The Joys of Teaching Literature, started in September 2010 and with a Spanish version since July 2021, is a blog for ranting and raving about (teaching and researching) English Literature, Cultural Studies, and Gender Studies, and other aspects of the Anglophone world. I publish a post once a week, usually on Monday. Please, download the yearly volumes from https://ddd.uab.cat/record/116328, or read the volume collecting some of the entries (Passionate Professing: The Context and Practice of English Literature, 2023). The comments option is not available, sorry, but you may contact me through my e-mail address, Sara.Martin@uab.cat. The contents of this blog are protected by a type 4 Creative Common License (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (by-nc-nd)).

  • WILL I EVER WRITE A NOVEL? (I DON’T THINK SO)

    [No, I’m not writing about Donald Trump’s victory. I don’t agree with any of the analyses I have read and there will be time enough to consider the catastrophes that his cabinet will cause in the USA and around the world. If we survive.] A couple of my students asked me how come I have…

  • ¿ESCRIBIRÉ ALGUNA VEZ UNA NOVELA? (NO LO CREO)

    [No, no voy a escribir sobre la victoria de Donald Trump. No estoy de acuerdo con ninguno de los análisis que he leído y ya habrá tiempo suficiente para reflexionar sobre las catástrofes que su gabinete causará en los EE.UU. y en todo el mundo. Si sobrevivimos.] Un par de mis estudiantes me preguntaron cómo…

  • ABOUT MY FATHER (AND WHY I’M WORKING ON MASCULINITIES STUDIES)

    I don’t know what the etiquette is in these cases, but I shared with my master’s class the reason for my absence last Thursday: my father, 87, died suddenly of a heart attack the day before, Wednesday 23. He had just got off the bus mid-morning, felt dizzy and, the neighbours have told us, collapsed…

  • SOBRE MI PADRE (Y POR QUÉ ESTOY TRABAJANDO EN ESTUDIOS DE LAS MASCULINIDADES)

    No sé cuál es la etiqueta en estos casos, pero compartí con mi clase de máster el motivo de mi ausencia el jueves pasado: mi padre, de 87 años, murió repentinamente de un ataque al corazón el día anterior, el miércoles 23. Acababa de bajar del autobús a media mañana, se sintió mareado y, según…

  • PATRIARCHY MADE ME DO IT AND THE 24 GENDERS

    This has turned out to be a weird week in terms of gender, particularly in Scotland and in Spain. I’m writing this specially for my international MA class in the subject ‘Body and Gender in Narrative’ as they might miss either one of the two events I wish to discuss here: the complete withdrawal from…