ABOUT THIS SITE

Joe (22 January 2002): Now it's time for something a little different. I'm including bios of KY authors to be a part of this site instead of just linking to other sites. the first one of these is Crytal Wilkinson's page, done by Frank X. Walker. Pretty nice, to have someone of Walker's stature contributing to the site.

Joe (2 January 2001): Well, we've finally added a third section to the site, a collection of links to other sites about Kentucky writers. If you've got a site we should have, please send it along.

Joe (15 June 2000, after too many people expressed their overhasty concerns about the site without reading this intro): WAIT!!! Before you post a complaint that this site isn't updated, that your favorite writer isn't included, a bibliography is out of date or a summary or critical assessment is incorrect, please read further. If you're willing to contribute the site, we'll post your data. But if you're just going to complain or suggest that we do more work to update the site, save yourself the time and effort.

Joe (30 September 1997): This site is the result of an Eastern Kentucky University English class instructed by George Brosi in the Fall of l994. In addition to several other course requirements, each student was required to do a biographical essay with literary analysis on both a living and an historical Kentucky author. This is a compilation of the results.

George [he's the nice guy] (some time in 1995): Literary scholarship is a dynamic process; the information and insights afforded here can be helpful to students, faculty and citizens as they delve deeper into the lives and works of these important authors. We hope other Kentucky Literature classes will utilize this site and improve upon it. We know that there is considerable information here which is difficult to obtain and that was provided by sources which other scholars may not have access to. There are many examples, but one of the most dramatic is Fenton Johnson's birth date. Before the semester began, I spent hours consulting all standard reference sources to obtain it, but didn't succeed. Then I checked the OCLC and it was not there. I phoned both Special Collections at the University of Kentucky library and the research staff at the Lexington Herald Leader, and still could not confirm Johnson's birth date. However, Rebecca Clark, one of the students in the class, agreed to research Johnson since he is from Nelson County like she is. In the course of her research, Clark obtained Johnson's birth date directly from Johnson's mother by phone. This is just one of many examples of ways we feel we have advanced scholarship here. We hope others will use this work as a springboard to get even deeper.

George: Please forgive the errors which exist. As the instructor, I was unrealistic in my deadlines, making them too near the end of the term so that I had no extra time to make adjustments when students gave me faulty computer disks or faulty computer files or when I made mistakes like accidently deleting Catherine Allameh's "Works Cited" page of her James Still essay! Most embarrassing is the omission of Bobbie Ann Mason, since the student who worked on Mason was not able to convert her word processor disk before the end of the semester. In addition, I did not leave time for making corrections, so many of the essays compiled here have been improved by the students, yet here printed are earlier versions of these corrected essays.

George: My own essays are among the most flawed. Some I did at the spur of the moment to provide help for students in studying for the final. Others I did years ago for purposes not quite compatible with this class.

George Brosi

© 1994-2002 by the Eastern Kentucky University English Department
Contributing authors retain copyrights on their pieces.

This site was created by Joe Pellegrino and is now maintained by Sherry Robinson, a faculty member at Eastern Kentucky University.