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)).

  • OF FAIRIES AND WITCHES: AN ACCIDENT OF HISTORY

    My doctoral student Laura Luque is now giving the finishing touches to her excellent PhD dissertation on the positive representation of the witch as a figure of empowerment in contemporary YA fantasy literature. She has focused on Terry Pratchett, J.K. Rowling, Rin Chupeco and Kelley Armstrong, which is certainly enough, although as the lists in…

  • DE HADAS Y BRUJAS: ACCIDENTES DE LA HISTORIA

    Mi estudiante de doctorado Laura Luque ahora está dando los toques finales a su excelente tesis doctoral sobre la representación positiva de la bruja como figura de empoderamiento en la literatura fantástica contemporánea juvenil. Se ha centrado en Terry Pratchett, J.K. Rowling, Rin Chupeco y Kelley Armstrong, que es más que suficiente, aunque como muestran…

  • KEN LEARNS ABOUT THE PATRIARCHY: KENOUGH MIGHT NOT BE KENOUGH

    [WARNING: This post discusses the movie Barbie with spoilers] It’s been a week since Greta Gerwig’s movie Barbie was released and the internet is abuzz with comments of all sizes and types. Surely, mine is not needed but, as happens, the more I think about the movie, the more restless I get. I was delighted…

  • KEN DESAPRENDE EL PATRIARCADO: ‘KENOUGH’ PODRÍA NO BASTAR

    [ADVERTENCIA: Esta entrada trata de la película Barbie con espoilers] Ha pasado una semana desde que se estrenó la película Barbie de Greta Gerwig e internet rebosa con comentarios de todos los tamaños y tipos. Seguramente, no hace falta añadir el mío pero la cuestión es que cuanto más pienso en la película, más inquieta…

  • STUDENTS’ RATINGS OF FACULTY: HOW IT WORKS AND SOME IDEAS TO IMPROVE IT

    This post is extremely difficult to write without sounding whiny and defensive, but I do need to write it, particularly considering that I don’t seem to have dealt with the matter of students’ ratings of faculty in almost thirteen years of blogging. So here we go.             I have access to the students’ assessment of…