Dr. Tom Whalen

Writing Experience

• Books include The President in Her Towers (Ellipsis Press, 2012), The Birth of Death and Other Comedies: The Novels of Russell H. Greenan (Dalkey Archive, 2011), An Exchange of Letters (Parsifal Press, 2007), Dolls (Caketrain Press, 2007), Winter Coat (Red Dust, 1998), A Newcomer's Guide to the Afterlife (with Daniel Quinn, Bantam Books, 1997), Roithamer's Universe (Portals Press, 1996), The Camel's Back (with Michael Presti, Portals Press, 1993), Elongated Figures (Red Dust, 1991), The Eustachia Stories (Velocities Press, 1986).

• Short stories anthologized in Sudden Fiction; That's What I Like About the South: New Southern Stories for the Nineties; Elvis in Oz; A Good Man: Fathers and Sons in Poetry and Prose; Mondo Marilyn; The Book of Eros; Brief Encounters; The Student Body and elsewhere.

• Prose poems anthologized in The Great American Prose Poem: From Poe to the Present; The Anatomy of Water: A Sampling of Contemporary American Prose Poetry; The Best of the Prose Poem; The Party Train: A Collection of North American Prose Poetry.

• Short stories published in AGNI, American Letters & Commentary, Chicago Review, Fiction International, The Hopkins Review Review, Hotel Amerika, The Idaho Review, The Iowa Review, The Literary Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, Mississippi Review, The Nebraska Review, New Ohio Review, North American Review, Northwest Review, Ploughshares, The Quarterly, Quarterly West, Sonora Review, Witness, and over 150 other journals.
  
  
• Criticism (on Lewis Carroll, Henry James, Joseph Conrad, Edgar Lee Masters, Robert Walser, Franz Kafka, Wallace Stevens, Vladimir Nabokov, Doris Lessing, Donald Barthelme, George Garrett, Stephen Becker, Russell H. Greenan, Salman Rushdie, Buster Keaton, Jean-Luc Godard, Francois Truffaut, Wim Wenders, Francis Ford Coppola, Film Noir, Terrence Malick, Tom Tykwer, John Carpenter), poetry, personal essays, and collaborative translations in Bookforum, Chelsea, Connecticut Review, Critique, Essays in Literature, Film Quarterly, The Georgia Review, The Hollins Critic, Literature/Film Quarterly, New Orleans Review,The Missouri Review, The Paris Review, The Seattle Review, The Southern Review, Studies in Short Fiction, The Wallace Stevens Journal, The Washington Post.
  
  
• Collaborative translations of stories by Robert Walser in Selected Stories (Farrar, Straus, Giroux) and Masquerade and Other Stories (Johns Hopkins University Press).
  
  
• Co-editor of the Robert Walser Number of The Review of Contemporary Fiction.

Criticism, Essays, Bibliographic Work, Editorial Work, Reviews, Interviews

I. CRITICISM

• "Wonderful Elegance: Barthelme's 'The Party'".  Critique: Studies in Modern Fiction  Vol.XVI, No.3 (1975), 44-48.
• "The Reader Becomes Text: Methods of Experimentation in George Garrett's The Succession: A Novel of Elizabeth and James."  The Texas Review Vol.IV, No.1&2 (1983), 14-21.
• "The White Knight's Farewell: A Note on Carroll and Alice."  Lyra Vol.1, No.2 (1987), 4-7.
• "'The Most Enchanting Oblivion:' Robert Walser's Self-Effacement."  The Metaphysical Review No. 11/12/13 (November 1987), 36-40.
• "'The Most Enchanting Oblivion:' Robert Walser's Self-Effacement."  Crazyquilt Vol.2, No.1 (1988), 5-11. [see also above]
• "'When You Think You've Got There, You Haven't:' Wim Wenders' Alice in the Cities."  New Orleans Review Vol.15, No.2 (1988), 80-83.
• "Kafka's Progeny."  Crazyquilt Vol.4, No.2 (1989), 79-85.
• "Existence is Elsewhere: Robert Walser's 'Spezialplatte.'"  Satchel No.1 (1989), 69-76.
• "Eavesdropping in the Dark: The Opening(s) of George Garrett's Entered from the Sun."  To Come Up Grinning: A Tribute to George Garrett. Paul Ruffin and Stuart Wright, eds. Huntsville, Texas: The Texas Review Press, 1989, 90-99.
• "Between Heaven and Earth: Robert Walser's 'Die Hochzeitsreise.'"  Studies in Short Fiction Vol.27, No.2 (1990), 191-196.
• "The Masks of Robert Walser."  Essays in Literature Vol.18, No.2 (1991), 288-293.
• Introduction to The Review of Contemporary Fiction Robert Walser Number (Spring 1992), with Susan Bernofsky, 7-15.
• "Ignorance, Analogy, Motion: Robert Walser's 'Boat Trip.'"  The Review of Contemporary Fiction Robert Walser Number (Spring 1992), 122-127.
• "Existence is Elsewhere: Robert Walser's 'Spezialplatte.'"  The Arkansas Quarterly Vol.1, No.2 (1992), 133-139.  [see also above]
• "The Poetry of Negation: Godard's Les Carabiniers."  New Orleans Review Vol.19, No.1 (1992), 62-66.
• "Return to Spoon River."  Truly Did My Camera Record Their Faces. Spoon River Anthology and Nineteenth-Century Photographs from the Collection of John P. Schaefer. The University of Arizona, Center for Creative Photography, 1993, 7-12.
• "Film Noir: Killer Style."  Literature/Film Quarterly Vol. 23, No. 1 (1995), 2-5.
• "Romancing Film: Coppola's Dracula."  Literature/Film Quarterly Vol. 23, No. 2 (1995), 99-101.
• "Ignorance, Analogy, Motion: Robert Walser's 'Boat Trip'." Short Story Criticism Vol. 20 (1995), 363-366. [see also above]
• "'Alone in an Immense Valley': A Note on Stevens' 'Valley Candle'."  The Wallace Stevens Journal Vol. 20 No. 2 (Fall 1996), 229-234.
• "The Balloon of Equilibrium: Symmetry, Structures, and Narrative Authority in Buster Keaton's The Blacksmith." Literature/Film Quarterly Vol. 25, No. 1 (1997), 55-61.
• "'We are none of us much': Stephen Becker's When the War Is Over."  Krieg und Literatur/War and Literature Vol. II (1996), 61-67.
• "Eavesdropping in the Dark: The Opening(s) of George Garrett's Entered from the Sun."  George Garrett: The Elizabethan Trilogy. Eds. Brooke Horvath and Irving Malin.  Hunstville, Texas: Texas Review Press, 1998, 148 - 159. [see also above]
• "Jakob von Gunten." The Encyclopedia of Novels into Film. Eds. John C. Tibbetts and James M. Welsh.  Facts on File, 199-200.
• "'Maybe All Men Got One Big Soul': The Hoax Within the Metaphysics of Terrence `Malick's The Thin Red Line."  Literature/Film Quarterly Vol. 27 No. 3 (1999), 162 -166.
• "Run Lola Run." Film Quarterly Vol. 53, No. 3, Spring 2000, 33-40.
• "Robert Walser and the Act of Writing." Gedankenspaziergänge mit Robert Walser. Ed. Arthur C. Noble.  Bern: Peter Lang, 2002, 135-46.
• "Existence Is Elsewhere: Robert Walser's 'Spezialplatte'." Gedankenspaziergänge mit Robert Walser. Ed. Arthur C. Noble.  Bern: Peter Lang, 2002, 299-304. [see also above]
• "'This Is About One Thing—Dominion': John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars." Literature/Film Quarterly Vol. 30, No. 4 (2002), 304-07.
• "Beneficent Irrelevancies: Robert Walser and The Robber." The Hollins Critic Vol. XL, No. 1 (February, 2003), 1 - 16.
• "The Passion of Mel Gibson." Literature/Film Quarterly  (2004) Vol. 32 No. 3, 240-43.
• "Written on a Whim" (review/essay on Speaking to the Rose by Robert Walser). Bookforum (Feb/Mar 2006), 10-11.
• "Joseph Conrad: 'An Outpost of Progress.'" The Many Voices of English: An Anthology of Post-Colonial Short Stories/Teacher's Book. Angelika Hoff, Ed. Braunschweig: Diesterweg, 2006, 5 - 18.
• "Doris Lessing: 'The Second Hut.'" The Many Voices of  English: An Anthology of Post-Colonial Short Stories/Teacher's Book. Angelika Hoff, Ed. Braunschweig: Diesterweg, 2006, 41-49.
• "Chinua Achebe: 'Dead Men's Path.'"The Many Voices of English: An Anthology of Post-Colonial Short Stories/Teacher's Book. Angelika Hoff, Ed. Braunschweig: Diesterweg, 2006, 50-57.
• "Ngugi wa Thiong'o: 'A Meeting n theDark.'" The Many Voices of English: An Anthology of Post-Colonial Short Stories/Teacher's Book. Angelika Hoff, Ed. Braunschweig: Diesterweg, 2006, 65-76.
• "Salman Rushdie: 'Good Advice is Rarer than Rubies.'" The Many Voices of English:  An Anthology of Post-Colonial Short Stories/Teacher's Book. Angelika Hoff, Ed. Braunschweig: Diesterweg, 2006, 85-93.
• "The Consequences of Passivity: Re-evaluating Truffaut's Fahrenheit 451."  Literature/Film Quarterly (2007) Vol. 35 No. 3, 181-190.
• "Sovereign Insignificance."  Marginalia (Fall 2006) Vol. 2, No. 3, 137-46.  (longer version of review/essay on Speaking to the Rose by Robert Walser in Bookforum, above)
• “’You’re a Smart Kid.  Figure It Out.’: Robert Harmon’s The Hitcher.” College Hill Review  Issue No. 2, Spring  2009 (www.collegehillreview.com)
•  “Low Panic in the Conditional.” Echo Ink Review Vol. 2:1, 130-32.
•  “A Bucket of Maggot, A Can of Worms: Methods of Order in Greenan’s Macabre Collage.” College Hill Review No. 7, Spring 2011 (9 pages).
• “The Deceptive Simplicity of Espido Freire’s Irlanda.” In Irlanda by Espido Freire, tr. Toshia Kamei. Fairy Tale Review Press, 2011, 137-40.
• “’And the Password Is --?’: Vladimir Nabokov and the Ethics of Rereading in Nabokov’s Morality Play: Ethical Problems in His Fiction, Micahel Rodgers and Susan Elizabeth Sweeny, editors (forthcoming).

II. ESSAYS AND MEMOIR

• Introduction to Brimstone (1972), 5. [Literary Magazine of Goretti High School, Lake Arthur, Louisiana.]
• "Readings, Journals Available to Writers."  Arts/Report October-December (1980), 7.
• "Fascist Aesthetics."  Arts Quarterly Vol.IV, No.4 (1982), 28.
• Liner notes for jazz album Syndrome by Ellis Marsalis, 1984.
• "The Spectral University."  The Missouri Review Vol.XVI, No.1 (1993), 143-156. 
• "Michael Jordan, Volcanoes, and Lingerie." The Flint Hills Review Vol. 1, No. 1 (1996), 17.
• "A Preface." Kestrel No. 8 (1996), 68.
• "Staubmäuse und Leseratten," [German trans. of "Dust Mice and Bookworms: Ten Takes on German-American Cultural Relations] trans. Julia Haverkamp. Zeitschrift für Kultur Austausch Vol. 48 No. 2 (1998), 55-57.
• "A Preface to Robert Walser." Kestrel No. 13, 20-21.
• "Reading Mirror Wars." Mirror Wars by Nancy Harris. New Orleans: Portals Press, 1999, 9.
• "A Note on Michel Varisco's Cotton Mill Series." New Orleans Review Vol. 27, No. 1 (2001), 96.
• "White Trash." Under the Sun Vol. VI, No. 1 (2001), 127-140.
• "I Sit Down Beside My Father." Bayou 38 (2002), 22-25.
• "The Woman Who Played the Part of Light: A Reading for Anna Wooten-Hawkins (1948-2000)."  Pembroke Magazine 35 (2003), 94.
• "Henry James." Northwest Review Vol. 41, No. 2 (2003), 124-25.
• "My Way to School." Under the Sun Vol. VIII, No. 1 (2003), 207-12.
• "My Brother Circles the Bases." The Redwood Coast Review Vol. 6, No. 3 (Summer 2004), 1,3.
• "The Secret Life of Parents, 1962." Brevity  (Fall 2004, www.brevitymag.com).
• "Why I Became a Vegetarian." Ginger Hill Vol. 42, 41-42.
• "Southern Childhood."  Ballyhoo Stories Vol. 1 No. 1, 44-51.
• "The Beating." Red Mountain Review Vol. 2 (2006), 25-29.
• "The Boy in the Street." Under the Sun Vol. XII No. 1(2007), 19-25.
• “Bamboo.” Cadillac Cicatrix No. 2 (Winter 2008), 86-87.
•  “Composition for Robert Walser.” Illustrations by the author.  Words without Borders (June 2008), wordswithoutborders.org
•  “Mother, Broken.” South Loop Review Vol. 10 (2008), 91-93.
• “Early Lessons.” Bayou Issue 56 (2011), 14 – 22.
• “Some Remarks on Collaboration.” New Ohio Review 11 (Spring 2012), 176-78.
• “Introduction to ‘Foreign Influences.” Sentence: A Journal of Prose Poetics (forthcoming).

III. BIBLIOGRAPHIC WORK

• A Robert Walser Bibliography.  The Review of Contemporary Fiction Robert Walser Number (Spring 1992), 128-132.
• Bibliographie für den englischen Sprachraum [Robert Walser].  With Tamara S. Evans and Susan Bernofsky.  Wärmende Fremde: Robert Walser und seine Übersetzer im Gespräch.  Ed. Peter Utz.  Bern, Peter Lang, 1994, 186-190.

IV. EDITORIAL WORK

• Editor of Lowlands Review Nos. 1 to 10, 1975-1981.
• Editor with Susan Bernofsky of The Review of Contemporary Fiction Robert Walser Number (Spring 1992).
• Editor of Stuttgart Review Vol. 1, 1997.
• Guest Editor of “Foreign Influences” Section of Sentence: A Journal of Prose Poetics (forthcoming)

VI. BOOK REVIEWS

• Pataxanadu by Christopher Middleton.  Arcade Vol.LXXIX, No.6 (October 6, 1978), 17.
• Wolfhead by Charles L. Harness.  Sho-Time October 1978, 17.
• Pataxanadu by Christopher Middleton.  The Hollins Critic Vol.XVI, No.2 (April 1979), 18-19. [see also above]
• Winter Night by Georg Trakl, trans. David J. Black.  Baltic Avenue Poetry Journal No.2 (Spring 1980), 25.
• Wolfhead by Charles L. Harness.  SF Commentary No.62/63/64/65/66 (June 1981; Australia), 67.  [see also above]
• The Transmigration of Timothy Archer by Philip K. Dick.  American Book Review Vol.5, No.6 (1983), 21.
• Djinn by Alain Robbe-Grillet, trans. Yvone Lenard and Walter Wells.  The San Francisco Review of Books Vol.VII, No.5 (1983), 31.
• The Blue-Eyed Shan by Stephen Becker.  The San Francisco Review of Books Vol.VII, No.5 (1983), 31-32.
• Landscapes after the Battle by Juan Goytisolo, trans. Helen Lane.  The Review of Contemporary Fiction Claude Ollier/Carlos Fuentes Number (Summer 1988), 318.
• Worst Canadian Stories, Crad Kilodney, ed. (2 vol.).  The Review of Contemporary Fiction Claude Ollier/Carlos Fuentes Number (Summer 1988), 325.
• My Territory by Mark Insingel, trans. Adrienne Dixon.  The Review of Contemporary Fiction Claude Ollier/Carlos Fuentes Number (Summer 1988), 329-30.
• The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie.  The Times-Picayune  February 12, 1989.
• Odile by Raymond Queneau, trans. Carol Sanders.  The Times-Picayune February 26, 1989.
• Three Hunters by William Harrison.  The Times-Picayune July 2, 1989.
• The Craft of Translation. John Biguenet and Rainer Schulte, eds.  The Times-Picayune September 17, 1989.
• Chromos by Felipe Alfau.  The Washington Post Book World Vol.XX, No.16 (April 22, 1990), 10.
• Sentimental, Heartbroken Rednecks by Greg Bottoms.  The Washington Post (Sept. 27, 2001), C3.
• Planet Hong Kong: Popular Cinema and the Art of Entertainment. "Bordwell's Chinese Feast." Literature/Film Quarterly Vol. 29, No. 3 (2001), 248.
• American Noir: Underground Writers and Filmmakers of the Postwar Era. "High Heat in the Cold War." Literature/Film Quarterly Vol. 29, No. 4 (2001), 324.
• Double Vision by George Garrett.  The Texas Review Vol. XXV, Nos. 1 & 2, Spring/Summer 2004, 136 - 139.

VII. INTERVIEWS

• "An Interview with Jorge Luis Borges," with John Biguenet. New Orleans Review Vol.9, No.2 (1982), 5-14.  Also in: Jorge Luis Borges: Conversations ed. Richard Burgin.  Jackson, Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi, 1998, 199-212.
• "Solo Seré Borges," [Span. trans. of "Interview with Jorge Luis Borges"] trans. Philip Metzidakis.  Escandalar Vol.6, Nos.3-4,  Vol.7, No.1 (Julio 1983-Marzo 1984), 82-89.
• "Robert Walser's Mikrogramme: Striking Sparks From the Ashes of Language. An Interview with Bernhard Echte and Werner Morlang," with Susan Bernofsky.  New Orleans Review Vol.16, No.3 (1989), 15-23.