Contributor

Dr. Diana E. Sheets

Research Scholar, University of Illinois; political commentator and literary critic

Dr. Diana E. Sheets Research Scholar Appointment, English & History, University of Illinois E-mail: dsheets@illinois.edu & dianasheets@literarygulag.com Cell: 217 778-8118 I LITERARY BACKGROUND (1998-) http://www.literarygulag.com, http://www.illinoisauthors.org/authors/Diana_E._Sheets http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/dsheets, http://www.ideals.illinois.edu/handle/2142/3459, 2016 The Doubling: Those Influential Writers That Shape Our Contemporary Perceptions of Identity and Consciousness in the New Millennium, Diana Sheets & Michael F. Shaughnessy, Nova Science Publishers 2010/11 American Suite Fiction. Jorge Pinto Books print & e-pubs (Kindle, Nook, iBookstore). 2010/09 The Cusp of Dreams Fiction. Lulu paperback, e-pub (Kindle). 2008 British Conservatism & the Primrose League: The Changing Character of Popular Politics, 1883-1901. Ph.D. Columbia Univ. 1986, https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/handle/2142/9088. Chapters 2015 “Transformative Initiatives: How iFoundry Reimagines STEM Education for the 21st Century,” Transforming Institutions: Undergraduate STEM Education for the 21st Century, Purdue University Press. 2014 “The Humanities in Crisis: What Went Wrong and How to Restore Their Centrality in Our Daily Lives,” The Humanities in 2015: Why We Need Them and How They Contribute to Being Human, Ed. Michael F. Shaughnessy, Nova Publishers. Lead essay. 2012 “Reading and Thinking Critically in the Age of Disputation,” Critical Thinking and Higher Order Thinking: A Current Perspective, Ed. Michael F. Shaughnessy, Nova Publishers. 2010 “The Great Books and Cultural Identity: The Rise and Fall of Western Memory and Its Implication for Our Times,” Reading in 2010, Ed. Michael F. Shaughnessy, Nova Publishers. Selective Articles/Interviews/Opinion Blogs 2016 “Why Hillary Clinton’s Bashing of Trump Supporters Is Far More Revealing Than Democrats Would Like”, Huffington Pos, 9/14/16, Opinion Blog. 2015 “Capitalism, Hamilton, Hip-Hop and Musical Theater: Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Conquest of Broadway and the Presidential Election of 2016,” Huffington Post, 8/5/15. 2014 “Commencement Speakers, Academic Freedom & the Pursuit of Excellence,” Huffington Post, 5.19.14, Opinion Blog.. 2013 “Leibovich’s This Town: The Tittle-Tattle Flibbertigibbet Musing of a Fashionisto Political Reporter in the Washington Beltway,” Huffington Post, 10/30/13, Opinion Blog. 2013 “The Crisis in the Humanities: Why Today’s Educational and Cultural Experts Can’t and Won’t Resolve the Failings of the Liberal Arts,” Huffington Post, 7/15/13. 2012 “Obama’s 2012 Victory: The Demographic Becomes the Narrative,” Huffington Post. 2012 “How Demography Became the Narrative for Obama’s 2012 Victory,” National Journal, 12/18/12. 2012 “Obama’s ‘Kingdom of Virtue’: All Is Fair in Political Warfare Though Victory May Be Fleeting,” Huffington Post, 11/18/2012, Opinion Blog. 2012 “Our Superheroes Romney and Ryan: Why You Should Hope Republicans Win the Presidential Election,” Huffington Post, 10/18/12, Opinion Blog. 2012 “Post-Convention Bytes: The 2012 Presidential Election and the Obama/Romney Divide,” International Business Times, September 18, 2012. 2011 “Literature’s Nobel Prize and the Case—or Not—for Insularity,” The Christian Science Monitor’s Chapter & Verse Book Blog, October 14, 2011, about Tomas Tranströmer’s Nobel Prize. 2011 “Is ‘Twilight’ a Romantic Teen Fantasy—Or a Deeply Religious Parable?” The Christian Science Monitor’s Chapter & Verse Book Blog, September 2, 2011. 2010 Quoted by Will Englund, in National Journal, “Writing the Story of Health Reform” 3/20/10. 2009 Quoted by J. Jaime Hernandez, in El Universal, “Barack, entre el abismo y la esperanza” 1/15/09. 2008 Quoted by Edward Luce of the Financial Times, “Person of the Year: Barack Obama” 12/23/08. 2008/14 31 interviews with Michael F. Shaughnessy at www.ednews.org on literature & politics. 2008 Online Metal Filter & Get Life Right, Wetpaint, “Who Watches the Watchers,” feature ”Framing the Political Narrative for Victory in the 2008 Pres. Election” as a top expose on the election. 9/9/08. 2008 OP-Ed essay “Looking for Real Virtue in Literature,” a distillation of “Virtue” essay published on Literary Gulag, appears in The Christian Science Monitor, 1/9/2008. 2008 “Reading in the Internet Age.” The New Mexico Journal of Reading, XXVIII, Issue 3. 2008 Radio Interviews on the “narrative” of the 2008 election available as podcasts on Literary Gulag. 2007 “A Success Story in India,” The New York Times, Letter to the Editor, 9/17/2007. 2007- Literary Gulag: www.literarygulag.com & http://www.ideals.illinois.edu/handle/2142/3460 Essays on literary criticism, political commentary. Serialization of The Cusp of Dreams. 2005 “Embers,” an excerpt from The Cusp of Dreams, published in Issue 38 of “Sensations Magazine.” 2004 “Memoir as Lie” presented at the Center for Advanced Study faculty seminar 587 “Memory and the Construction of Identity and Culture.” One of the faculty participants in seminar. 9/’04 Literary Artists Representatives of NYC represents 2nd novel, American Suite. 2003 “Flatland Niceties,” an excerpt from American Suite, published in the Spring issue of “Liquid Ohio.” 2002 “Ashes Out of Phoenix” and “A Gantseh Tsimmes” excerpts, respectively, from The Cusp of Dreams and American Suite, published in the 15th Anniversary Issue of “Sensations Magazine.” 8/’01 Cambridge Literary Associates represents completed 1st novel, The Cusp of Dreams. II SCHOLARLY BACKGROUND (1999-2014) University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 2014 Course Director & Lecturer, iFoundry, College of Engineering, ENG 298 “Heroic Systems.” 2013 Visiting Lecturer, Campus Honors Program, “Controversies in Contemporary Western Culture, 1960s-2012.” 2012- iFoundry Fellow: Illinois Foundry for Innovation in Engineering Education. 2013 iFoundry: “Reading Matters” Initiative: The Idea Factory & Turing’s Cathedral. 1999- Research Scholar, English & History Departments. 2007- University of Illinois IDEALS site publishes my Literary Gulag essays, fiction, & Ph.D. thesis. 2003 Academic participant in Center for Advanced Study’s faculty seminar, “Memory and the Construction of Identity and Culture.“ Presented essay, “Memoir as Lie.” 2001 UIUC Visiting Teaching Associate, English Department. Taught Rhetoric 105. 2000 UIUC Scholars’ Travel Fund-$700 to present The Cusp at Iowa Summer Writing Festival. ‘99-‘00 UIUC Research Board-Grant Recipiant-$3,824. Research & workshop funds for The Cusp. EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES (1976-2015) 2.13.15: Invited Speaker, Center for East Asian & Pacific Studies, UIUC: “Heroic Systems, Science and the Humanities, and the Future of American Education.” 10.24.14 Presented Talk on iFoundry at Transforming Institutions STEM Conference, Indianapolis, IN 6.2-9, 2012 Workshop Participant, The Norman Mailer Writers Colony, Provincetown, MA Alana Newhouse, “Long Form for the Internet.” Scholarship. Review process. Iowa Summer Writing Festival Workshops, University of Iowa (6 workshops): 2002 Elaine Holiman “Designing the Screenplay”/ week; Thomas Barbash “Reading as a Writer”/weekend. 2000 Wayne Johnson “Novel Solutions”/week; Gordon Mennenga “Writing Wild: Fictional Voice”/weekend. 1999 Lan Samatha Chang Interconnected Stories, Novel/ week; Richard Panek story technique/weekend. 1979-85 Columbia University, NY, NY. Ph.D. (1/86), M.Phil. (1982), M.A. (1980), Major: Modern European History. Honors in Minor Field: Literature & Politics studied with Edward W. Said. 1981-2 Columbia University-Lecturer & Research Assistant, History Department. Taught Western Civilization and assisted in research. 1978-9 Princeton University, Princeton, NJ--Graduate Studies. Studied with Alvin B. Kernan, A. W. Mellon Professor of Humanities, Arno J. Mayer, and Carl E. Schorske (European History). 1977-8 Princeton University, Assist. to the Dean of Student Affairs & Director of the Women’s Center. 1976 University of Colorado, Boulder, CO-B.A., History. Graduated Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa. III MARKETING EXPERIENCE (1986-1997) 1996-7 Xerox Corporation, Stamford, CT-Printing Systems Marketing Executive Development of mainframe and LAN production printing system accounts in NYC. 1994-6 Navco, Anaheim, CA-Account Executive Marketing networked security systems to major banking institutions in metropolitan NY. 1987-94 Ameritech Industrial Info-Source, Inc., Troy, MI-Sales Manager & Account Representative (1989-1994) Mid-Atlantic Sales Manager for Midwestern Bell subsidiary. (1987-8) Sales Representative for metropolitan NY. Ranked 1st in sales outside Midwest. 1986 Savin Corporation, Stamford, CT-Sales Representative Marketed entire line of color and black & white copiers. Diana E. Sheets’s Publications Academic Endorsements for The Doubling: Those Influential Writers That Shape Our Contemporary Perceptions of Identity and Consciousness in the New Millennium Diana Sheets has produced a lively and conversational presentation of the major storytellers of the modern literary tradition. It's a wonderful introduction for American students, high school and college, who come to these works often as strangers. The Q & A format is engaging and Sheets knows just when to inform and when to interpret. I would recommend this to my own students. Mark Bauerlein Professor of English, Emory University The Doubling is an intellectual can-opener for closed minds. It’s the book that every 21st century undergraduate needs to understand how the great works of Western literature illuminate the human condition. Mustering a highly innovative—and easy-to-read approach—Dr. Sheets and Dr. Shaughnessy pair authors and their methods of storytelling to dissect how people tick. The Doubling is a trail guide to what Chekhov called “the matchless smell of humanity”, imparting lessons on every page. Jonathan Sanders Professor of Journalism, Stony Brook University I highly recommend The Doubling, a series of literary interviews with Diana Sheets with questions posed by Michael F. Shaughnessy. It’s an edifying enhancement of The Great Conversation exemplified in the Hutchins/Adler Great Books of the Western World. The Doubling facilitates our educational understanding of great literature and enriches our appreciation of the humanities. Max Weismann, Cofounder with Mortimer Adler Center for the Study of The Great Ideas in Chicago The Doubling, by Dr. Diana Sheets is a compelling, richly analytical, witty and engaging work. The pairing of key literary figures, including for example Cervantes and Kafka; or Borges and Marques, revolves around “the familiar and the strange”, a concept fundamental to both the arts and anthropological research, at the heart of interpretation. Profound and playful at the same time, Sheets examines novels within their authorial and sociological contexts with depth, sophistication, and sensitivity. Liora Bresler Professor of Education, University of Illinois These lively conversations take us back to fundamental truths about important books, works that have struck deep in the Western imagination, opening and exploring the nature of consciousness and the mystery of who and what we really are. There's no scholastic noodling here; any thoughtful reader can read these chapters, enjoy them, and come away refreshed. Bruce Michelson, author of Printer's Devil: Mark Twain and the American Publishing Revolution FICTION PUBLICATIONS 2010-11 American Suite. Jorge Pinto Books. Paperback & eBooks. 2009-10 The Cusp of Dreams. Lulu. Paperback & eBook. 2009-10 The Cusp of Dreams is serialized on my website www.literarygulag.com and the University of Illinois public access site devoted to research and scholarship, www.ideals.illinois.edu/handle/2142/13848. 2005 “Embers,” an excerpt from Chapter 3 of my novel The Cusp of Dreams published in Issue 38 of “Sensations Magazine,” is now available for download online at EBSCOhost. 2003 “Flatland Niceties,” an excerpt from my novel American Suite, was published in the Spring issue of “Liquid Ohio.” 2002 “Ashes Out of Phoenix” and “A Gantseh Tsimmers” excerpts, respectively, from of The Cusp of Dreams and American Suite, were published in the 15th Anniversary Issue of “Sensations Magazine.” ACADEMIC ENDORSEMENTS FOR THE CUSP OF DREAMS A sequence of fast-moving stories about the competitive, inhumane world of corporate America. Sheets knows this environment from the inside out and recreates the verbal bluster, stunted emotions, and real pain of her characters with great authenticity. She is the John Cheever of sales management.” —Christoph Irmscher, professor of English at Indiana University Diana Sheets’s slate-hard realism in The Cusp of Dreams, an unvarnished look at the predatory world of American corporate combat, serves as a welcome antidote to the often frivolous word-games of extreme postmodern experimental fiction. The last chapter brings Gatsby’s funeral to mind. —Howard Wolf, Emeritus Prof. & Sr. Fellow, Dept. of English, State University of New York at Buffalo In The Cusp of Dreams, Diana Sheets unveils in one lively vignette after another the human comedy of life in sales. People operate on assumptions that just aren’t so, they inflate the banal stuff of their affairs to dramatic proportions, and everybody schemes. For Sheets, the lesson is this: “you never, ever, have a clue as far as people are concerned.” —Mark Bauerlein, professor of English at Emory University Sheets has written a novel that is sociological, dealing with the greed of corporate culture and the unrealistic expectations in sales, and psychological, addressing the concerns of modern men and women in the skullduggery of sales and business. A roller coaster of a ride….Read it over the weekend and weep. —Michael F. Shaughnessy, professor of psychology, Eastern New Mexico University at Portales PROMOTION OF MY NOVELS THE CUSP OF DREAMS AND AMERICAN SUITE 1. TELEVISION INTERVIEWS & VIDEO ABOUT AMERICAN SUITE & THE CUSP OF DREAMS 2/16-17/11 American Suite: TV Interview with Host Smoki Bacon on “The Literati Scene.” Boston, BNNTV. Posted on LiteraryGulag Channel on YouTube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yygUunuPQb8, and on my website, Literary Gulag, and on my Author Webpage on Amazon.com. 2/17/11 American Suite: Video of my reading at the Illini Union Bookstore, see Illini University Bookstore Facebook site, http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1779581339974. Opening 6-minute segment. LiteraryGulag Channel features two YouTube excerpts: 6-minute & 15-minute Thanksgiving episode. Literary Gulag website: Three excerpts: 6-minute, Thanksgiving excerpt, and the entire reading (minus “The Transformatative Hermeneutics…,” which is featured in the first excerpt). 7/21-22/10 The Cusp of Dreams: TV Interview Host Smoki Bacon on “The Literati Scene.” Boston, BNNTV. Posted on LiteraryGulag Channel on YouTube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QkgVFILWFo and on my website, Literary Gulag. 2. ONLINE OR PRINT REVIEWS OF AMERICAN SUITE & THE CUSP OF DREAMS American Suite ■ 12/20/10 Midwest Book Review, “The Fiction Shelf,” http://www.midwestbookreview.com/sbw/dec_10.htm#Fiction. ■ November, 2010 Bookviews by Alan Caruba, scroll down to softcover novels April 20, 2010, http://bookviewsbyalancaruba.blogspot.com/2010_10_01_archive.html. ■ 11/6/10 “An Interview with Diana Sheets: American Suite or Sweet” by Michael F. Shaughnessy at Ed.News.org, http://www.educationnews.org/michael-f-shaughnessy/102438.html. ■ Winter, 2011 Fresh! Literary Magazine, Review by Shirley Gerald Ware. ■ “The Comic Bible,” Vol. 4, Issue 2 (Fall, 2011) review by Sarah Hackley. ■ October 18, 2011, Debolina Raja Gupta, http://debolinasbooks.blogspot.com/2011/10/review-american-suite-by-author-diana-e.html. ■ 7/17/11 Bookpleasures.com, Lois Henderson, http://www.bookpleasures.com/websitepublisher/articles/3712/1/American-Suite-Reviewed-By-Lois-Henderson-of-Bookpleasurescom/Page1.html ■ 3/23/11 “Book Review American Suite, http://dadofdivas-reviews.blogspot.com/2011/03/book-review-american-suite.html. ■ 3/29/11Review of American Suite by Charles Ashbacher posted on Amazon.com. ■ 3/09/11 Review by Renee Iseson on Sensible Cents, http://sensiblecents.com/2011/03/american-suite-a-novel-by-diana-e-sheets/ The Cusp of Dreams ■ 5/09/11 Midwest Book Review, http://www.amazon.com/review/R2Y258ZVFCUQ70. ■ 2/26/10 Ron Kaplan, review ForeWord CLARION Reviews, http://www.forewordreviews.com/reviews/clarion/the-cusp-of-dreams. ■ 6/24/10 “An Interview with Diana Sheets: The Ending of the Cusp-!” about the conclusion of The Cusp of Dreams and the challenges of serializing a novel on my website in the age of “instant everything.” ■ 12/4/09 “An Interview with Diana Sheets: On Kindle, The Cusp of Dreams, noteworthy fiction, and Sarah Palin, a.k.a. Lethal Weapon 2012” by Michael F. Shaughnessy at Ed.News.org, http://www.ednews.org/articles/an-interview-with-diana-sheets-on-kindle-the-cusp-of-dreams-noteworthy-fiction-and-sarah-palin-aka-lethal-weapon-2012.html. ■ 9/29/09 “An Interview with Diana Sheets: Are we on The Cusp of Dreams or on The Edge of a Nightmare?” by Michael F. Shaughnessy at Ed.News.org, http://www.ednews.org/articles/an-interview-with-diana-sheets-are-we-on-the-cusp-of-dreams-or-on-the-edge-of-a-nightmare.html. ■ 8/26/09 “An Interview with Diana Sheets: Chapter Three of The Cusp of Dreams,” Michael F. Shaughnessy at Ed.News.org, www.ednews.org/articles/an-interview-with-diana-sheets-chapter-three-of-the-cusp-of-dreams.html. ■ 6/24/09 “An Interview with Diana Sheets: The Cusp of Dreams,” Michael F. Shaughnessy, Ed.News.org, http://www.ednews.org/articles/an-interview-with-diana-sheets-the-cusp-of-dreams.html. ■ 4/2010 The Bibliophilic Book Blog, review by Monica S., http://www.bibliophilicbookblog.com/2010/04/book-review-cusp-of-dreams-by-diana-e.html. 3. READINGS & BOOK CLUB EVENTS ABOUT AMERICAN SUITE 9/16-18, 2011, Big E Fair, Connecticut Author Booth. 5/21-22/11, “Connecticut, Greet the Authors” Old Mistick Village, Mystic, Connecticut. 3/16/11 Live chat with Kathleen Kubik’s Book Club about American Suite. 2/17/11 Illini Union Bookstore. 1/08/11 Bank Square Books. 1/05/11 Harvard Coop. 4. RADIO INTERVIEWS OF AMERICAN SUITE & THE CUSP OF DREAMS American Suite ■ Kathryn Raaker, “Let’s Just Talk,” nat’l bdcast, 9/24/2011, MP3 at Literary Gulag. ■ Willi Miller, “Arts Spotlight,” WQCS, 9/2/2011, FL, MP3 at Literary Gulag ■ Tedd Dumas, KWLV-Listen Live, Louisiana/Texas, 8/17/2011, MP3 at Literary Gulag. ■ “The Lars Larson Show,” nat’l bdcast., KXL OR, 8/5/2011, MP3 at Literary Gulag. ■ “The Jay Caldwell Show,” WJON, St. Cloud, MN, 7/29/2011, MP3 at Literary Gulag. ■ “Frank Truatt Morning Show,” WTBQ-AM in Warwick, New York, March 29, 2011. ■ Celeste Quinn, “The Afternoon Magazine,” WILL, February 15, 2011, MP3 download at Literary Gulag. ■ “The Jordan Rich Show,” WBZ 1030. AS featured in “Winter 2011 Booklist.” MP3 at Literary Gulag. ■ Patricia Raskin, “Positive Living,” BlogTalkRadio, January 19, 2011, MP3 download at Literary Gulag. ■ Mindy Todd, “The Point,” WCAI-FM/WGB. Aired January 17, 2011, MP3 download at Literary Gulag. ■ Sybil Tonkonogy, “1550 Magazine,” WNTN-AM (Boston area), aired January 17, 2011. The Cusp of Dreams ■ Mindy Todd, ”The Point,” WCAI-FM/WGB. Aired September 16, 2010, MP3 download at Literary Gulag. ■ “The Jordan Rich Show,” WBZ 1030, 38 states plus Canada. Aired June 6, 2010. MP3 at Literary Gulag. ■ “Woodstock Roundtable, WDST-FM, Doug Grunther, aired April 25, 2010, download at Literary Gulag. ■ Sybil Tonkonogy, WNTN-AM, “1550 Today.” Aired April 25, 2010. Subject: women and work. ■ Kathryn Raaker, “Let’s Just Talk”, WQRT-AM, aired April 17, 2010. MP3 download at Literary Gulag. LITERARY CRITICISM & POLITICAL COMMENTARY Academic Publications 2014 “The Humanities in Crisis: What Went Wrong and How to Restore Their Centrality in our Daily Lives,” The Humanities in 2015: Why We Need Them and How They Contribute to Being Human,” edited by Michael F. Shaughnessy. Nova Publishers. 2012 “Reading and Thinking Critically in the Age of Disputation,” Critical Thinking and Higher Order Thinking: A Current Perspective, edited by Michael F. Shaughnessy. Nova Publishers. 2010 “The Great Books and Cultural Identity: The Rise and Fall of Western Memory and Its Implications for Our Time” published in Reading in 2010 edited by Michael F. Shaughnessy. The article is available as a free PDF download from Nova Sciences by connecting to this hyperlink, http://www.novapublishers.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=11835, scrolling down to my chapter, and clicking on the title. This article is serialized on Literary Gulag. 2008 “Reading in the Internet Age: The Seventeen Rules of Engagement,” Spring 2008 issue of The New Mexico Journal of Reading, Vol. XXVIII, No. 32008. 2007/1986 Ph.D. Thesis (Columbia University), British Conservatism and The Primrose League: The Changing Character of Popular Politics, 1883-1901, University of Illinois IDEALS website, www.ideals.illinois.edu/handle/2142/9088. SELECTIVE NEWSPAPER & ONLINE PUBLICATIONS/CITATIONS March 20, 2010 Quoted by Will Englund, White House Correspondent for the National Journal in “Writing the Story of Health Reform” on the use of narrative in the political arena. I was quoted as saying “voters no longer, by and large, make decisions based on policy.” Adding, “I find it amusing they’ve [politicians] basically adapted literary techniques to politics. But I guess you could say politics is the ultimate fiction.” January 15, 2009 Quoted by J. Jaime Hernandez, Washington DC Bureau Chief for El Universal, in his article speculating on the future of the Obama administration, “Barack, entre el abismo y la esperanza.” El Universal, published in Mexico City, is the largest circulating newspaper in Mexico, http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/internacional/60227.html. December 23, 2008 Quoted by Edward Luce, Washington DC Bureau Chief for the Financial Times, in his article “Person of the Year: Barack Obama.” I suggested that Obama’s worldview is shaped by postmodernism and academic values, http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7d93a336-d02e-11dd-ae00-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1 . November 6, 2008 Dr. Mikhail Lyubansky published “The Obama Apperception Test: What Your Vote (and the reasons behind it) says about your unconscious” in www.opednews.com & www.dailykos.com. This article quotes from my interview I had with Michael F. Shaughnessy “On Evaluating Two Books.” September 9, 2009 Get Life Right, a Wetpaint site, ranks my Literary Gulag essay, “Politics & Literature: Framing the Political Narrative For Victory in the 2008 Presidential Election,” as one of the top journalistic articles covering the 2008 presidential election. This webpage, featured under “Politics,” has as its objective to filter through the “noise” to assess “the long view in assessing the outcome of the 2008 campaign for the presidency” (http://getliferight.wetpaint.com/page/Who=Watches=the=Watchers%3F). September 9-10, 2009 MetaFilter, a community weblog has a discussion about my essay “…Framing the Political Narrative…” (tags: Lakeoff, Westen, 2008 presidential election). August, 2008 Wikipedia citation for my essay “Doris Lessing, Nobel Laureate, and the XX/YY Axis” under the subject heading, The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Marriages_Between_Zones_Three,_Four_and_Five. January 9, 2008, Christian Science Monitor published a distillation of my Literary Gulag essay “Virtue” as “Looking for real virtue in literature.” It was reprinted in many other newspapers nationwide. There was also a five minute audio interview with the Opinion Editor Josh Burek available online. September 17, 2007 Letter to the Editor of The New York Times responding to “A Success Story in India” published. LITERATURE AND POLITICS: INTERVIEWS WITH MICHAEL F. SHAUGHNESSY OF EDUCATIONNEWS.ORG [Selective listing. Based on online availability] January 10, 2015, “Diana Sheets: ‘Charlie Hebdo’, the Paris Tragedy, and the Long War on Global Terrorism.” What motivated the terrorist attack on the French magazine Charlie Hebdo and why it matters, http://www.educationviews.org/diana-sheets-charlie-hebdo-paris-tragedy-long-war-global-terrorism/. June 2, 2014, “An Interview with Diana Sheets: Invited, Disinvited, or Disingenuous?” Why academic freedom is imperiled by political judgments regarding speakers at college commencements today, http://www.educationviews.org/diana-sheets-invited-disinvited-disingenuous/. December 10, 2013, “An Interview with Diana Sheets: Is Our Town Really Their Town?” Discusses Leibovich’s This Town and Washington beltway politics today, http://www.educationviews.org/diana-sheets-our-town-town/. July 19, 2013, “An Interview with Diana Sheets: The Crisis in the Humanities: Why Today’s Educational and Cultural Experts Can’t and Won’t Resolve the Failings of the Liberal Arts.” It discusses the significance of the Harvard Study, the American Academy of the Arts & Sciences, & the Bowdoin Report, http://www.educationviews.org/an-interview-with-diana-sheets-the-crisis-in-the-humanities-why-todays-educational-and-cultural-experts-cant-and-wont-resolve-the-failings-of-the-liberal-arts/. April 28, 2013, “An Interview with Diana Sheets: Is the ‘Mash-up’ Novel a Monstrosity?” This interview discusses how pop fiction parodies classic fiction by mashing it with vampires & zombies, http://www.educationviews.org/an-interview-with-diana-sheets-is-the-mash-up-novel-a-monstrosity/. November 12, 2012, “An Interview with Diana Sheets: A House Divided” examines the 2012 presidential outcome and the bitter partisan divide, http://www.educationviews.org/an-interview-with-diana-sheets-a-house-divided/. November 2, 2012 “An Interview with Diana Sheets: Superheroes or Supervillains: What’s at Stake in the 2012 Presidential Election?”, http://www.educationviews.org/an-interview-with-diana-sheets-superheroes-or-supervillains-whats-at-stake-in-the-2012-presidential-election/. ”September 4, 2012, “An Interview with Diana Sheets: Who is Right and What is Left?” based on my essay posted on Literary Gulag “Righteous Battles: The Foundations of Political Warfare in the 2012 Presidential Election” about Jonathan Haidt’s book The Righteous Mind and its relevance to the 2012 presidential election, http://educationviews.org/an-interview-with-diana-sheets-who-is-right-and-what-is-left/. August 20, 2012, “An Interview with Diana Sheets: Fifty Shades of Putrid?” about E.L. James’s novel Fifty Shades of Grey, http://educationviews.org/an-interview-with-diana-sheets-fifty-shades-of-putrid/. June 20, 2012, “An Interview with Diana Sheets: What in the World is Longform Journalism and Why Is Everyone Talking About It?” http://educationviews.org/an-interview-with-diana-sheets-what-in-the-world-is-longform-journalism-and-why-is-everyone-talking-about-it/. January 5, 2012, “An Interview with Diana Sheets: The Decline of the Contemporary Novel,” considers how the death of the novel pertains to my Literary Gulag essay “Romanticism, Existentialism, and the Postmodern Cult of Self,” http://educationviews.org/2012/01/05/an-interview-with-diana-sheets-the-decline-of-the-contemporary-novel/. June 13, 2011, “An Interview with Diana Sheets: Whither the book?” about the state of publishing based on my Literary Gulag assessment of BookExpo America, 2011, http://www.educationnews.org/commentaries/157894.html. January 5, 2011, “An Interview with Diana Sheets: On the Passing of Dennis Dutton,” http://www.educationnews.org/michael-f-shaughnessy/105516.html. October 20, 2010 “An Interview with Diana Sheets” What Are They Reading in Britain,” about Michael Gove, Sec. of State for Education in the current British Coalition government and his mission to bring the classics back into the curriculum, http://www.educationnews.org/michael-f-shaughnessy/101675.html. July 26, 2010 “An Interview with Diana Sheets: Getting Students Past Harry Potter and Belle and Edward Cullen.” Why were the Great Books undermined by the Culture Wars and what can be done to encourage students and adults to read meaningful literature, http://www.educationnews.org/commentaries/96673.html. June 29, 2010, “An Interview with Diana Sheets: A Triumvirate of Values.” Discusses the “triumvirate of values”—cultural relativism, social justice, and feminization—that succeeded in undermining the social norms affirming aspirational virtues and a dedication to the Great Books, http://www.educationnews.org/commentaries/93692.html. February 26, 2009 “An Interview with Diana Sheets: The Dismal Fate of Literature in the 21st Century,” http://www.ednews.org/articles/an-interview-with-diana-sheets-the-dismal-fate-of-literature-in-the-21st-century.html, discusses with Michael F. Shaughnessy of EdNews.org why Solzhenitsyn’s fiction was so important and why, as explored in Part III of my extended essay on Solzhenitsyn, http://www.literarygulag.com/blog/show/50, 21st Century novels fail in their efforts to be “panoramic in scope, towering in impact, and mesmerizing in its implications” because of their rejection of literary realism, their failure to bear witness, and their embrace of postmodern gimmickry at the expense of devastating truths about our society. January 20, 2009 “An Interview with Diana Sheets: Reading in the Age of the Internet,” http://www.ednews.org/articles/an-interview-with-diana-sheets-reading-in-the-age-of-the-internet.html, discusses my Literary Gulag essay on the death of journalism and its social consequences brought about, in large part, by the impact of the Internet and the demise of reading. October 25, 2008 “An Interview with Diana Sheets: Education, History, and Politics” was about my Literary Gulag essay on Sarah Palin and the historical role of women as leaders in conservative parties vis-à-vis Margaret Thatcher and The Primrose League. October 6, 2008 “An Interview with Diana Sheets: On Evaluating Two Books,” http://www.ednews.org/articles/an-interview-with-diana-sheets-on-evaluating-two-books.html, discusses the fictive nature of autobiographical memoir with respective to presidential candidates Obama and McCain based on my essay on Literary Gulag, “Storytelling, Memoir, and the 2008 Presidential Election. July 29, 2008 “An Interview with Diana Sheets: Did Ian McEwan Plagiarize or ?”, http://www.ednews.org/articles/an-interview-with-diana-sheets--did-ian-mcewan-plagiarize-or-.html, discussed in my Literary Gulag essay on Ian McEwan. March 13, 2008 “An Interview with Diana Sheets: The Great American Novel,” http://www.ednews.org/articles/an-interview-with-diana-sheets-the-great-american-novel.htmlm discusses the first of my three-part essay “Norman Mailer: History as a Novel/The Novel as History,” posted on http://www.literarygulag.com/blog/show/15, in which I analyze his vision of the Great American Novel with respect to Dreiser, Stendhal, et al. The essay examines how Mailer sought to reinvent the Great American Novel and why The Executioner’s Song nearly succeeded. Finally, it considers why today there are no longer Americans engaged in writing the Great American Novel. January 15, 2008 “An Interview with Diana Sheets: The Literary Gulag,” my first interview with Michael F. Shaughnessy, discusses my backstory, why I reside in the Literary Gulag, and why politically correct, feminized fiction that is disengaged with the world prompted me to establish my website http://www.ednews.org/articles/an-interview-with-diana-sheets--the-literary-gulag.html. 2007- LITERARY GULAG ESSAYS & FICTION. MANY POSTED ON THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS IDEALS WEBSITE, http://www.ideals.illinois.edu/handle/2142/3459 ■ Leibovich’s This Town: The Tittle-Tattle Flibbertigibbet Musing of a Fashionisto Political Reporter in the Washington Beltway (10/26/13). ■ Obama’s Second Term: DDG (Deadlock, Debt, & Guns), (12/29/12). ■ Obama’s 2012 Victory: The Demographic Becomes the Narrative, (11/30/12). ■ What’s Memoir Got to Do with It? The 2012 Pres. Election: Fiction Vs. Reality, Pt 2, Romney, (10.28.12). ■ What’s Memoir Got to Do with It? The 2012 Pres. Election: Fiction Vs. Reality, Pt 1, Obama, (9.26.12). ■”Righteous Battles: The Foundations of Political Warfare in the 2012 Presidential Election,” (8/11/2012). ■ “The Loss of an Authoritative Culture in America and Its Impact on the Aspirational Middlebrow Reader, Parts I-3 (7/1/12, 6/13/12, 5/1/12). ■ “Romanticism, Existentialism, and the Postmodern Cult of Self” (12/8/11), not yet on IDEALS. ■ “Twilight, Harry Potter, and the Youthful Reader: Morality, Gender, and $$$s in Today’s Fantasy Blockbusters,” (8/29/11). ■ “BookExpo America, 2011: The State of the Book,” (6/5/11). ■ “Reinventing America in the Aftermath of the 2010 Midterm Elections—the Greatest Reality Show on Earth” (11/29/10). ■ “The Influences Driving Obama’s Narrative: What’s at Stake in the Civil War Between Democrats and Republicans in the 2010 Elections” (10/21/10). ■ “What Do Carl Schmitt’s The Concept of the Political and Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals Reveal About the Obama Narrative?” (9/21/10). ■ “The Great Books and Cultural Identity: The Rise and Fall of Western Memory and Its Implications for Our Time,” Part I-III, posted on Literary Gulag and available in Reading in 2010, Nova Science Publishers (June-August, 2010). ■ The Cusp of Dreams (serialized June, 2009-May, 2010). ■ “Watchmen, Superhero Comics, and the Loss of Consciousness” (5/17/2009). ■ “Solzhenitsyn, Truth, and the Dismal Fate of Literature in the 21st Century: Part I-III” (February-April, 2009). ■ “Journalism in the Age of the Internet” (1/04/09). ■ “Barack Obama’s Postmodern Presidency and the Implications for Policy” (12/03/08). ■ “Obama’s 2008 Victory and the End of Bamidbar (Wandering in the Wilderness)” (11/5/08). ■ “The Sarah Palin Effect” (10/19/08). ■ “Storytelling, Memoir, and the 2008 Presidential Election” (9/17/08). ■ “Politics & Literature: Framing the Political Narrative for Victory in the 2008 Presidential Election” [essay received national attention & Internet interest] (8/20/08). ■ “Ian McEwan’s Incredibly Shrinking Member” (7/15/08). ■ “Junot Diaz: Not Your Average Homeboy” (6/12/08). ■ “Academe, Theory, and Our Cultural Demise” (5/12/08). ■ “Norman Mailer: ‘History as a Novel/The Novel as History,’ Part I-III—The Implications for Literature” (February-April, 2008). ■ “What the Publishers Won’t Admit About the Demise of the Great American Novel” (1/22/08). ■ “Virtue” (12/12/07). ■ “Doris Lessing, Nobel Laureate, and the XX/YY Axis,” cited in the Wikipedia entry for The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five (11/04/07). ■ “Memoir as Lie” (10/08/07). ■ “Literary Fiction and “Adam’s Curse” (9/13/07). ■ “The ‘Pink and White Tyranny’ & Its Toll on Fiction” (8/5/07). ■ “Tom Wolfe Got It Right” (7/18/07). ■ “V.S. Naipaul’s Perspective on the Irrelevancy of Fiction & Its Implications for the Rest of Us” (6/18/07). PODCASTS AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD AT LITERARY GULAG (in addition to already cited TV, video, and MP3 downloads available about my novels), http://www.literarygulag.com/blog/podcasts 2012 Presidential Election 1/28/2013 AM970 CurtisSliwa 1/18/2013 RTTNewsDebraReuther2 9/27/2012 EIMNNeal Larson 9/26/2012 WILS Michael Cohen 9/26/2012 RTTNewsDebraReuther Great Books/Culture Wars 6/29/2010 The Fairness Doctrine Journalism & the Internet 2/2/2009 WJFFMaryHall2 2008 Presidential Election 1/16/2009 KDKAMikePintek 1/13/2009 WOAICharlieParker 12/16/2008 WLRNJosephCooper 12/15/2008 KMEDBillMeyer 12/11/2008 WHCRBillDefosset 11/19/2008 WDRCBradDavis 10/27/2008 WJFFMaryHall1 10/22/2008 WFINChrisOaks 10/13/2008 CRNPaulStern 10/07/2008 WHUSAlexBernier PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATION Illinois Center for the Book, Author Webpage, http://www.illinoisauthors.org/authors/Diana_E._Sheets