Alan Gibbs

The State of Scholarship Alan Gibbs

This issue concludes the eleventh volume of the Pennsylvania Literary Journal. It features over sixty book reviews of scholarly and general-interest non-fiction books from the Editor, Anna Faktorovich. These reviews touch on Faktorovich's current research in computational linguistics authorial attribution, including some pre-release details from her findings on the true authors behind texts that have been falsely attributed to "Daniel Defoe" and "William Shakespeare". They also explore the problem of convoluted nonsense gibberish versus the useful breakthroughs that characterize the modern non-fiction publishing industry and scholarly endeavors. This information is designed for literature scholars and members of the general public seeking books to read to expand their understanding of the world. Additionally, you will find: Alan Gibbs' essay on neo-naturalism and obesity in Shriver's Big Brother, Joe Sarnowski's discourse on idealism in Wendell Berry's poems, and Sara Sass' scathing article on the Centralia, Pennsylvania mine fire. The collected fictional short stories are by Jason Marc Harris, Hareendran Kallinkeel, Kevin Harris, Ziaul Moid Khan and Kevin Statham. The poetry section highlights creations by regular and new authors including Louis Gallo, Lloyd Jacobs, Fabrice Poussin, and John Zedolik.