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...
Very proud of my former student, Mairin Burke, for this deep dive into McGill's faculty unionization campaign!
November 21, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Very proud of my former student, Mairin Burke, for this deep dive into McGill's faculty unionization campaign!
Reposted by Alexander Manshel
Cannot recommend highly enough!
Just a reminder that the deadline for abstracts for this FREE, ONLINE, GRAD STUDENT WORKSHOP is a little less than two weeks away!
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
November 20, 2025 at 12:08 AM
Cannot recommend highly enough!
Reposted by Alexander Manshel
Today and Friday, I am teaching @manshel.bsky.social article "The Lag: Technology and Fiction in the Twentieth Century". My students are very excited to read it. I'm hoping to inspire a turn toward empirical methods, too.
November 19, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Today and Friday, I am teaching @manshel.bsky.social article "The Lag: Technology and Fiction in the Twentieth Century". My students are very excited to read it. I'm hoping to inspire a turn toward empirical methods, too.
Just a reminder that the deadline for abstracts for this FREE, ONLINE, GRAD STUDENT WORKSHOP is a little less than two weeks away!
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 18, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Just a reminder that the deadline for abstracts for this FREE, ONLINE, GRAD STUDENT WORKSHOP is a little less than two weeks away!
Lots of fun presenting with @lbmcgrath.bsky.social and @jdporter.bsky.social at this week’s fabulous conference on the world of audiobooks! Thanks to @corinnanorue.bsky.social and @millicentweber.bsky.social for organizing. And watch this space for more on “Echoing: A Theory of the Audiobook”!
November 17, 2025 at 7:54 PM
Lots of fun presenting with @lbmcgrath.bsky.social and @jdporter.bsky.social at this week’s fabulous conference on the world of audiobooks! Thanks to @corinnanorue.bsky.social and @millicentweber.bsky.social for organizing. And watch this space for more on “Echoing: A Theory of the Audiobook”!
"there is more than a little something constitutively utopian in the heist genre, from its depiction of competent work to its championing of collective action to its redistributive rather than retributive propensities"
"the heist film offers audiences a spectacle of highly choreographed expertise. From Rififi to Sneakers to Soderbergh canon (Out of Sight Logan Lucky Oceans 11–13), the genre has generated some of cinema’s most powerful allegories of collective action"
homework: read.dukeupress.edu/south-atlant...
homework: read.dukeupress.edu/south-atlant...
November 11, 2025 at 2:41 PM
"there is more than a little something constitutively utopian in the heist genre, from its depiction of competent work to its championing of collective action to its redistributive rather than retributive propensities"
UPDATE: I have cut the line entirely. Publication is just a number!
I regret to inform you that, while copyediting an article that’s been in the works for a while, I had to change a line about a book that came out the year I was born from “published over 35 years ago” to “published nearly 40 years ago”
November 11, 2025 at 2:25 PM
UPDATE: I have cut the line entirely. Publication is just a number!
I regret to inform you that, while copyediting an article that’s been in the works for a while, I had to change a line about a book that came out the year I was born from “published over 35 years ago” to “published nearly 40 years ago”
November 11, 2025 at 1:32 AM
I regret to inform you that, while copyediting an article that’s been in the works for a while, I had to change a line about a book that came out the year I was born from “published over 35 years ago” to “published nearly 40 years ago”
Reposted by Alexander Manshel
Peter Coviello isn't on Bluesky, but this definitely should be: lithub.com/maybe-dont-t...
Maybe Don’t Talk to the New York Times About Zohran Mamdani
It’s remarkable, the people you’ll hear from. Teach for even a little while at an expensive institution—the term they tend to prefer is “elite”—and odds are that eventually someone who was a studen…
lithub.com
November 7, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Peter Coviello isn't on Bluesky, but this definitely should be: lithub.com/maybe-dont-t...
Reposted by Alexander Manshel
remember school? it's different now
In my AP Lit class, we read Pride and Prejudice, Crime and Punishment, The Heart of Darkness, The Metamorphosis, Native Son, and The Stranger, plus poems, plays and stories. All we did was read, discuss, and write.
November 8, 2025 at 5:10 PM
remember school? it's different now
Reposted by Alexander Manshel
A new special issue of English Studies I'm really keen to put together! Please consider submitting and circulate widely! @drchrislouttit.bsky.social bookshoplit.com/cfp-booksell...
CFP: Bookselling and Literature
Bookselling and LiteratureA Special Issue of English Studies Guest Editor: Matthew Chambers ([email protected]) One of the best-known literary friendships was formed in a bookshop, and one…
bookshoplit.com
November 3, 2025 at 10:28 AM
A new special issue of English Studies I'm really keen to put together! Please consider submitting and circulate widely! @drchrislouttit.bsky.social bookshoplit.com/cfp-booksell...
Reposted by Alexander Manshel
If you are an agent or want to be an agent or an editor who deals with agents or an author who has an agent or is trying to get one, you need to read this book.
Excited to reveal the cover of my book, MIDDLEMEN: LITERARY AGENTS AND THE MAKING OF AMERICAN FICTION, which is available for pre-order now!
November 4, 2025 at 5:46 PM
If you are an agent or want to be an agent or an editor who deals with agents or an author who has an agent or is trying to get one, you need to read this book.
Reposted by Alexander Manshel
Excited to reveal the cover of my book, MIDDLEMEN: LITERARY AGENTS AND THE MAKING OF AMERICAN FICTION, which is available for pre-order now!
November 4, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Excited to reveal the cover of my book, MIDDLEMEN: LITERARY AGENTS AND THE MAKING OF AMERICAN FICTION, which is available for pre-order now!
Reposted by Alexander Manshel
Going to inscribe @manshel.bsky.social into the American HS canon by assigning this essay to my 11th graders next week
www.newyorker.com/books/page-t...
www.newyorker.com/books/page-t...
How “The Great Gatsby” Took Over High School
The classroom staple turns a hundred.
www.newyorker.com
November 4, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Going to inscribe @manshel.bsky.social into the American HS canon by assigning this essay to my 11th graders next week
www.newyorker.com/books/page-t...
www.newyorker.com/books/page-t...
Reposted by Alexander Manshel
"[A] striking example of the power that cultural history can lend to narrative studies, and vice-versa."
Congrats to Alexander Manshel, whose book, WRITING BACKWARDS, was awarded the 2026 Perkins Prize. bit.ly/4oqeqbQ @manshel.bsky.social #LiteratureNow @columbiaup.bsky.social
Congrats to Alexander Manshel, whose book, WRITING BACKWARDS, was awarded the 2026 Perkins Prize. bit.ly/4oqeqbQ @manshel.bsky.social #LiteratureNow @columbiaup.bsky.social
Professor Manshel's 'Writing Backwards' was awarded the 2026 Perkins Prize!
The Barbara Perkins and George Perkins Prize is awarded to 'Writing Backwards', Professor Manshel's recent book! Established in 1994, the Perkins Prize honors Barbara Perkins and George Perkins, the f...
bit.ly
November 4, 2025 at 2:34 AM
"[A] striking example of the power that cultural history can lend to narrative studies, and vice-versa."
Congrats to Alexander Manshel, whose book, WRITING BACKWARDS, was awarded the 2026 Perkins Prize. bit.ly/4oqeqbQ @manshel.bsky.social #LiteratureNow @columbiaup.bsky.social
Congrats to Alexander Manshel, whose book, WRITING BACKWARDS, was awarded the 2026 Perkins Prize. bit.ly/4oqeqbQ @manshel.bsky.social #LiteratureNow @columbiaup.bsky.social
Reposted by Alexander Manshel
I cannot effing wait to read this, @lbmcgrath.bsky.social
November 2, 2025 at 5:07 PM
I cannot effing wait to read this, @lbmcgrath.bsky.social
Just learned that WRITING BACKWARDS has won Narrative's 2026 Perkins Prize, "awarded to the book making the most significant contribution to the study of narrative in a given year." A true honor, especially given the prize's past recipients!
www.thenarrativesociety.org/barbara-and-...
www.thenarrativesociety.org/barbara-and-...
October 29, 2025 at 1:04 PM
Just learned that WRITING BACKWARDS has won Narrative's 2026 Perkins Prize, "awarded to the book making the most significant contribution to the study of narrative in a given year." A true honor, especially given the prize's past recipients!
www.thenarrativesociety.org/barbara-and-...
www.thenarrativesociety.org/barbara-and-...
I had the distinct pleasure of hearing parts of this book at a conference a couple years ago and I can’t wait to read the rest of it! Congrats, @acolton.bsky.social!!!
It's pub day (birthday 0?) for Writing Through Writer's Block: Lessons from Modern American Fiction! This is a study of how authors have used the archetype of the blocked writer to identify, analyze, and ultimately work through both internal and external constraints on their creative abilities.
Writing Through Writer’s Block
uipress.uiowa.edu
October 29, 2025 at 12:19 AM
I had the distinct pleasure of hearing parts of this book at a conference a couple years ago and I can’t wait to read the rest of it! Congrats, @acolton.bsky.social!!!
Reposted by Alexander Manshel
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
October 27, 2025 at 3:57 PM
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
Reposted by Alexander Manshel
We're excited to host a virtual workshop where graduate students can present work-in-progress that engages with data from the Post45 Data Collective in some way.
Editors from the P45DC, Public Books, Post45, and the 19th Century DC will be there to offer feedback.
Proposals are due December 1!
Editors from the P45DC, Public Books, Post45, and the 19th Century DC will be there to offer feedback.
Proposals are due December 1!
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
October 27, 2025 at 5:17 PM
We're excited to host a virtual workshop where graduate students can present work-in-progress that engages with data from the Post45 Data Collective in some way.
Editors from the P45DC, Public Books, Post45, and the 19th Century DC will be there to offer feedback.
Proposals are due December 1!
Editors from the P45DC, Public Books, Post45, and the 19th Century DC will be there to offer feedback.
Proposals are due December 1!
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
October 27, 2025 at 3:57 PM
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
Reposted by Alexander Manshel
I didn’t get the wording down precisely, so I won’t quote it, but one of the things that hit hard in the room:
Reactionaries waging culture wars against the humanities have a more accurate account of our power than we do. And our humility is not admirable, but an abdication of responsibility.
Reactionaries waging culture wars against the humanities have a more accurate account of our power than we do. And our humility is not admirable, but an abdication of responsibility.
October 22, 2025 at 11:58 AM
I didn’t get the wording down precisely, so I won’t quote it, but one of the things that hit hard in the room:
Reactionaries waging culture wars against the humanities have a more accurate account of our power than we do. And our humility is not admirable, but an abdication of responsibility.
Reactionaries waging culture wars against the humanities have a more accurate account of our power than we do. And our humility is not admirable, but an abdication of responsibility.
Reposted by Alexander Manshel
Join the Department of English for the Fall 2025 Open House at McGill University!
Come and chat with English faculty members and students, and learn about our different streams, programs, course offerings, community and more!
Saturday, October 25
10 am–4 pm
Arts Building Lobby
853 Sherbrooke St. W
Come and chat with English faculty members and students, and learn about our different streams, programs, course offerings, community and more!
Saturday, October 25
10 am–4 pm
Arts Building Lobby
853 Sherbrooke St. W
October 21, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Join the Department of English for the Fall 2025 Open House at McGill University!
Come and chat with English faculty members and students, and learn about our different streams, programs, course offerings, community and more!
Saturday, October 25
10 am–4 pm
Arts Building Lobby
853 Sherbrooke St. W
Come and chat with English faculty members and students, and learn about our different streams, programs, course offerings, community and more!
Saturday, October 25
10 am–4 pm
Arts Building Lobby
853 Sherbrooke St. W
Reposted by Alexander Manshel
All these people avoiding m-dashes because “AI uses them” simply means that there’s more for me!
October 21, 2025 at 5:01 PM
All these people avoiding m-dashes because “AI uses them” simply means that there’s more for me!