs. This should leave you with about 1 000 zlotys, that is about 250 USD depending on the bank exchange rate.

I enclose the documents that you need to fill in. The lines are highlighted in yellow and blue. After you send the contract back to me by email, the dean’s office will print it out for the dean to sign and send to you by snail mail. When you send it back with your signature, the money will be paid into your account.

Please let me know the ground address the documents should be sent to.

When you have dealt with the documents (they are in English and Polish), I will send the remaining chapters on Moore. Many thanks for agreeing to read them at this stage.

Incidentally, articles on Cormac McCarthy have appeared in TM4 & 5. Please go to TM on De Gruyter if you’d like to have a look.

All the best

Dorota

Thu 6/30/2016 1:15 PM

Dear Kevin,

before you fill in the contract we do need your current affiliation to go with your role of the language editor in Tm6

Best

DF

Thu 6/30/2016 4:59 PM

Dorota,

By affiliation, do you mean my current employer? If yes, then, my current affiliation is

Instructor of English

Department of English

College of Arts and Sciences

University of South Dakota

414 E. Clark Street

Vermillion, SD  57069

Please note that this is NOT my ground address since I do not keep an office in Vermillion.

Here’s a link to the USD English Department faculty page:

http://www.usd.edu/arts-and-sciences/english/faculty

Regards,

Kevin

Fri 7/1/2016 3:58 PM

Hi Kevin,

I went to the dean’s office today. They say that when you have sent the contract to my mailbox, they will check it. Then I’ll send it back to you. You will print it, sign it and send it to them by priority mail. The money can be paid when they receive the letter.

Is the sum I asked for OK?

Malgorzata has a request if you could possibly look at the three attached things. I thought I had sent them but I don’t think this was the case.

I am dying under the strain of MA exams, TM, haste and stress. Please forgive the abruptness of my letters.

With very best wishes

Dorota 

Fri 7/1/2016 5:12 PM

Dear Dorota,

I’ll get the contract to you tomorrow, Saturday, by email, and I should be able to send you Malgorzata’s three texts by Monday morning.

I also often regret how abrupt and objective I must sound when writing about the “business” side of all this—language with which I have always been uncomfortable.

Last night I watched the film version of “The Road” to try and measure how the plot of the novel might resonate with students fond of vampires and zombies and immune to categories of genre such as the Gothic if not the form of the novel itself (it is not uncommon here for college sophomores to admit to having never read a single novel).  

The new edition of the textbook I use for a course in rhetoric emphasizes ethical conflicts, so the role of the boy as a witness to conscience may well fit in. At the same time, I reflexively resist narratives that insist on reducing life to its lowest possible denominator in order to stage ethics and faith in a human as opposed to either a purely animalistic or technologized world.

Over the past week, I have grieved over the effect that Britain’s reactionary referendum will have on the lives of students and colleagues I remember so well from Lodz as well as their countless contemporaries both younger and older in Poland and elsewhere in Central Europe.

My best wishes for you well-being at such a pressing time in the academic year.

Kevin

Sat 7/2/2016 10:07 PM

Hi Dorota,

I hope that I’ve filled the contract out completely and correctly. The one part I felt most unsure about is the tax information at the bottom of the fifth and final page, specifically “the tax office of the taxpayer.”

Please let me know if I need to redo this section.

Thanks so much!

All best,

Kevin

Sun 7/3/2016 8:29 AM

Hi Kevin,

Thank you! I’ll send this file to the dean’s secretary tomorrow morning so that she could check it.

I guess that “the tax office of the taxpayer” is the literal translation signifying the office where Polish people need to document how high their income is or that they pay their annual or monthly tax. I guess the assumption is that it is a universal arrangement to have a separate tax office for each district or borough, depending on one’s address. I have no idea how it operates in the USA. If there is a tax office where you are registered as a tax-payer, its name and address should be provided; e.g. I live in a district called Widzew, so I always provide the street and address of the office responsible for Widzew and located there.

Also, please make sure if you can get a tax release in your country because your tax  will be paid in Poland. There are regulations connected with double taxation avoidance, but I do not know if there is a bilateral agreement of that sort between Poland and the USA.

All the best

Dorota

Mon 7/4/2016 12:00 PM

Dorota,

Attached are the three texts by Malgorzata. If you can send me some more information about the acknowledgments page I will take another look at the citations this week. Meanwhile, I have corrected what appear to me to be obvious errors among the citations (mostly punctuation), but I cannot do much more with the citations without knowing which is the preferred style, such as MLA or APA. I notice that many titles of articles appear in italics and the titles of journals appear in quotation marks, which is the opposite of MLA (and APA as far as I know). Several emoticons also appear here and there, which may be a scanning error.

And a further thought about the contract I returned to you: Since I worked in Poland for four years, I probably have a NIP (tax number?), and since I paid into a pension as well, it’s likely that I also have in Poland what we would call in the U.S. a social security number (Pesel?) I can look and see if I still have copies of this information among my files. I remember needing them when I filed my U.S. taxes in 2007 and thought that I would need to report my income from Poland.

So I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the contract I sent is deemed inaccurate somewhere along the administrative chain. I just want to let you know that any and all delays are fine with me and that I hope you don’t have to deal with any undue obstacles on my account.  

All best,

Kevin

Wed 7/6/2016 6:54 AM

Kevin,

Many thanks for all this.

Head of the Dean’s office says you needn’t write anything in the part specifying the tax office. When you have erased whatever is there, please print the contract, sign it and send it by priority mail directly to her that is:

Szanowna Pani Dyrektor Dorota Cieślak

Wydział Filologiczny UŁ

ul. Pomorska 171/173

Just paste it on your envelope. I will be going away in the middle of next week. I will have sent the remaining Moore chapters by this weekend for you to correct whenever it is convenient.

All the best

Dorota

Wed 7/6/2016 7:22 AM

Please remember to erase blue highlights before you sign the copies where the contractor’s signature is necessary.

Best

Dorota 

Wed 7/13/2016 5:28 AM

Kevin,

Did you manage to send the contract by priority mail?

I will not be able to reread the chapters, so please give me a moment. I will need to go away for some time. I will get back to you before the end of July with the Moore  stuff.

All the best

Dorota

Wed 7/13/2016 7:05 AM

Hi Dorota,

Yes, the contract went out in the mail last week. Transatlantic mail is distressingly slow.

I’ll have plenty of time to proofread further chapters on Moore any time between now and August 21, so I’ll look forward to receiving them when you return.

All best,

Kevin

Wed 7/13/2016 7:23 AM

Kevin,

Thank you so much for this!

Ongoing best

Dorota

Tue 8/30/2016 3:15 AM

Hi Kevin,

I’ve just returned from the Alps which are stunningly beautiful and difficult to forget about. I will get back to the Moore book soon.

Meanwhile the money was sent to your account from the University bank. Has it reached you. They say it should have arrived by the end of August.
Let me know if it hasn’t. I am ready for the battle with the institution if necessary!

Also, please let me know what your current schedule is. You probably told me that before summer, but I need to know if there aren’t any changes.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Ongoing best

Dorota

Thu 9/1/2016 10:26 AM

Hi Dorota,

I waited with writing back since the university payment had not yet posted, but I’m happy to report that the wire transfer went through earlier today.

Classes begin in August here and I’m near the end of my second week teaching 100+ students in five courses, and 12 of 16 weeks during the semester different sections submit essays which I am responsible for commenting on, improving, and eventually evaluating, so time is a precious resource.

This doesn’t mean that I won’t be able to find time to work on your Moore chapters, but I would like to emphasize that if you are writing for a publisher’s or conference deadline, I will need at least a notice of a week or two.

Thanks for all your efforts in facilitating the payment for Text Matters, and I’m looking forward to reading future chapters from your work-in-progress.

All best,
Kevin

Fri 9/2/2016 3:46 AM

Hi Kevin,

Many thanks for letting me know about the payment and schedule.

In fact, I have very little chance of focusing on Moore in September, because my doctoral student has just submitted her thesis for my corrections, and I also need to deal with a postdoctoral book by a colleague from our department.

However, I will also need to write a paper (6 to 7 pages) about Eowyn from Lord of the Rings, because I volunteered to read it at Andrzej Wicher’s conference. Will you please find time for this around the 15th or later? I am going to read it on the 20th. The other thing that I need to send is connected with small additions to the paper on Isobel Gunn (which you read and corrected last spring). When I have finished this, I will go back to the Moore project because the fall semester is easier for me than the other. Please let me quietly join the queue of your commitments.

With many best wishes

Dorota

Fri 9/2/2016 4:11 AM

Kevin,

Do you think that Intertextual Illuminations: Lowry and Sienkiewicz

would sound OK as a short version of the title of my article for TM? Adam suggested that but I’m not sure.

Best

DF

Fri 9/2/2016 8:25 AM

Dorota,

About the title, I took another look at your essay, and Lowry’s use of the word “illumination” for light from a lantern, which you draw particular attention to, supports your original choice for your essay’s title.

Your essay’s early emphasis on the importance of the machine and machinery to Lowry’s writing might suggest another way of signaling the significance of the intertexts between Lowry and Sienkiewicz, but the conjunction of lantern glow (Lowry) and lighthouse beacon (Sienkiewicz), in my view, validates the word, “illuminations.”

And yes, if you can send me the conference paper you need me to read by Thursday, Sept. 15, I’ll be able to include it among the work I have scheduled for 9/16-19. You’ll have it back no later than Monday, 9/19. One of the university librarians I work with every semester in teaching database sources has researched and written about Lord of the Rings.

When you have the time, could you send me any information I might need to propose a university library subscription to TM?

All best,

Kevin

Wed 9/14/2016 12:10 PM

Hi Kevin,

Thank you very much for your reply and suggestions. I’ve been inundated with commitments ever since I came back; hence the delay in replying. I attach my article about Eowyn. If you could put me in touch with the librarian I might perhaps inquire if my take on Eowyn has been new or not quite. I am sure you will know it anyway. Do look at this essay carefully. Of course, references are either scare or missing. It’s a presentation, but I hope that publication will follow.

We would greatly appreciate it if you could recommend Text Matters to your university. The essays from the five issues are available in open access in de gruyter at the address below. The essential information is also there.

http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/texmat

All the best

Dorota

Sat 9/17/2016 9:54 AM

Dorota,

Attached are my comments and edits for the Eowyn paper.

How very interesting to find a reference to Ernst Kantorowicz, with whom one of California’s great poets, Robert Duncan, studied at UC Berkeley in the 1940s, I believe.

I hope my proofreading arrives in time for your conference.

All best,
Kevin

Sun 9/18/2016 6:56 AM

Kevin,

Many thanks for this. I do appreciate it.

Ongoing best

Dorota

Wed 10/12/2016 4:15 AM

Hi Kevin,

Apologies for my silence. My mother who is 87 fell down in her flat five minutes after I had had my paper on Eowyn, but she managed to reach me through the mobile so I rushed out of the room and have been dividing my time between all sorts of commitments ever since, because she needs care.

However, I should be able to bend my mind to the book soon. Now, the new dean (Professor Jabłkowska) has invited us to apply for grants from her fund, which is very civilized. I would like to apply for the grant that would cover the costs of proofreading. If I am lucky enough, the money will have been sent to you by the end of December.

Please  let me know what would be the estimated cost  of  reading five chapters (you’ve already read at least two and a draft of the intro). The chapters are almost the same length. Please add my other texts to this, because if we do not manage to go through the whole book, I would be paying for the rest from my own pocket anyway, but would now like to take care of what has not yet been dealt with financially.

I would appreciate a brief answer very soon; 15th Oct. is the deadline for applications.

Best

Dorota 

Thu 10/13/2016 6:46 PM

Dear Dorota,

My 91-year-old mother arrives Saturday for a two-week visit. She broke her leg about five years ago and her continuing lack of mobility is a major source of frustration for her.   

Here’s my record of proofreading for you. This record may include one or two pieces included in Text Matters, so those should be subtracted. The total hours logged are 13 ½:

1. “Eowyn and the Tradition of a Warrior Woman” – 45 minutes
2. “Under the Naked Man: ‘Quiet Desperation’ in I Am Mary Dunne” – 4 hours
3. “It’s Only Me: Judith Hearne and Self-Deprecation” – 3 1/2 hours
4. “Brian Moore’s Eponymous Heroines and the Literary Tradition” – 30 minutes
5. “The Gothic Excess in T’he Albanian Virgin’” – 1 1/2  hours
6. “Rewriting Joan of Arc in the Canadian North: Isobel Gunn by Audrey Thomas – 1 hour
7. “Intertextual Illuminations: ‘The Lighthouse Keeper of Aspinwall’ by “Henryk Sienkiewicz in Malcolm Lowry’s ‘Through the Panama’” – 2 hours
8. “Through the Panama” Abstract / “The Albanian Virgin” Abstract – 15 minutes

Based on the time recorded for the two earlier chapters (Hearne and Dunne), I would estimate another 10 hours, which—provided that one or two of the pieces listed above were included in the Text Matters fee, would make about 20 hours total.

Does $225.00 sound reasonable?

All best,

Kevin

Mon 10/17/2016 3:34 PM

Dear Kevin,

Many thanks for being so understanding about my problem. Yes, frustration is another thing to be reckoned with when an active person suffers from the lack of mobility. I am sorry I keep being late with emails. I am getting organized in the new situation.

The fee is fine. In fact, I asked the dean for 1 500 zlotys, the same amonut that the previous dean had granted to you for the proofing of TM. I do not know how much it was in USD when the money reached you after different bank payments were subtracted. I can always add to the fee if it is too small after the transfer.

We’ll see what the dean says.

I’ll keep in touch. I will soon try to bend my mind to the book etc.

Best

Dorota

Mon 10/31/2016 3:09 PM

Kevin,

The dean has granted me 500zlotys which I will try to make the office send you asap as a part of your fee. It will be about 100 USD. + the transfer payment. If you agree I will pay the rest after proofreading. I need to go back to the book but it is still difficult, considering my mother’s situation. I would like to send you the expanded text on Isobel Gunn very soon, because I need to mail the complete version to the publishers.Would you please have a look at it? Also, please advise me if it is possible to shorten the following title which my colleague suggested for the next issue of TM

Engaging the Political in Irish Literature and Culture

With many best wishes

Dorota

Tue 11/1/2016 9:12 PM

Dorota,

Yes, the arrangement you describe is fine with me.

The ideal time for me to read the “expanded text on Isobel Gunn” would be either the weekend of 11/18-11/20 or the following weekend, 11/25-11/27 (this is a holiday weekend here and one for which I receive three days off work).

Otherwise, I have only three classes rather than my regular five scheduled during the week of 12/5-12/9.

I will be grading over 80 final essays between 12/9 and 12/18, after which I will be in Denver between 12/20 and 12/31 where I expect to have some free time.

About the title, I can well imagine that “Politics in Irish Literature and Culture” represents an alarming conflation of categories. “The Political” would then appear necessary to keep. Is there a noun that might work in the title? Whatever the noun might be, wouldn’t it need to carry a theoretical charge – like Jameson’s political unconscious?

Political __________ in Irish Literature and Culture.

Might the keyword be found in the editor’s general introduction to the issue?

The only other alternative is finding a synonym for “Engaging,” which doesn’t seem promising. Or does “Political Engagements” begin to suggest alternatives? Something that crosses word and action without confusing or simplifying either?

The Political Imaginary in Irish Literature and Culture?

I’m teaching Waiting for the Barbarians for the next couple of weeks and wishing I was more familiar with postcolonial literature and theory.

All best,

Kevin 

Sat 12/3/2016 3:36 PM

Kevin,

I’m arranging for the 500 zlotys (about 100USD) to be sent to you as a part of my payment for proofreading.

Please fill out the attached, erase the highlighting afterwards, and email the document back to me so that I could have it checked in the office before you send it by snail mail.

I decided not to trouble you with Isobel Gunn unless they want it redrafted in the reviews.

Also, I went back to Moore chapers and began to rework some material especially in the chapter on Mary Dunne where I spotted quite a few inanities that my exhaustion prevented me from seeing earlier.

With my mother confined to bed the work is slow. However, I should be more focused on the book after Christmas with winter break ahead. Would that connect with your schedule?

All the best

Dorota

Mon 12/5/2016 4:30 PM

Dorota,

Attached is a signed copy of the contract you sent Saturday. I was unable to send the document until today since I keep my scanner at my office. I have signed and completed the highlighted areas according to the June contract, but I’ll wait until hearing from you before sending the hard copy by post in case there is any missing information. I did not erase the highlighted xxxx on page 1 which refers to the number of words.

As for my schedule, final grades are due Dec. 19 and the new semester begins on January 9. The first two weeks of classes, however, require less of my time, so I have a window of 4-5 weeks beginning on Dec. 20 in which I will be about to turn around any materials you send within a day or two. I will need more time by the end of January.

All best,

Kevin

Tue 12/13/2016 3:25 PM

Kevin,

Head of Dean’s office suggested two corrections: I highlighted them in green in the attached form, because I could not correct the pdf form

1. The date was changed to 1.11.16 in English and Polish version

2. The number of Rektor’s regulation was corrected in the Polish version.

The Head did not refer to XXX in the number of pages, so I guess we leave it as it is.

Do send the contract asap to the same address

Sz. Pani mgr Dorota Cieślak

Dyrektor administracyjny Wydziału Filologicznego UŁ ul Pomorska 171/173

90-236 Lodz

Poland

Your schedule is perfect for me. I will probably send you Judith and Mary Dunne in the corrected redrafted versions for reading in the December “window”. End of January should be fine for other things unless reality explodes in my face which is not totally unlikely.

Ongoing best

Dorota

Sat 12/17/2016 9:33 AM

Dorota,

The corrected contract is attached. I’m sorry for the delay, but this past week is the end of our semester (grades for 100 students due Monday) and I have had hardly an hour to call my own. Your email arrived only days after I sent the earlier contract by snail mail, so I will resend the hard copy today as well through priority mail if I can. Thanks for your patience. I’m an concerned about the item in the middle of page 1 which commences the contract on 1.11.2016 and terminates it on 1.12.16. I just don’t understand signing a document that transpires in one day about a year ago…

But as long as it works, fine. I look forward to reading your manuscripts.

Best, Kevin

Fri 12/30/2016 11:12 AM

Hi Kevin,

I hope you are well and have had lovely Christmas. Do let me know the date when you mailed the corrected hard copy of the contract so that I could check in the office if they have sent the money or are going to.

I attach the first two chapters of my book which you know but I needed to revise  them. I hope that I will have finished revising the rest by March (optimistically), and then will send the rest of the money to you from my account (unless I get the dean to allocate some extra).Of course, you will need to add the attached to the bill.

I tried to tidy up the chapters after your invaluable corrections, and I hope they are in better shape than they were when you first saw them.

Malgorzata is asking me if you could make time for her short article in about a month (I’ll let her jump the queue if necessary).

She also asks you to kindly read the sentence below where she inserted our father’s name, but I’m not sure about the genitive: I am very grateful to my Aunt, Danuta Tarnowska, my late Father, Stanisław Dąbrowski’s  sister.

All the best in the new year 2017.

Dorota

Wed 1/4/2017 9:25 PM

Dorota,

Here are the two essays you sent on 12/30. I count 42 corrections and/or queries in the Judith Hearne essay, and 18 in the Mary Dunne essay. I don’t know whether the numerical asymmetry is significant or not, but I read the first essay Monday evening and the second essay Wednesday evening, and reading the second, “I am Mary Dunne,” I had the distinct impression that the second essay was freer of typical minor proofreading issues.

I would like to have gotten to these sooner, and I hope the turnaround is satisfactory, but the New Year has been rather socially and politically distracting since I’m in the early stages of attending community meetings inspired at least in part by the national (and regional) political reaction which no doubt you’ve heard of.

And yes, I can read Malgorzata’s short article in a few weeks, so long as I have a few days to return it.

As for the sentence in question, if my response is not too late, I would recommend the following form:

I am very grateful to my aunt Danuta Tarnowska, the sister of my late father, Stanisław Dąbrowski.

(Aunt and Father are only capitalized if they appear as part of the title i.e., Aunt Emily.)

I sent the corrected copy of the contract on Dec. 17, but not by priority mail. I hope that’s okay.

Best wishes for the New Year,

Kevin

Wed 1/11/2017 3:25 PM

Kevin,

Many thanks for this. This is great. You are probably right about the quality of proofread versions. I redrafted Mary Dunne quite a lot, so I probably read this chapter many more times than the other.

Attached is the third chapter (on Sheila Redden). I left quotation marks as they are and will correct them later. I hope the chapter is more or less in the right shape as far as spelling and punctuation go. However, exhaustion and pressure of work often distract me from my task, and then I do not seem to have full control of the text .

Your corrected contract arrived safely and was accepted. The money will have reached you by the end of the month. I inquired about this in the office.

I will be going to Oslo for the opening of Munch exhibition enriched with Mieke Bal’s video installation Madame B. I am thrilled about this chance. I have been invited to conduct a public interview with Mieke on this occasion.

This, however, distracts me from the book, so I will  probably get back to you with the next two chapters in the first half of February.

Ongoing best

Dorota

Mon 1/23/2017 8:05 AM

Dorota,

Your third chapter is attached. I count 54 queries and corrections. I would like to have been able to send you this a week earlier, but I’m still adjusting to a new wave of a hundred students three weeks into the semester.

Best regards,

Kevin

Tue 1/24/2017 9:34 AM

Kevin,

Many thanks for your corrections. There is no need to hurry now, because I am going to Oslo, and can only go back to Moore later in February.

I am however planning a visiting card, which I always forget to think about.

How do I refer to my position of University professor in Lodz (prof.

nadzwyczajny).

Do I say Dr hab. D  F, professor at the University of Lodz? These are trivia, and there is a plan to get rid of prof. nadzw., so I might not be getting round to doing it.

Do let me know when the money from Uni. arrives; then you’ll tell me how much I owe you after subtracting this sum from the rest I have owed you up till now.

Ongoing best

Dorota

Tue 1/24/2017 4:21 PM

Dorota,

The only example I can offer is prof.dr hab.: Name

This is how Professor Salska signed her title and name for a letter she wrote when I applied to USD.

I don’t know whether the European Union still uses the equivalent of the habilitacja designation.

Here are some examples from the USD faculty professional signatures (from emails sent to the faculty mailing list):

Lisa Ann Robertson, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor | Nineteenth-Century British Literature University of South Dakota | Department of English Dakota Hall, Room 207 | 414 E. Clark St.

Vermillion, SD 57069 | United States

Paul Formisano

Assistant Professor/Director of Writing

Department of English

Dakota Hall 226

University of South Dakota

Vermillion, SD 57069

Carol A. Leibiger, Ph.D., MSLIS                                                            

Associate Professor                                                                                    

Associate Editor, Book Reviews, Die Unterrichtspraxis                    

130B I.D. Weeks Library Bldg.

University of South Dakota                                                                     

Vermillion, SD 57069

John Dudley

Associate Dean, College of Arts & Sciences Professor of English University of South Dakota

414 E. Clark St.

Vermillion, SD 57069

Regards,

Kevin

Mon 2/6/2017 9:30 AM

Kevin,

Things go slowly on my side, although I saw a new Munch exhibition with Mieke Bal’s installation in Oslo, and read my poetry from the new volume in Kraków.

However, I will have to stay at my mother’s for the whole week, and therefore will send chapter 4 sometime later.

Has the money from the faculty reached you?

I attach a little half page summary of my husband’s article on parliament. I did the translation. Does it look OK in terms of articles etc.?

I will keep in touch

Ongoing best

Dorota

Thu 2/9/2017 5:21 PM

Hi Dorota,

Attached you will find two types of corrections. First, punctuation after introductory phrases using dates i.e., In 1780, etc.

The second revision, or suggestion, highlights and removes six occurrences of the phrase “in the land of.”

The problem, to my knowledge, is based on its typical use as a heightened or even stock phrase, such as “in the land of Oz” or whatever faraway magical place is invoked.

I’m not aware of the currency of the phrase in history, geography or geopolitics, and I would be surprised to read a news article reporting events “in the land of Syria.”

Since you ask, a deposit has not yet posted to my Wells Fargo account, which is fine. But if there’s anything you feel I need to do here, please let me know.

All best,

Kevin

Thu 3/16/2017 3:56 PM

Hi Kevin,

The silence worries me. If the money has not arrived, I will pay the bill from my own pocket. Tell me please how much it is.

With best wishes

Dorota

Fri 3/17/2017 12:31 PM

Dorota, this morning I reviewed all my bank records since the first transfer on 9/1/16 and no further deposits are recorded. Neither do I see anything in the account online, but the printed records are more detailed. I expect this month’s records to arrive by mail in the next day or two so I will write you again then. At the same time, I’m not especially concerned and I invite you to wait rather than send your own funds.

All best,

Kevin

p.s. The semester is over the first week of May and I have only two classes scheduled to teach this summer so May-July would be a good time for me to continue working with your book.

Fri 3/24/2017 2:19 PM

Dorota,

Yesterday I received the last month’s record of deposits/withdrawals, so there is no record of any deposit since the first one in Sept. 2016.

All best,

Kevin

Fri 3/24/2017 3:26 PM

Kevin,

I am very sorry to hear that. I will have to check with the office and see if I can complain. I will probably have to pay from my own pocket and send it by Western Union, as it does not seem to be safe, or somebody mixed it up. I’ll inquire at the bank and tell you about the results. In any case, do tell me what the amount would be so far. I will have to give up on the rest of proofreading, because the transfer is not only very expensive but also totally insecure.

Bear with me a moment till I explain it all.

All the best

Dorota

Sun 3/26/2017 11:36 AM

Dorota, here is the record for proofreading outside “Text Matters” I sent you in October. As I mentioned at the time, if this record includes any pieces that appeared in “Text Matters,” those should be subtracted.

1.            “Eowyn and the Tradition of a Warrior Woman” – 45 minutes

2.            “Under the Naked Man: ‘Quiet Desperation’ in I Am Mary Dunne” – 4 hours

3.            “It’s Only Me: Judith Hearne and Self-Deprecation” – 3 1/2 hours

4.            “Brian Moore’s Eponymous Heroines and the Literary Tradition” – 30 minutes

5.            “The Gothic Excess in T’he Albanian Virgin’” – 1 1/2  hours

6.            “Rewriting Joan of Arc in the Canadian North: Isobel Gunn by Audrey Thomas – 1 hour

7.            “Intertextual Illuminations: ‘The Lighthouse Keeper of Aspinwall’ by “Henryk Sienkiewicz in Malcolm Lowry’s ‘Through the Panama’” – 2 hours

8.            “Through the Panama” Abstract / “The Albanian Virgin” Abstract – 15 minutes

Since October, my record adds only

9.            Judith Hearne, two hours, on 1/2/17

10.         Sheila Redden, two hours on 1/22/17

So a maximum of 17.5 hours are involved, unless one or two pieces that were covered by the “Text Matters” project are subtracted.

The 500 zlotys from the delayed contract (about $125.00) remains to my mind sufficient compensation.

At the same time, it’s hard for me to see that it’s fair to ask or expect you to send your own personal funds in view of the cost and difficulty. I can’t emphasize enough that the delay does not bother me, and that I fully accepted the possibility of such a delay when I signed the contract.

Besides, I’ve enjoyed reading your scholarship, and the professional contact compensates in no small way for the periodic assaults on my self-esteem as an instructor in a U.S. university (which I suspect is how the education system functions here).

Still, I wish I could remember the reference to Nick Cave in a footnote from your essay on Mieke Bal–as I remember, probably inaccurately.

My very best,

Kevin 

Tue 3/28/2017 2:12 AM

Kevin,

Many thanks for this. Imagine what happened. When I went to the office it turned out the money never left it! I was shocked. It was their oversight, for which they apologized profusely. Not that it helps. They are sending the sum to you now, but they deducted the Polish tax. In the future I will need to take it into account. This will be considerably less than I promised but I will make up for it later. I am going to approach the Head about further sponsoring. I do appreciate all that you have said and would like to continue working with you.

Apologies for my frustration. With my mother bedridden and hell breaking loose on all sorts of levels at work I am really downcast, but I will work out a financial solution concerning our cooperation.

Ongoing best

Dorota

Mon 4/17/2017 9:02 AM

Kevin,

Did the money arrive eventually? I wrote you an email about what happened and am worried about your silence.

I’m going to approach the Head about the remaining amonut for proofreading.

I would like to continue working with you.

Best

Dorota

Mon 4/17/2017 12:44 PM

Dorota, yes, a deposit was made at the end of March. I didn’t realize you were waiting for me to confirm after your good news that payment was on its way.

I look forward to hearing from you with regard to future work if the opportunity presents itself.

Best wishes,

Kevin

Sat 5/20/2017 3:46 PM

Dear Kevin,

I hope all is well with you.

The Head allocated further 500 zlotys for my book. I will have the money sent to you in May or at the beginning of June at the latest. If any extra charge remains I’ll reimburse it from my account.

Meanwhile I attach chapter 4 of my book. Please do proofread this. Meanwhile I’ll be redrafting chapter 5, and then will bend my mind to conclusion and revised intro.

With many best wishes

Dorota

Sun 5/21/2017 10:14 PM

Dorota,

All is well and the timing is perfect. I should be able to send you Ch. 4 in a couple of days.

Best regards,

Kevin

Fri 5/26/2017 12:07 PM

Dorota,

Attached is the chapter you sent earlier in the week. There are many corrections, so it might be a good idea if you send it back to me for a second reading whenever it is convenient. Also, I did not check the bibliographic references at the end of the chapter.

All best,

Kevin

Sat 5/27/2017 1:34 PM

Kevin

I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened. Either I mixed up the versions or the changes were not saved. I’ll attend to all this when I am less tired. I am sure I changed Cindarella to Cinderella (my usual stupid mistake). Many thanks, and I’ll send the fifth and revised fourth soon.

Best

Dorota

Sun 6/4/2017 2:43 PM

Kevin,

I attach the corrected version of chapter 4, and will soon go over chapter 5 again in order to avoid scandalous mistakes. Many thanks for your patience.

Ongoing best

D.

Thu 6/8/2017 1:48 PM

Kevin,

I hope my corrected version of Eileen Hughues reached you.

I attach the last chapter. I have fallen ill because of exhaustion (the usual condition here, which is frightening), but will attend to the financial matters next week.

Best wishes

D.

Sun 6/11/2017 12:12 PM

Hi Dorota,

I’m returning my second reading of “The Temptation of Eileen Hughes.”

I’ve included more queries this time around. It wasn’t my intention to sound as though I was complaining about the previous version of the chapter you sent, but attention to misspellings and such interfere (at least for me) with attention to idiom and sentence structure. So that’s why I wanted to read the chapter a second time.

For example, I query the phrase “drug addict” applied to Earl and ask whether this term is used in the novel. If not, the term may be inconsistent with his opportunistic behavior and most importantly, with one of your sentences: “The only thing he can offer is a combination of sex and fun, as well as a trip to Paris, all the items being an ironic echo of Bernard’s illusion, obsession and trip to London.” This sounds more consistent with recreational drug use rather than addiction.

In distinguishing between “drug user” and “drug addict,” I’m probably influenced by contemporary journalism, if not a few sociological sources here and there which I come across in teaching composition, in which a culture of recreational drug use is distinguished from the withdrawn, anti-social behavior of the addict. But it is also a point I have to consider when teaching stories by Raymond Carver, who often portrays a range of both recreational and addictive substance abuse during the 70s and 80s which I take to the general setting of Moore’s novel.

At least, that’s why I query the following sentence:

“She wishes he could be more responsible, an echo of the scene when he helped Bernard, but Earl is only a drug addict working for a record company.”

And suggest the following change:

“She wishes he could be more responsible, an echo of the scene when he helped Bernard, but Earl is only working for a record company and looking for the next high.”

Of course, if the novel specifically refers to Earl as an addict, my point is moot, as they say, although probably inaccurately.

I plan on returning “The Magician’s Wife” by next Sunday.

*

Please accept my wishes for the best of health for you and the infinite benefits of rest, if there is such a thing for the restless mind.

All best,

Kevin

Mon 6/19/2017 4:16 PM

Dorota,

Here are my edits and queries for your chapter on The Magician’s Wife.

On the strength of your analysis, I’m considering adopting this novel for three classes in the fall for which I had last year taught Waiting for the Barbarians.

Like Coetzee’s novel, Moore’s would appear to allow me to give attention to the history of imperialism and colonization, but with a focus on a female  protagonist rather than a narrator implicated in the very torture he undergoes.

The irony in Coetzee’s novel and it’s rather explicit “sexual aspect” made it rather difficult to teach since so many of my students struggle with narratives that challenge their inclination to identify with major characters.

It’s also important to try to get representations of the Middle East into an American classroom in view of a rising xenophobic tendency here to dehumanize if not demonize Said’s Other.

All best, Kevin

Thu 6/29/2017 3:26 PM

Kevin,

I cannot remember if I answered you. Many thanks for your edits. I attach the contract pattern. You might copy the forms you used earlier and resend them to me by email so that I could put the right dates. Grażyna Chetko will not process it before holidays, so the money will probably go through in September. I still need to write the conclusion and complete the intro. But I am exhausted and it might take a while.

Ongoing best

Dorota

Sun 7/2/2017 6:00 AM

Kevin,

for the sake of clarity I attach the contract form you filled in last year.

Please check if all the details are OK. I am unsure about the dates. Grażyna did not manage to process it before holidays so we will attend to it in August. Perhaps you should attach a certificate that you are a tax payer in the US. Otherwise, they will deduct unfair tax here. When you confirm the data I will send it to Grażyna who will check it in August.

The sum is small, I realize it. I’ll pay the rest from my own money.

I apologize for all the delays, and thank you for your kindness and patience.

All the best

Dorota

Wed 7/5/2017 8:54 AM

Hi Dorota,

I’ll plan on putting the contract in the mail this Friday. The best I can do in the way of a “certificate” is a copy of the first page of my U.S. tax return, unless there is a specific form.

We just returned from a long holiday weekend, camping in the western part of the state since last Friday.

All best,

Kevin

Fri 7/7/2017 10:40 AM

Dorota,

Attached is the contract you sent last week signed as indicated. The second attachment, from the first page of my 2016 U.S. tax return and proof of employer-provided insurance, is in lieu of a “certificate” that I am a U.S. taxpayer.

Please don’t worry about the sum of the contract nor sending any of your own funds. I understand that Grazyna needs to check the contract in August and that corrections may need to be made before a copy of the contract is mailed to the dean.

I hope all is well.

All best,

Kevin

Fri 7/28/2017 2:00 PM

Kevin,

I have forwarded the contract to Grażyna who will be back after my departure for Slovak Tatras. I am taking my netbook there so will keep an eye on things and her response.

I have added things to the intro but have not yet quite finished. Also, I need to finally face the conclusion. However, my head seems totally empty of ideas (despite a week-long stay in Roumania, which was beautiful). I cannot even hear any echoes, unlike Adela Quested. I hope the Tatra mountains and Alps (a bit later) can give me strength after the exhaustion of the last semester.

Please bear with me until I have sorted out all the above.

Ongoing best

Dorota

Sun 8/13/2017 2:43 PM

Kevin,

Grażyna has not yet received the documents for approval because of the changes affecting our inboxes. I have now resent them — she promised to look at them asap, so I will keep an eye on this.

Meanwhile, please do look at In Memoriam for Pamela Sue Anderson, whose death was a heartbreaking event of the last semestre. Please make the necessary corrections

All best

Dorota

Mon 8/14/2017 11:55 AM

Dorota,

Attached are my edits to your heartfelt words in memory of Professor Anderson.

Only the very last edit appears to me to be “interpretive” since I am advocating the repetition of the phrase “we mourn the loss”: 

We mourn the loss of a philosopher who was a great authority[,] and [we mourn] the loss of a friend.

The grammar textbooks require a comma before a coordinating adjective joining two independent clauses, but many fine writers ignore this rule.

My very best,

Kevin

Fri 8/18/2017 6:42 AM

Hi Dorota,

Should I sign and scan these forms are return them to Grazyna directly by e-mail, or do they need to be printed and sent by post?

Thanks!

All best,

Kevin

Tue 8/29/2017 6:50 AM

Kevin,

Have you sent the documents to Grażyna by snail mail? I wrote you an email about it from the Alps but my internet connection was not very reliable.

The Head will be in IFA after the 4th, and he would sign your documents so that they could be quickly processed.

Best

Dorota

Wed 8/30/2017 10:04 AM

Dorota,

Our semester began two weeks ago, so every day has been hectic for the usual bureaucratic reasons – but I did get the signed contract in the mail.

I hope September is a peaceful month for you, if, as I recall, classes do not begin until the end of the month.

All best, Kevin

Tue 9/12/2017 3:21 PM

Hi Kevin,

Grażyna has got your forms and they are being processed. I’ll call the office soon to make sure the money was sent to you.

Best

Dorota

Wed 10/11/2017 5:02 PM

Kevin,

Has the recent fee reached you? I’ll be  in Rector’s office on Friday and would exert pressure if they messed things up again. I would be very grateful if you could proofread revised intro and conclusion to the Moore book. I will pay with my own money, which will mean less hassle.

Ongoing best

Dorota

Thu 10/12/2017 9:51 AM

Hi Dorota,

Yes, the payment has posted. With respect to the Moore introduction and conclusion, weekends are always a better time for me if you are working with a close deadline.

Hope all is well,

Kevin

Sun 11/5/2017 4:27 PM

Hi Kevin,

Let me apologize for a request out of the blue before I make it. I cannot remember if you have seen this. Agnieszka Lowczanin, who included this text in the book that will be published by Routledge probably asked a native speaker to go through this text. But I added the passages highlighted in yellow at her request to expand the article.

Would you have a moment to look at the highlighted part and possibly the rest as well?

With many best wishes

Dorota

Sun 11/5/2017 7:27 PM

Dorota,

I’d be happy to do so, but can you give me a deadline? Three days? Five days? We have a holiday this Friday, 11/10, so that would be the ideal day for me to work on with the text.

Thanks, and great to hear from you!

All best,

Kevin

Mon 11/6/2017 6:47 AM

Kevin,

I’m sorry. The day is ideal for me too. Please do look at the whole text in this case.

With many best wishes

Dorota

Fri 11/10/2017 9:52 PM

Dear Dorota,

I’m returning the Munro-Kadare manuscript with 45 corrections and/or queries.

While many of the corrections involve the definite article “the,” I’ve noted a few other questions/problems.

First, in the sentence,

“She reveals that Donald was a dermatologist whom she consulted about a rash and ended up marrying him,”

“to him” should be deleted to avoid the redundancy with the objective case of the relative pronoun “whom.”

The rule of thumb in such cases is to remove the first part of the clause by writing:

“She reveals that Donald was a dermatologist whom she ended up marrying him” (whereby the redundancy is exposed).

Also, in the sentence,

“The shop owner’s scholarly interest sets the tone of the story and allows to explain it”

I have queried “who or what?” since “allows” is a transitive verb and needs an object.

Other queries include the spelling of spectre or specter since you use both forms.

You also refer to Kadare’s novel as Broken April once and The Broken April twice.

And I have also queried “laying the cross on to Lottar” (the idiom, in English, I believe, is “laying on the cross”).

Likewise, “out of fear for life” should be either “out of fear for one’s life” or “beyond fearing for one’s life.”

My apologies if I sound pedantic on the question of one or two sentences.

More a propos the Gothic thread of your essay, I’m actually listening to the Kronos Quartet playing Philip Glass’s Dracula film score at the moment.

My very best,

Kevin

Sat 11/11/2017 1:10 PM

Dear Kevin,

This is NOT pedantic at all. This is what I expect and need. Many thanks. I am frantically correcting my manuscript and will get back in touch.

Ongoing best

Dorota

Wed 11/22/2017 3:43 PM

Kevin,

I sent the whole book to Sherrill Grace from UBC, as she kindly agreed to review it. Would you please agree to proofread the whole after final corrections?

I would be paying a fee for this and previous text (Kadare). I added things to the Moore book here and there and expanded the intro. There is also conclusion to look at.

Please let me know if and when you could do it.

All best

Dorota

Fri 11/24/2017 12:28 PM

Dorota,

My apologies for the delay in response. Thursday was our notorious Thanksgiving Day holiday so I’ve been traveling, shopping, and cooking the past two days.

The best time for me to proofread your book would be between Dec. 15 and Jan. 7 (our winter break between semesters) although the first two weeks of the semester are typically less hectic and time consuming. Of course, I will be able to proofread during the rest of the Spring 2018 semester, but it will take me longer.

All best,

Kevin

Sun 12/10/2017 11:17 AM

Kevin,

I have now come back from Mainz, Germany. An inspiring experience in terms of teaching and sight-seeing.  Soon I will bend my mind to the book.

Sherrill Grace has reviewed the whole, and the review is very supportive and generous in praise. However, she suggests I change the title of the book to  Brian Moore’s Eponymous Heroines: A Feminist Reading of Literary Representation (or Tradition).

I see her point because this is a feminist book, BUT I am going to apply for belwederski professorship on the strength of this work and articles. This means the title might immediately collide with the gender bias of some male professors who come to review it. You know the Polish specificity in this sense. The title with the word “feminist” would be ideal for abroad where Lang is going to market the book, but it can be self-defeating for here.

My question is how to say it without saying it explicitly? Or, how should the title be readjusted?

Please do let me know as soon as you possibly can. I will need to introduce this correction throughout the manuscript.

Ongoing best

Dorota

Tue 12/12/2017 10:16 AM

Hi Dorota,

Yes, the market, and climate, are quite different here. Today’s headlines include the popular college dictionary, Merriam-Webster, choosing “feminist” as its “Word of the Year.”

I can offer several suggestions, none of which seeks to find a euphemism for feminism, which might be another option.

First, if I try to use a gerund to replace “a feminist reading of,” the following example comes to mind:

            Brian Moore’s Eponymous Heroines: Reconfiguring Women’s Roles in the Narrative Tradition

But the agency of the interpreter gets removed in the process, and the title can suggest that it is the author, Moore, who is enacting the reconfiguration, or transformation.

So, to return to “reading,” in place of reconfiguring, which recovers the role of the interpreter:

            Brian Moore’s Eponymous Heroines: Reading the Author’s Role in Representations of Women

This might be one of several choices if instead of naming the critical method, i.e. “A Feminist Reading,” the result(s) of the method are evoked.

            Thus: Brian Moore’s Eponymous Heroines: Authorial Imagination and Representations of Women

            Or: Brian Moore’s Eponymous Heroines:  Representations of Women and Authorial Boundaries

These are only examples based on a major emphasis I recall from reading your manuscript, which, if tradition is synonymous with patriarchy, then this passage from Atwood might speak to the problem:

“It’s strange to remember how we used to think, as if everything were available to us, as if there were no contingencies, no boundaries” (A Handmaid’s Tale – which I’m teaching next semester).

Maybe I’m quoting the line out of context, or maybe Atwood’s narrator is voicing a thought the Commander won’t allow himself to think.

All best,

Kevin

Sat 12/16/2017 11:56 AM

Hi Kevin,

Apologies for the delayed response. I fell ill quite dramatically because of exhaustion. This is a crazy world (I mean the Polish academia). We are all overworked, and black flags punctuate successive people’s demise. Adam Sumera has just told me how happy he is to have retired. No wonder!

Thank you so much  for your excellent suggestions. I decided on the last choice because it would also deal with the limitations of critics who authored books and articles on Moore. I attach Foreword and Intro. In the Intro you will see Sherrill Grace’s corrections and my responses. I do not quite know how to erase the corrections etc, but my technical editor should be able to take care of this.

I do realize you need time with this, but am sending the first batch to make sure I am on the right side of your working schedule.

With many best wishes

Dorota

Sun 12/17/2017 9:08 AM

Kevin,

I attach redrafted Judith, whenever you have time to look at it.

Ongoing best

Dorota

Sun 12/17/2017 9:37 AM

Dorota,

Perfect timing! I submit final grades for my classes tomorrow, and we are not visiting family this year until the New Year’s weekend.

Regards, Kevin

Sat 12/23/2017 10:41 AM

Dorota,

Attached are the three files which you sent in two emails. There are very few corrections to the first chapter, but I did find a number of punctuation marks remaining in boldface—leftovers from my working with the file previously.

A number of corrections/queries have been added to the introduction, which I’d be happy to look at again after you’ve addressed them. One sentence in particular struck me as difficult to follow because of the length of the nonrestrictive clause which commas need to enclose to separate it from the main clause i.e., ‘The issue … has not been exhaustively dealt with so far even though the question has always seemed topical.’

The issue of literary intertexts in the above five novels (or any of Moore’s novels, for that matter) has not been exhaustively dealt with so far, even though[,] starting with Hallvard Dahlie’s Discoveries of the Self through Denis Sampson’s comments on intertextuality to Hicks’s critical appraisal of e.g. crucial intertexts in The Magician’s Wife[,] the question has always seemed topical.

An alternative form for the same sentence could be:

The issue of literary intertexts in the above five novels (or any of Moore’s novels, for that matter) has not been exhaustively dealt with so far even though the question has always seemed topical, starting with Hallvard Dahlie’s Discoveries of the Self through Denis Sampson’s comments on intertextuality to Hicks’s critical appraisal of e.g. crucial intertexts in The Magician’s Wife.

Best wishes for the holidays,

Kevin

Sat 12/23/2017 3:31 PM

Kevin,

Many thanks for this. I will bend my mind to your suggestions very soon. I attach Mary Dunne without any further ado, if you don’t mind. X-mas Eve is upon us, and I am as tired as thrilled because of preparations and anticipation.

All the best for holidays. I’ll keep in touch.

Dorota

Fri 12/29/2017 9:34 AM

Dorota,

Attached is the Mary Dunne chapter with my queries and corrections.

We’re driving about 7 hours to Denver today in snow and falling temperatures, another typical Midwestern winter.

Best wishes for the New Year.

Kevin

Tue 1/2/2018 2:37 PM

Kevin,

I hope you had lovely family holiday, though the drive to Denver in the snow sounds scary.

Happy new year to you and your wife! Thank you so much for the second chapter. I am going to study all this in detail, but first I need to make sure other chapters reach you and await your free time.

Attached is a chapter on Sheila with some redrafted or added passages.

With many best wishes

Dorota

Sun 1/7/2018 4:35 PM

Hi Kevin,

I realize you may be on vacation, but please let Eileen sit in your computer. I attach the file. I hope the Sheila chapter reached you earlier.

I hope you have had some rest before the classes start again.

All the best in 2018

Dorota

Thu 1/11/2018 10:01 PM

Dorota,

I’m sorry that it took ten days to return the Sheila Redden chapter to you. The past two weeks have been terribly hectic on account of family holiday responsibilities and then the beginning of the Spring semester—a cruel misnomer during a bitterly cold winter.

There appear to me to be more queries in which I suggest choices of phrasing and word order rather than direct corrections although I have marked more than a few punctuation and article corrections.

However, I have left unmarked the variations between van Herk and Van Herk since I do not know how this author spells her name. I recommend a global search using the find and replace function in MSWord to review the references to the writer which sometimes use van Herk and just as often use Van Herk. I understand the use of the capital V at the beginning of a sentence, but Van Herk also appears sometimes in the middle of a sentence.

I plan on reading tomorrow the chapter that you sent me on January 7.

All best,

Kevin

P.S. Wednesday I received an e-mail from Malgorzata Myk who is San Diego and working on a book about the American poet, Leslie Scalapino. She is interested in my reading her manuscript two-three months from now (I read her dissertation on DeLillo years ago in Lodz), but before responding I wanted to ask you whether your book on Moore will be finished in two months’ time since I would not wish to work with two manuscripts concurrently, and I am committed to giving your book the fullest attention possible under the circumstances i.e., demands of teaching and my limited experience as proofreader.

Fri 1/12/2018 8:23 PM

Dorota,

Attached is the chapter on Eileen Hughes. On p. 4 I recommend that “takes the initiative” replace “takes initiative into her own hands.”

Idiomatically, one may, for example, take the law into one’s own hands, but not the initiative, at least as far as I’m aware.

Speaking of idiom, do the British use holidays or holiday as a synonym for a vacation? On pages 6, 8, and 11, I have corrected “holidays” to “holiday” to refer to Eileen’s London trip, and the singular form is consistent with many other instances of the singular holiday in this chapter (which may be the result of previous corrections?)

The only time we use the plural form here is for December 25 and January 1, and perhaps Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

Speaking of holidays, Monday, January 15, is Martin Luther King Day, so state offices and universities are closed, just in case you have the chapter on Emmeline ready to send.

All best,

Kevin

Sat 1/13/2018 2:59 PM

Kevin,

Thank you so much! I will bend my mind to all the corrections very soon. We had two busy days connected with the launch of the 7^th issue of Text Matters. Actors and a jazz musician arrived from Birmingham (Newman University) and gave us performative reading of Greek dramas – excerpts in English translations or reinventions. But now the bustle and excitement are over and I can go back to Moore.

Yes, I will do my best to send Emmeline to you as you suggested. As for the schedule, my deadline for submission of the manuscript is the end of February. By then I will have checked quotations etc. However, while checking I might still notice things that need including, so would then appreciate your kind assistance with selected passages. The conclusion will need some additions. Sherrill drew my attention to Ibsen’s Nora and I might still insert this somewhere.

The last thing would be a paper devoted to Pamela Sue Anderson’s legacy connected with vulnerability. I need to complete it before the 15^th of March.

I realize the schedule sounds nebulous but I do not yet know how much can still change at the last moment. Naturally, I would hate to block you in with this commitment. I do not know how pressed for time Malgorzata is. I am sure I will be able to say more in a week or two because now my classes are over and I can move on at faster pace.

All best

Dorota

Sun 1/14/2018 9:42 AM

Dear Malgorzata,

It is less surprising to hear from a former Lodz colleague than to be reminded that I once lived and wrote in San Francisco.

But an enduring memory from that time many, many years ago was a performance of Goya’s L.A. at New Langton Arts.

Some years ago as well, after returning to the U.S., it saddened me to read of Leslie’s passing, and a number of her titles share an important place on my bookshelves.

So yes, I would value reading your manuscript although I readily admit my limitations: I am not a proofreader such as presses routinely train to catch spelling and punctuation inconsistencies and the like, and at the same time I consciously struggle not to expect from the sentences of professional writers like yourself the same rules that our textbooks unfortunately impose on the sentences written by students with whom I work on a weekly basis as a composition instructor.

Given these limitations, I do feel that I have contributed meaningfully to several editions of Text Matters from the University of Lodz by serving as a sometimes paid and sometimes voluntary consultant—depending on funding circumstances—and for the past year I have been working with Dorota Filipczak by proofreading chapters from her monograph on the Irish novelist Brian Moore.

In fact, I would have written you sooner, but after receiving your e-mail Wednesday, I wrote Dorota to inquire about her deadlines and heard yesterday from her that she expects to be finished by March 15.

Does this timeline square with your expectations for having your own monograph ready in two-three months’ time?

If yes, I look forward to hearing from you, and wish you well in your studies, writing, and general experience of San Diego and California.

I can’t praise the view of the Pacific enough from the coastal highway along Big Sur just south of the Bay Area, and the Point Reyes area north of San Francisco is also stunning.

And yet, I once mistakenly bought a train ticket for a local rather than express route between Zakopane and Krakow, and now those slow hours of stopping and starting in mountain and valley remain with me more powerfully than any other time I boarded bus or train to pass across the landscape of Poland.

All best,

Kevin

Mon 1/15/2018 3:26 PM

Kevin,

I include Emmeline, hoping that the difference in hours between your continent and mine will work to my advantage. I am sorry I have not been able to do it sooner, and will patiently await your corrections.

All best

Dorota

Sun 1/21/2018 11:00 AM

Dorota,

I’m sorry to return the chapter on The Magician’s Wife almost a week later, but this past week has combined for me the pleasures of a persistent cough (not the flu, at least) and by Friday the need for the emergency extraction of an infected tooth. I managed to get through my classes on Tuesday and Thursday, but otherwise I’ve been sleeping as much and as long as possible. Today’s really the first day this week that I’ve enjoyed the ability to focus on something other than my own physical discomfort, which I’m embarrassed to mention at the same time that I’d be just as embarrassed to imply that the free time that prompted my request for your chapter simply dissolved for the usual reasons, or excuses.   

I’ve tried to keep queries to the minimum, but among a few other questions I did wonder about the expression “having contacts with the man of a different culture” and suggest instead “to communicate with a man from another culture”; likewise, I’m not sure of the meaning of the verb in the following sentence:

Liam Gearon, in turn, states that Emmeline’s perspective is similar to that of Bou-Aziz and his understanding of Islam which receives the colonizers who defeat Algeria, but then manages to get rid of them (196-197).

As always, my best,

Kevin

Wed 1/24/2018 2:05 PM

Kevin,

I do understand and sympathize. My final touches to the book will take a while. The work moves on at snail’s pace because my attention is divided between family matters and the pressure of university requirements becoming more and more time consuming.

Thank you so much for Emmeline. I might be able to resend Intro soon (which means the end of next week). There is no rush as yet. My deadline is end of February.

Take care and get well soon!

Very best wishes

Dorota

Tue 3/13/2018 5:28 PM

Kevin,

Let me explain my silence. First, we had an accident. A doped driver crashed into our car soon after we had parked it  in the city center before going to the concert hall. Can you believe it? We came back after listening to a wonderful performance of Rachmaninov’s piano concerto to find a wreck in the place of a two –year-old car. We were very fortunate to have left the car about ten minutes before the crash. Still, the whole thing meant frustration, trouble and eventually flu which exhausted us and lasted for ages. I do apologize but I am going back to my former commitments only now. I have inserted small passages in the three chapters, but have not yet read the intro where I need to check the accuracy of quotations. Lang extended my deadline till 1^st of May. Would you please look at passages in chapters + reread intro and conclusion? I realize I may have forfeited the right to ask for more of your patience. I will of course pay the total sum you name after all these corrections.

On Thursday I am going to Oxford with the paper I have hastily put together but there is no time left for you to read it at the last moment. I’ll be back on the 18^th of March and ready to send chapters with highlighted passages if you kindly agree to have a look at them.

With many best wishes

Dorota

Wed 3/14/2018 9:02 AM

Hi Dorota,

I’m sorry to hear of the loss of your car and can only hope that some form of redress eventually resulted.

Yes, please send the passages/chapters after March 18. I should be able to return them with a week’s time.

My very best, Kevin

Fri 3/30/2018 4:06 PM

Hi Dorota,

I’m returning the Sheila Redden and Mary Dunne essays, which include 9 and 2 corrections/queries respectively. I did not find any problems in Judith Hearne. Corrections are entered in red with the yellow highlighting removed. 

I did very briefly review the Works Cited in Dunne, which in addition to adding a couple of spaces between letters/punctuation, I added the following obvious corrections without marking them:

1. added a k to Bahtinian in Vice
2. added italics to Eire in Scanlan
3. added a comma after Luft
4. replaced a : for a . in Kristeva’s title
5. capitalized Special in Culler

All best,

Kevin

Tue 4/10/2018 4:40 PM

Kevin,

Many thanks for both chapters and detailed proofreading. I guess Judith is still with you. I attach Intro and Conclusion which I altered in some places. Please read them one after the other, if possible. I wonder if they cohere in the right way.

We are nearing the end. Next week I will send you two remaining chapters and  then there will be time for me to pay the fee . Please let  me know how much I owe you.

With best wishes

DOROTA

Mon 4/16/2018 10:12 AM

Kevin,

I don’t know how you are doing for time. Could I send you Emmeline and Eileen soon?

Best wishes

Dorota

Mon 4/16/2018 10:53 AM

Dorota,

This upcoming weekend my duties will be very light, so, yes, send Emmeline and Eileen, in addition to which I will also be able to get to the files you sent me last week.

In addition to reviewing first drafts of research projects for several classes, a late snowstorm obliged me to attend to all the inconveniences associated with more than a foot of snow—in mid-April!

Warm regards,

Kevin

Fri 4/20/2018 1:46 PM

Kevin,

Many thanks for this. I am really very close to the end of tortuous way with the book. I attach Eileen and Emmeline, and will look forward to messages from you on these and former excerpts. I highlighted the new passages in yellow, but I must admit that I made many corrections in Eileen and some in Emmeline. Please do what is possible in light of your schedule.

I sympathize with you when it comes to sudden snow in the spring. Here it is different. We are enjoying the summer sun, but unfortunately the cold spell is going to claim us soon.

With warm wishes

Dorota

Sat 4/21/2018 8:44 AM

Dear Kevin,

Thank you so much. I have reread this email and am happy to see that Judith is OK. I introduced all the corrections in Mary and Sheila chapters.

I sent you Eileen and Emmeline yesterday, and am delighted to see the light in the tunnel.

Please tell me how much it is. No need to specify details. I will be happy to transfer the money to you next week. Please restate the particulars of your bank account in case I have problems finding the right email.

Warm wishes

Dorota

Tue 4/24/2018 12:58 PM

Kevin,

Just a question. Please don’t treat it as an imposition. Are you planning to return any files soon? Do not worry. I will extend my deadline, if necessary, but I would appreciate an answer.

Best

Dorota

Tue 4/24/2018 2:04 PM

Dorota, here are the introduction and conclusion, which I finished a couple of days ago but was holding on to in hopes of getting to the remaining files, which I expected to have ready by the end of this Friday.

All best,

Kevin

Tue 4/24/2018 2:33 PM

Great! Thank you so much. The arrangement would be ideal  for me.

Ongoing best

DF

Fri 4/27/2018 8:55 AM

Hi Dorota,

Attached are the Emmeline and Eileen chapters. Since you highlighted the sources at the end of the chapter on Eileen Hughes, I checked the citations and noticed a combination of 2009 and 2016 MLA (period vs. comma). Since 18 of the 25 citations used terminal punctuation (2009 MLA), I marked for correction those citations whose punctuation and capitalization were inconsistent with the majority.

At the same time, it’s likely that your publisher has its own house style and preferences. I simply reviewed the citations according the principle of consistency, checking as well the Eileen citations against the form of those for Emmeline, for which 2009 MLA terminal punctuation is used. I did notice and highlight one spacing problem and one capitalization problem for a publisher in the Emmeline citations.

The few corrections to both essays are limited to definite and indefinite articles and a preposition or two; otherwise, the additional passages read very smoothly. The only exception is the following sentence from the chapter on Eileen Hughes:

This is exactly Bernard’s approach to Eileen, whom he wants to freeze as his own projection cut off from her sexuality, while at the same time elevated [elevating her] in status due to the acquisition of a ballroom and a jam factory, a twentieth-century version of the angel in the house.

My recommended change is, of course, in bold.

All best,

Kevin

Sat 4/28/2018 10:42 AM

Hi Kevin,

Thank you so much. You made my day because I was able to get everything right before midnight and send my book to my technical editor.  Your remarks on inconsistent MLA citations are most timely. I am hugely grateful for your efforts.

Please let me know how much money I should send you. I will be delighted to finally process the fee. I will be away for a week but will attend to it soon after my return from the May holidays.

On a different note, my selected poems were published last year. I would like to send you a copy. Can you please give me a convenient ground address?

With warm wishes

Dorota

Sat 5/5/2018 9:40 AM

Dear Dorota,

My records add up to 20 hours since November 2017:

Hrs         Date sent            Files

2              11-10-17               Munroe Kadare

.25          12-23-17               Forward

1.25                                        Introduction

3.5                                          Judith Hearne

3.5          12-29-17               Mary Dunne

2.5          1-11-18                 Sheila Redrafted

2              1-12-18                 Eileen Hughes

2.5          1-21-18                 Emmeline SG

1              3-30-18                 Shelia Redrafted, Mary Dunne, Judith Hearne

.5            4-24-18                 Brian Moore Intro

.5                                            Conclusion

.5            4-27-18                 Emmeline, Eileen

175 dollars would put the hourly fee between the 2017-2018 minimum wage in South Dakota (8.55-8.85). Please deduct from this amount the fee for the wire transfer.

And yes, I would enjoy receiving a copy of your book of poems. My address is 316 N Trapp Avenue, Sioux Falls, SD, 57104. We receive mail and packages regularly from Zhenya’s parents in Siberia, so the local post office here can be counted on (most of the time).

Attached to this e-mail is a proofing copy for the cover from a book of poems I published in San Francisco in 1994—long since out of print.  Though now lost after one of my many moves, at the time I owned a copy of the Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder model book that a NYC street vendor asked one dollar for in 1989. In the Theater of War documentary on the Tony Kushner/Meryl Streep staging of the play about 10 years ago, much is made of the Berliner Ensemble’s Model Book, the photographer for which was Ruth Berlau—just one of many modernity’s erasures on either side of the wall.   

Best regards,

Kevin

Sat 5/12/2018 1:25 PM

Hi Kevin,

I approached the Head of English Institute and changed the details from our side in the contract. I left yours as they were in the previous contract. Do look through them, and say if everything is OK. Grażyna will do the same on Monday. When she gives us the green light, please send them by snail mail in her name to IFA.

I do appreciate everything you have done for my book, and will send my collection of poems to you soon. However, formalities are a priority now. I’ll keep an eye on the office.

By the way, would you suggest any American journals that might be interested in reviewing my book on Moore?

Ongoing best

Dorota

Fri 5/18/2018 2:11 PM

Hi Dorota,

I thought I’d send the forms, signed and scanned, in case I’m overlooking anything. I consulted a copy of the same forms from 2016.

After we hear from Grazyna, do I send the forms to the same address as previously?

As for reviews, journals in the U.S. tend to be divided between university-sponsored publications, similar to Text Matters, and small press publications.

The Coordinating Council of Literary Magazines publishes a directory which includes both types of publications: http://www.clmp.org/readers/directory/

All best,

Kevin

Sat 5/19/2018 2:30 PM

Hi Kevin,

Grażyna will look at the forms after the weekend. When she has approved them, please scan the forms before you end them to her by snail mail, and email the signed scans to me and her. I will ask her to try to prevail on people from the office to send the transfer asap. Some ladies from rektor’s office really set my teeth on edge because they are so slow.

Please look at the credits/acknowledgements on the attached. It is just one sentence but it gives me headache.

I gave up on Vermeer. The English Heritage wanted a fortune for a photograph. However, Mieke was pleased to offer the photo from her installation for the front cover free of charge.

Ongoing best

Dorota

Mon 5/21/2018 11:17 AM

Kevin,

Ms Grażyna Chętko has approved all the attached. Please send her scanned signed copies and them post them by snail mail. I will keep an eye on rektor’s office.

With many best wishes

Dorota

Wed 5/23/2018 4:16 PM

Dear Grazyna,

Attached to this e-mail are signed and scanned copies of the most recent contract with Professor Dorota Filipczak.

The originals are in the mail and should arrive within one-two weeks.

Sincerely,

Kevin