Alexander Manshel
@manshel.bsky.social
Assoc. Prof., McGill English | Book: WRITING BACKWARDS (Columbia UP) | Articles: The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Nation, LARB, Public Books, Post45, PMLA, and MELUS | Next Up: The History of High School English |📍Montreal
Pinned
Alexander Manshel
@manshel.bsky.social
· Apr 29
How “The Great Gatsby” Took Over High School
The classroom staple turns a hundred.
www.newyorker.com
For @newyorker.com, I wrote about how "The Great Gatsby," which turns 100 this month, went from flop to high school classic, and whether the novel can survive another hundred years
www.newyorker.com/books/page-t...
www.newyorker.com/books/page-t...
Reposted by Alexander Manshel
Ok hello who can tell me the name of the google doc that I made in 2018 and where I stored it please and thank you.
January 29, 2026 at 6:09 PM
Ok hello who can tell me the name of the google doc that I made in 2018 and where I stored it please and thank you.
The wisdom of the Pagliacci joke! I can't find the original post but one of my favorite examples of the genre went like...
Man goes to the doctor. Says, "It hurts when I do this."
Doc says, "Then don't do that!"
Man bursts into tears.
"But doc, I AM DO THIS!"
Man goes to the doctor. Says, "It hurts when I do this."
Doc says, "Then don't do that!"
Man bursts into tears.
"But doc, I AM DO THIS!"
January 23, 2026 at 3:04 PM
The wisdom of the Pagliacci joke! I can't find the original post but one of my favorite examples of the genre went like...
Man goes to the doctor. Says, "It hurts when I do this."
Doc says, "Then don't do that!"
Man bursts into tears.
"But doc, I AM DO THIS!"
Man goes to the doctor. Says, "It hurts when I do this."
Doc says, "Then don't do that!"
Man bursts into tears.
"But doc, I AM DO THIS!"
Reposted by Alexander Manshel
Are you looking for an indexer for an academic monograph? I have space this summer for one or two clients. DMs open for more info!
January 22, 2026 at 12:12 AM
Are you looking for an indexer for an academic monograph? I have space this summer for one or two clients. DMs open for more info!
@mowhan.bsky.social's SCHOOLS OF FICTION is outstanding, and I could not be more excited for NOTES ON THE NOVELLA!
Excited to share that my book, Notes on the Novella, is under contract with Princeton UP. It's made up of thirty "notes" on thirty different novellas. Boccaccio, Cervantes, de Zayas, Eliot, James, Larsen, Fuentes, Pynchon, Delany, Spark, Lispector, Morrison, Ferrante -- and more!
January 20, 2026 at 8:05 PM
@mowhan.bsky.social's SCHOOLS OF FICTION is outstanding, and I could not be more excited for NOTES ON THE NOVELLA!
“Canon building is Empire building. Canon defense is national defense. Canon debate, whatever the terrain, nature and range…is the clash of cultures. And *all* of the interests are vested.”
— Toni Morrison, “Unspeakable Things Unspoken”
— Toni Morrison, “Unspeakable Things Unspoken”
January 16, 2026 at 4:25 PM
“Canon building is Empire building. Canon defense is national defense. Canon debate, whatever the terrain, nature and range…is the clash of cultures. And *all* of the interests are vested.”
— Toni Morrison, “Unspeakable Things Unspoken”
— Toni Morrison, “Unspeakable Things Unspoken”
Fun talking with @andeamarzocchi.bsky.social and @smallgoodpodcast.bsky.social, about the history of the American short story, and the institutions (prizes, anthologies, The New Yorker) that elevate a select few to the status of The Best of The Best!
Out today! Meet Alexander Manshel, Associate Professor of English at McGill University. How is contemporary short fiction in America influenced by the people and institutions that contribute to its production, circulation, and reception? Listen here to find out:
www.spreaker.com/episode/the-...
www.spreaker.com/episode/the-...
January 15, 2026 at 12:26 PM
Fun talking with @andeamarzocchi.bsky.social and @smallgoodpodcast.bsky.social, about the history of the American short story, and the institutions (prizes, anthologies, The New Yorker) that elevate a select few to the status of The Best of The Best!
Reposted by Alexander Manshel
Out today! Meet Alexander Manshel, Associate Professor of English at McGill University. How is contemporary short fiction in America influenced by the people and institutions that contribute to its production, circulation, and reception? Listen here to find out:
www.spreaker.com/episode/the-...
www.spreaker.com/episode/the-...
January 15, 2026 at 9:56 AM
Out today! Meet Alexander Manshel, Associate Professor of English at McGill University. How is contemporary short fiction in America influenced by the people and institutions that contribute to its production, circulation, and reception? Listen here to find out:
www.spreaker.com/episode/the-...
www.spreaker.com/episode/the-...
Reposted by Alexander Manshel
Nice write-up by @uwnews.uw.edu about our research into the most read canonical American authors in Seattle, drawing on library data.
It was so fun to work on this project with @neel2112.bsky.social and a stellar group of undergraduate students.
www.washington.edu/news/2026/01...
It was so fun to work on this project with @neel2112.bsky.social and a stellar group of undergraduate students.
www.washington.edu/news/2026/01...
UW researchers analyzed which anthologized writers and books get checked out the most from Seattle Public Library
UW researchers analyzed the checkout data from the last 20 years of the 93 authors included in the post-1945 volume of “The Norton Anthology of American Literature,” which is assigned in U.S....
www.washington.edu
January 12, 2026 at 4:18 PM
Nice write-up by @uwnews.uw.edu about our research into the most read canonical American authors in Seattle, drawing on library data.
It was so fun to work on this project with @neel2112.bsky.social and a stellar group of undergraduate students.
www.washington.edu/news/2026/01...
It was so fun to work on this project with @neel2112.bsky.social and a stellar group of undergraduate students.
www.washington.edu/news/2026/01...
Reposted by Alexander Manshel
This #MLA26 panel on "Public Canons" is going to be a blast! Some of my favorite people and scholars.
We're saving time for open conversation, so please join us!
We're saving time for open conversation, so please join us!
If you're headed to #MLA26 in Toronto, come check out these two DYNAMITE panels I'm a part of...
On Saturday at 12:00, we've got PUBLIC CANONS, featuring @lbmcgrath.bsky.social, @mellymeldubs.bsky.social, Tess McNulty, and Autumn Womack!
On Saturday at 12:00, we've got PUBLIC CANONS, featuring @lbmcgrath.bsky.social, @mellymeldubs.bsky.social, Tess McNulty, and Autumn Womack!
January 8, 2026 at 4:59 PM
This #MLA26 panel on "Public Canons" is going to be a blast! Some of my favorite people and scholars.
We're saving time for open conversation, so please join us!
We're saving time for open conversation, so please join us!
Reposted by Alexander Manshel
If you're headed to #MLA26 in Toronto, come check out these two DYNAMITE panels I'm a part of...
On Saturday at 12:00, we've got PUBLIC CANONS, featuring @lbmcgrath.bsky.social, @mellymeldubs.bsky.social, Tess McNulty, and Autumn Womack!
On Saturday at 12:00, we've got PUBLIC CANONS, featuring @lbmcgrath.bsky.social, @mellymeldubs.bsky.social, Tess McNulty, and Autumn Womack!
January 5, 2026 at 3:08 PM
If you're headed to #MLA26 in Toronto, come check out these two DYNAMITE panels I'm a part of...
On Saturday at 12:00, we've got PUBLIC CANONS, featuring @lbmcgrath.bsky.social, @mellymeldubs.bsky.social, Tess McNulty, and Autumn Womack!
On Saturday at 12:00, we've got PUBLIC CANONS, featuring @lbmcgrath.bsky.social, @mellymeldubs.bsky.social, Tess McNulty, and Autumn Womack!
🔥🔥🔥 let’s goooooooooo!
New book going to press: *Character Networks in Contemporary U.S. Fiction.* It’s about social networks as context for—and formal element of—the novel. For contemporary lit, novel/narrative theory, DH, lit and sociology, network analysis crowds. Here’s what it’s about: (1/n)
January 6, 2026 at 7:09 PM
🔥🔥🔥 let’s goooooooooo!
Reposted by Alexander Manshel
This was published in the dead week between Christmas and New Year’s. If you work in education & were, reasonably, taking a break, maybe you missed it.
Don’t miss it.
Don’t miss it.
The ‘Crisis of the Humanities’ Is Over. That’s Not a Good Thing.
All of higher ed now suffers the attacks of politics and technology.
www.chronicle.com
January 6, 2026 at 2:10 PM
This was published in the dead week between Christmas and New Year’s. If you work in education & were, reasonably, taking a break, maybe you missed it.
Don’t miss it.
Don’t miss it.
Reposted by Alexander Manshel
Ugh. Such fomo!
If you're headed to #MLA26 in Toronto, come check out these two DYNAMITE panels I'm a part of...
On Saturday at 12:00, we've got PUBLIC CANONS, featuring @lbmcgrath.bsky.social, @mellymeldubs.bsky.social, Tess McNulty, and Autumn Womack!
On Saturday at 12:00, we've got PUBLIC CANONS, featuring @lbmcgrath.bsky.social, @mellymeldubs.bsky.social, Tess McNulty, and Autumn Womack!
January 5, 2026 at 3:52 PM
Ugh. Such fomo!
If you're headed to #MLA26 in Toronto, come check out these two DYNAMITE panels I'm a part of...
On Saturday at 12:00, we've got PUBLIC CANONS, featuring @lbmcgrath.bsky.social, @mellymeldubs.bsky.social, Tess McNulty, and Autumn Womack!
On Saturday at 12:00, we've got PUBLIC CANONS, featuring @lbmcgrath.bsky.social, @mellymeldubs.bsky.social, Tess McNulty, and Autumn Womack!
January 5, 2026 at 3:08 PM
If you're headed to #MLA26 in Toronto, come check out these two DYNAMITE panels I'm a part of...
On Saturday at 12:00, we've got PUBLIC CANONS, featuring @lbmcgrath.bsky.social, @mellymeldubs.bsky.social, Tess McNulty, and Autumn Womack!
On Saturday at 12:00, we've got PUBLIC CANONS, featuring @lbmcgrath.bsky.social, @mellymeldubs.bsky.social, Tess McNulty, and Autumn Womack!
Reposted by Alexander Manshel
over 400 new bookstores opened in the USA in 2025, which is 100 more than opened in 2024. bookstores are thriving:
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/30/b...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/30/b...
Dragons, Sex and the Bible: What Drove the Book Business This Year
www.nytimes.com
December 30, 2025 at 6:15 PM
over 400 new bookstores opened in the USA in 2025, which is 100 more than opened in 2024. bookstores are thriving:
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/30/b...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/30/b...
This holiday season, give the gift of “readable, timely, inventive…definitive”! Preorder MIDDLEMEN!
First up, from Gerry Howard (@ghoward1950.bsky.social), editor extraordinaire and author of THE INSIDER, my favorite work of publishing history in recent memory. I can't imagine higher praise.
December 22, 2025 at 3:15 PM
This holiday season, give the gift of “readable, timely, inventive…definitive”! Preorder MIDDLEMEN!
More details to come but…
🎉🎉 I just learned that my book has won the first ever Biennial Book Prize from MELUS, the Society for the Study of Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States! I’m over the moon! 🎉🎉
cup.columbia.edu/book/writing...
🎉🎉 I just learned that my book has won the first ever Biennial Book Prize from MELUS, the Society for the Study of Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States! I’m over the moon! 🎉🎉
cup.columbia.edu/book/writing...
Writing Backwards | Columbia University Press
Winner, 2026 Barbara Perkins and George Perkins Prize, International Society for the Study of NarrativeFinalist, 2025 SHARP Book History Book Prize, Society ... | CUP
cup.columbia.edu
December 19, 2025 at 3:05 PM
More details to come but…
🎉🎉 I just learned that my book has won the first ever Biennial Book Prize from MELUS, the Society for the Study of Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States! I’m over the moon! 🎉🎉
cup.columbia.edu/book/writing...
🎉🎉 I just learned that my book has won the first ever Biennial Book Prize from MELUS, the Society for the Study of Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States! I’m over the moon! 🎉🎉
cup.columbia.edu/book/writing...
Reposted by Alexander Manshel
Very happy to introduce a new tool, BookReconciler!
You can take spreadsheets with book data and add subject headings, descriptions, ISBNs, HathiTrust IDs, & more. You can also cluster editions & variations of the same "Work."
Led by @thisismattmiller.com and supported by @post45data.bsky.social.
You can take spreadsheets with book data and add subject headings, descriptions, ISBNs, HathiTrust IDs, & more. You can also cluster editions & variations of the same "Work."
Led by @thisismattmiller.com and supported by @post45data.bsky.social.
December 17, 2025 at 9:37 PM
Very happy to introduce a new tool, BookReconciler!
You can take spreadsheets with book data and add subject headings, descriptions, ISBNs, HathiTrust IDs, & more. You can also cluster editions & variations of the same "Work."
Led by @thisismattmiller.com and supported by @post45data.bsky.social.
You can take spreadsheets with book data and add subject headings, descriptions, ISBNs, HathiTrust IDs, & more. You can also cluster editions & variations of the same "Work."
Led by @thisismattmiller.com and supported by @post45data.bsky.social.
Reposted by Alexander Manshel
Sarah Wasserman, assistant dean for faculty affairs, was named co-editor of the eminent Oxford Studies in American Literary History book series. The scholar of 20th- and 21st-century American literature will lead the series alongside @ericafretwell.bsky.social of the University of Albany.
Wasserman Appointed Co-Editor of Oxford’s American Literary History Series | Faculty of Arts and Sciences
The prestigious book series offers an expansive approach to American literary and cultural history.
fas.dartmouth.edu
December 16, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Sarah Wasserman, assistant dean for faculty affairs, was named co-editor of the eminent Oxford Studies in American Literary History book series. The scholar of 20th- and 21st-century American literature will lead the series alongside @ericafretwell.bsky.social of the University of Albany.
Reposted by Alexander Manshel
Reposted by Alexander Manshel
Today! All old & new books in @columbiaup.bsky.social's Literature Now series are 50% off, including POETRY AFTER BARBARISM by @xenoglossic.bsky.social; POETRY IN GENERAL by @keegancf.bsky.social; BIG FICTION by @dan-sinnamon.bsky.social; and WRITING BACKWARDS by @manshel.bsky.social! bit.ly/4rupQx9
December 1, 2025 at 8:52 PM
Today! All old & new books in @columbiaup.bsky.social's Literature Now series are 50% off, including POETRY AFTER BARBARISM by @xenoglossic.bsky.social; POETRY IN GENERAL by @keegancf.bsky.social; BIG FICTION by @dan-sinnamon.bsky.social; and WRITING BACKWARDS by @manshel.bsky.social! bit.ly/4rupQx9
🚨🚨🚨 Even though I find the phrase “Cyber Monday” deeply distasteful, the folks at Columbia University Press are offering my book at a 50% DISCOUNT today! Check it out, along with the other fantastic titles in the Literature Now series!
cup.columbia.edu/book/writing...
cup.columbia.edu/book/writing...
December 1, 2025 at 3:41 PM
🚨🚨🚨 Even though I find the phrase “Cyber Monday” deeply distasteful, the folks at Columbia University Press are offering my book at a 50% DISCOUNT today! Check it out, along with the other fantastic titles in the Literature Now series!
cup.columbia.edu/book/writing...
cup.columbia.edu/book/writing...
Proposals due next Monday, December 1st! If you are (or know) a graduate student working on 20th/21st century literature and culture, this is a great, free, low-stakes, no-travel-required way to workshop a project with scholars and editors in the field!
DEAR GRAD STUDENTS,
This March @post45data.bsky.social will be holding a free, online mini-workshop for grads working in the fields of contemporary literature and culture.
More info / abstract submission here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
1/4
This March @post45data.bsky.social will be holding a free, online mini-workshop for grads working in the fields of contemporary literature and culture.
More info / abstract submission here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
1/4
CFP: The Data of Post45 Literature and Culture (Online Graduate Workshop)
How has encroaching climate disaster impacted how the future is imagined in science fiction novels? What can a century of NYT bestsellers lists tell us about trends in mainstream publishing? And how c...
docs.google.com
November 25, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Proposals due next Monday, December 1st! If you are (or know) a graduate student working on 20th/21st century literature and culture, this is a great, free, low-stakes, no-travel-required way to workshop a project with scholars and editors in the field!
Reposted by Alexander Manshel
I need everyone, esp anyone working in education or tech (but really everyone) to WATCH THIS CLIP of @drtanksley.bsky.social discussing the technologies infiltrating our schools & psyches and how she is addressing it with our young people. youtu.be/5mtcSL4S3HQ
Howard University AI Panel
YouTube video by Tiera Tanksley
youtu.be
November 22, 2025 at 1:43 PM
I need everyone, esp anyone working in education or tech (but really everyone) to WATCH THIS CLIP of @drtanksley.bsky.social discussing the technologies infiltrating our schools & psyches and how she is addressing it with our young people. youtu.be/5mtcSL4S3HQ