UW Press debuts spring titles

A first-of-its-kind series of gay memoirs will debut this spring from the University of Wisconsin Press.

Under the banner “Living Out: Gay and Lesbian Autobiographies,” the initial titles will explore such subjects as Latino literary icons, the movies and coming of age in rural Arizona.

UW Press 1999 spring catalog

Another new area of concentration for the UW Press is Latino studies. Two titles scheduled this summer, “The Crusade for Justice: Chicano Militancy and the Government’s War on Dissent” (due out in June by Crusade for Justice member Ernesto B. Vigil) and “José, Can You See? Latinos On and Off-Broadway” (by Alberto Sandoval-Sánchez, to be published this July), “provide fresh insight into American culture,” according to UW Press senior editor Rosalie Robertson.

A number of new offerings this season are the work of UW–Madison faculty:

Press director David Bethea, Vilas Research Professor of Slavic Languages and Literature, studies the relationship between life and art with “Realizing Metaphors: Alexander Pushkin and the Life of a Poet.”

“The Theatre of the Holocaust, Vol. II” spotlights changes that both theater and Holocaust studies have undergone since the first volume appeared in 1982. Robert Skloot, professor of theatre and drama and director of the Center for Jewish Studies, edited both volumes.

Harold Scheub, professor of African languages and literature, explores the emotional component of oral tradition in his recent book, “Story.” Traditions of and tales told in Wisconsin receive their due from UW–Madison folklorist James P. Leary. His new anthology “Wisconsin Folklore” considers the culture through such widely disparate filters as polka music, Hmong needlework, Paul Bunyan and more.

Marshall Cook, professor of continuing studies, and Wisconsin Arts Board folk arts coordinator Richard March have collaborated on “Wisconsin Folklife: A Celebration of Wisconsin Traditions.” Such cultural territory as Lambeau Field “cheesehead” tailgaters, Harley “hogs,” Ojibwe canoes and Mexican grocery stores all are covered.

Other new offerings this season: “A Place to Which We Belong: Wisconsin Writers on Wisconsin Landscapes” collects close to 50 essays on both the literature and figurative topography of the state. A particular piece of Wisconsin’s history is examined in “The Oneida Indian Journey: From New York to Wisconsin, 1784-1860,” edited by Laurence M. Hauptman and L. Gordon McLester III. Included are a variety of tribal and nontribal perspectives on the traumatic relocation. Harvard University lecturer Steven J. Holmes offers “The Young John Muir: An Environmental Biography,” tracing Muir’s efforts to find a place for himself in the world.

Madison Capital Times columnist Doug Moe charts Pulitzer prize-winning columnist Mike Royko’s rise from Chicago’s northwest side to one of the most revered names in journalism in “The World of Mike Royko.”

For the spring catalog, call 224-3900, or e-mail uwiscpress@macc.wisc.edu.