COMPARATIVE LITERATURE PRIZES FOR 2004

Comparative Literature, Summer 2004

The René Wellek Prize

The René Wellek Prize, given in alternate years with the Harry Levin Prize, is this country's most prestigious book award in the discipline of comparative literature. The Wellek Prize recognizes an outstanding work in the field of literary and cultural theory. Editions, collections of essays, and reference works are not eligible for these prizes. The 2004 Wellek Prize comprised books published in the triennium 2001-2003 and was presented at the ACLA Annual Meeting (University of Michigan-Ann Arbor) in April 2004.

The winner of the 2004 René Wellek prize was Barrett Watten (University of Indiana) for his book The Construclivist Moment: From Material Text to Cultural Poetics (Middletown: Wesleyan University Press, 2003). Honorable Mentions were also awarded to Margaret W. Ferguson, Dido's Daughters: Literacy, Gender and Empire in Early Modern England and France (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 2003) and Eric L. Santner, On the Psychotheology of Everyday Life. Reflections on Freud and Rosenzweig (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 2001). The Prize Committee for 2003-2004 was: Haun Saussy (Stanford University, chair), David Ferris (University of Colorado at Boulder), and Lois Zamora (University of Houston).

Announcing the 2005 Harry Levin Prize:

Books eligible for the Levin Prize in 2005 emphasize literary history or criticism as opposed to theory; in the spirit of comparative literature, they are engaged with more than one national literature or with issues of literary study in general. The 2005 Levin Prize will comprise books published in the triennium 2002-2004, and the award will be presented at the ACLA Annual Meeting at Penn State University in April 2005. Please consult the ACLA website for additional information about the competition at: http://www.ada.org/levinandwellek.html

The A. Owen Aldridge Prize

The A. Owen Aldridge prize is awarded to the best graduate student essay selected from a competition. Comparative Literature Studies, at the Pennsylvania State University Press, publishes this annual prize-paper. The winning article also carries a monetary prize. The purpose of this competition is to encourage and recognize excellence in scholarship among graduate students and to reward the highest achievement by publication. This project is sponsored by Comparative Literature Studies in cooperation with the ACLA and supported by the Department of Comparative Literature at Penn State.

The winner of the 2004 A. Owen Aldridge prize was Mariano Siskind (New York University) for his paper "Captain Cook and the Discovery of Antarctica's Modern Specificity: Towards a Critique of Globalization." The prize committee for 2003-04 was: Verena Conley (Harvard University), Gail Finney (University of California-Davis), and Susan Homar (Universidad de Puerto Rico Recinto de Río Piedras).

Graduate students are encouraged to submit a polished paper in English, approximately 15-20 pages long (double-spaced), following the MLA Style Manual, and prepared for anonymous evaluation. The deadline for the 2005 Aldridge prize competition was July 1, 2004. Further information on the Aldridge prize can be found at: http://www. acla. org/aldridge.html

The Charles Bernheimer Prize

Each department or program in Comparative Literature in North America may nominate one dissertation completed during the current year (for the 2005 competition, a dissertation completed by September 1, 2004). The ACLA expects that the majority of dissertations nominated have been written by students enrolled in Comparative Literature, but a department or program may nominate a dissertation by a student enrolled in another program if it judges this the best dissertation in comparative literature of the year. The sponsoring department or program must be a current member of the ACLA.

The winner of the 2004 Bernheimer Prize was Stephanie Glaser (Indiana University, Ph.D. 2003) for her dissertation "Explorations of the Gothic Cathedral in Nineteenth-Century France." The prize committee for 2003-04 was: Michael Palencia-Roth (University of Illinois, Champagne, Urbana) and Sarah Lawall (University of Massachusetts, Amherst).

To nominate a dissertation for the Bernheimer Prize, please notify the ACLA secretariat at info@ada.org of your nomination and send copies of the dissertation directly to the judges. For the 2005 Bernheimer Prize, copies must reach the judges by November 15, 2004. Furtherinformation on the Bernheimer prize can be found at: http://www.ada.org/bernheimer.html

The Horst Frenz Prize

The Horst Frenz Prize is awarded to an outstanding paper presented by a graduate student at the annual meeting of the ACLA; the prize is awarded at the following year's conference. The Horst Frenz Prize consists of a $250 gift certificate for books, a $250 travel grant to attend the following ACLA Conference to receive the award in person, and publication of the essay in the Yearbook of Comparative and General Literature.

The winner of the 2003 Horst Frenz Prize was Sarah Casteel (Columbia University) , for her paper "Joy Kogawa's Native Envy: New World Discourse in Obasan and Itsuka." The jury for the ACLA 2003 Conference at California State University, San Marcos was: Kathleen Komar (University of California, Los Angeles, chair), Kevin Larsen (University of Wyoming), and Miriam Cooke (Duke University).