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 for free 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)).

  • FED-UP ALTOGETHER – TIME TO STOP TRYING TO PUBLISH ARTICLES IN JOURNALS?

    Today I’ve received one of those blind peer reviewer reports which tells me how useless I am and how totally sub-standard my work is because… I mean, so many things that, really, I wonder that I’ve published anything at all. What the reviewers don’t know is that I no longer need to publish any more…

  • MÁS QUE HARTA: ¿ME TOCA DEJAR DE INTENTAR PUBLICAR ARTÍCULOS EN REVISTAS?

    Hoy he recibido uno de esos informes en los que un par de revisores me dicen lo inútil que soy y que mi trabajo es totalmente patético porque… bueno, por tantas cosas que, de verdad, me pregunto cómo es que he llegado a publicar algo. Lo que los revisores no saben es que ya no…

  • THE VANDERBILT REPORT: A SERIOUS THREAT AGAINST ACADEMIC FREEDOM IN THE HUMANITIES

    The “Report on the State of Scholarship in the Humanities and the Humanistic Social Sciences,” also known informally as ‘The Vanderbilt Report’ was published online by said university on June 5. It has created quite a stir, which is not surprising considering it is addressed “to university chancellors and presidents” all over the USA.          …

  • EL INFORME VANDERBILT: UNA AMENAZA SERIA CONTRA LA LIBERTAD ACADÉMICA EN LAS HUMANIDADES

    El “Report on the State of Scholarship in the Humanities and the Humanistic Social Sciences”, también conocido informalmente como ‘El Informe Vanderbilt’, fue publicado en línea por dicha universidad el 5 de junio. Ha causado notable revuelo, algo que no sorprende teniendo en cuenta que está dirigido a rectores universitarios de todo Estados Unidos.          …

  • STUDENTS CAN’T OR WON’T READ?: SOME THOUGHTS

    An article by Tyler Jagt, published on 1 June 2026, in The Chronicle of Higher Education, “My Students Can’t Read” has been creating a bit of a stir this past week and I’d like to comment on its gist.           Jagt claims that his BA students’ inability to read a 20-page article (he teaches Rhetoric)…