Prefactory Conventions and Invention: Recreading Borges\u27s Prologue to La invención de Morel

Prologues traditionally present works through a series of conventional gestures: introducing the author, providing contextual information and otherwise preparing a reader for proper understanding of the work. In this sense, they appear to reinforce a classic distinction between the philosophical text, whose words efface themselves in the act of understanding and the literary text, which resists such neglect of textuality and demands rereading. In a variety of ways throughout his work, Borges questions the neat distinction between literature and philosophy, and “Prefatory Conventions and Invention” examines how he does this in his prologues. After examining theory of the prologue in Borges, Gerard Genette’s Paratexts, and Jacques Derrida’s “Outworks, ” this article focuses on Borges’s prologue to La invention de Morel, showing how it both conforms to philosophical task of delivering knowledge and demands multiple readings in the manner of a literary text. Following apparently accidental details of the prologue, and building on the work of previous critics, I propose that we view the borgesian text not as a fusion of literature and philosophy but as a textual movement or passage back and forth between two distinct types of discourse

Who Owns the Law? Why We Must Restore Public Ownership of Legal Publishing

Each state has its own method for officially publishing the law. This article looks at the history of legal publishing for the fifty states before looking at how legal publishing even in moving to electronic publishing may not ensure public access to the law. The article addresses barriers to free access to the law in electronic publishing including copyright, contract law, and potentially, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. The article concludes with prescriptions for how different actors, including state governments, publishers, libraries, and others can ensure robust public access to the law moving forward

The Scientific Life Of John Bahcall

This article follows the scientific life of John Norris Bahcall, including his tenacious pursuit of the solar neutrino problem, his contributions to our understanding of galaxies, quasars, and their emissions, and his leadership of and advocacy for astronomy and astrophysics.Comment: Prefactory for Annual Reviews of Nuclear and Particle Science; 23 pages, 6 figure

Looking at the Issues:Science and Fiction as Genres in the Fin de Siècle Magazine

One of the more profound effects of the digitisation of periodicals is the eclipse of the ‘issue’ as a unit of study. Keyword searching allows us to create bespoke collections of articles from across a wide range of publications, algorithmically determined to cluster around a single author, event, or idea – all well and good, if a single author, event, or idea is the object of study. In this piece, though, I argue that there is sometimes value in apprehending the whole issue, especially if one is interested in discursive formations of genre. Through an examination of one particular issue (June 1898) of the popular monthly Strand Magazine (1891-1950), this article thinks through the ways in which the material proximity of genres in fin de siècle periodicals can result in resonances and formations of meaning which can be both fundamental to genre identity and hard to find with keywords. I focus in particular on multiple possible readings of Cutcliffe Hyne’s short story ‘The Lizard’, which, I argue, carefully uses the polysemic fluidity of magazine genre as an element of its own structure. This aspect of the story is lost completely if one reads it outside of its original publication venue

The Will to Prevail: Inside the Legal Battle to Save Sweet Briar

Part I provides an in-depth factual overview, beginning with the Sweet Briar College\u27s founding in the early 1900s. The commentary then turns to the controversial decision to close and discusses the facts and legal theories of the case, the decisions by the circuit court and the Supreme Court of Virginia, and the eventual settlement that kept the school alive. In Part II, the discussion shifts to the landmark nature of this case, not only for Sweet Briar College, but also for other Virginia colleges and non-profits around the country. The essay analyzes the legal questions arising from the case, including whether a Virginia corporation could also be a trustee, and, what were the Board\u27s legal obligations in this case