Emergency Medical Leave, spring 2009

Pummill Hall 106C
901 S. National
Springfield, Missouri 65897

Telephone: 417-836-4803

E-mail:  WilliamBurling@missouristate.edu

SMSU Foundation Excellence in Research Award, 1993
College of Arts and Letters Research Award, 1999
SMSU University Teaching Award, 2001
SMSU University Research Award, 2002
College of Arts and Letters Service Award, 2003
College of Arts and Letters Research Award, 2006

My Books, Related Reviews, and Other Recent Publications

Two New Essays (posted 3/7/2008):

"Marxist Theory and SF" (forthcoming in The Routledge Companion to Science Fiction)

"Art as 'the Basic Technique of Life" in The Dispossessed: Utopian Art and Art in Utopia" (forthcoming 2009 in Red Planets: Marxist Theory and Science Fiction, eds. Mark Bould and China Miéville).

Two recent essays:

"Brecht’s “U-effect”: Theorizing the Horizons of Revolutionary Theatre" (in Brecht, Broadway, and United States Theatre. Ed. Chris Westgate. Cambridge Scholars Press, 2007).

"Reading Time: The Ideology of Time-Travel in Science Fiction" (in Kronoscope [2006]).
 

New  book!!
Kim Stanley Robinson Maps the Unimaginable: Critical Essays. McFarland Publishing (forthcoming 2009).

An edited set of previously published and newly commissioned essays by numerous contemporary scholars and critics (including my own essay on KSR's Blue Mars that appeared in Utopian Studies).

The Colonial American Stage, 1665-1774: A Documentary Calendar .  Fairleigh Dickinson UP, 2002.  Co-authored with Odai Johnson.

"Unquestionably the single most valuable volume on colonial theatre to date." 
                                                          Jason Shaffer, William and Mary Quarterly 62 (2005)

"an indispensable source for research on stage and theater history, acting careers, repertory, theater personnel, reception history, and trends in theatrical taste--in short, on every aspect of the theatrical life of Colonial America."
                   James L. Harner, Literary Research Guide (5th edition, forthcoming)

"the most complete listing of play performances in colonial America yet in print . . . an impressive and important new reference source. . . ."
                                                    Jeffrey H. Richards, Early American Literature 38.1 (2003)


 

Summer Theatre in London, 1661-1820, and the Rise of the Haymarket Theatre.   Fairleigh Dickinson UP, 2001.

"meticulously researched  . . . fills a significant gap in eighteenth-century theatre history."
                   Roxanne Kent-Drury, Eighteenth-Century Studies (Fall 2001)
                   (See full review.)

"a painstaking study of a neglected facet of London theatre history."
                    David Thomas, Review of English Studies,  n.s. 52 (2001)
                    (See full review in pdf format)

"a useful reference that anyone exploring this topic in the future will consult."
                     Year's Work in English Studies 81 (2002)
 

The Plays of Colley Cibber (Vol. 1 of a 4-volume edition).   Fairleigh Dickinson UP, 2000.  Co-edited by Timothy J. Viator.
            "the first volume of what will no doubt be the definitive edition . . . . the product of impressively conscientious scholarship."
                                                      Stephen Szilagyi, East-Central Intelligencer (January 2002)
 

A Checklist of New Plays and Entertainments on the London Stage, 1700-1737.   Fairleigh Dickinson UP, 1993.
   "Meticulous scholarship invaluable for all graduate students, professors, and researchers . . . . Highly recommended."
                                                      H. M. Barber, Choice (April 1993)

   "Finding first-performance dates for the London theaters between 1700 and 1737 is now, thanks, to Burling, a pleasant task."
                                                      Brian Corman, South Atlantic Review 59 (1994)

Course Materials

       General Course Policies (all courses and sections; updated spring 2009)

       Marxist Cultural Studies Materials
                      Extensive selection of theoretical essays and applied examples.

       ENG 184: Introduction to the Graphic novel (under construction)

       English 235 (Critical Approaches to Literature)

       English 340  (Survey of British Literature I)

       English 366 (Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature)
                   Utopia/Dytopia (Sp '09) NEW!!
                  Radical Fantasy (Sp '05)
                  Cyborgs!: Confronting the Posthuman (Sp '06)
                  Slipstream Fantasy (Sp '07)
                  Anglo-American Science Fiction 1970--present (Sp '08)

      ENG 519  (American Drama since 1945)

      THE 547 The Development of American Theatre (Fall '08)

      ENG 558 (Major American Authors)
                   Philip K. Dick and William Gibson (Fall '07)

       English 600 (Problems and Methods of Research)
                             WWW Research Resources (new!)
                             “Research Methods and Critical Theory” web page, Buley Library, South Connecticut State University:
                                        http://library.scsu.ctstateu.edu/engcritbib.html (excellent resource)

       English 612 (Seminar on Drama)
                                "Brecht and Beckett" (Sp '05)

      English 680: Intellectual Contexts
                               Anglo-American Literary Modernism and Postmodernism (Fall '08)

        English 685  (Theory courses)
                               Postmodern Cultural Theory and Studies (Sp '08)
                               Critical Theory Contexts and Debates (Sp '09) NEW!!