A biannual publication of the Ralph Waldo Emerson Society, The Dial publishes essays, reviews, review essays, and creative works on Emerson, Transcendentalism, and the cultures of nineteenth-century America and beyond that shaped and were shaped by both. As Henry David Thoreau remarked of the original publication (1840-44), The Dial serves as a “circular” connecting leading and newer scholars while engaging the various, often competing exchanges and explorations that energize the wider fields of American literary, philosophical, and cultural studies.
The journal features pieces on theoretical and historical problems relating to Emerson and also showcases review essays, book reviews, and critical exchanges. It encourages interdisciplinary work and writing on Emerson and transcendentalism from fields other than literary studies that engage and intersect a variety of fields, forms, and geographical locations. In addition to traditional academic essays, the editors are interested in roundtable fora focused on discrete aspects of what Emerson called “The Times”—cultural, professional, national, or global. As a means of responding to emergent and topical lines of inquiry, The Dial also welcomes submissions in nonacademic genres, poetry, experimental nonfiction, and audio-visual works that are inspired by the work of Emerson or other transcendentalists.
Editorial Board
Editor
Christopher Hanlon, Arizona State University
Assistant Editors
Thomas Constantinesco, Sorbonne Université
John Michael Corrigan, National Chengchi University
Advisory Board
Leslie Eckel, Suffolk University
Jeffrey Insko, Oakland University
Michael Jonik, University of Sussex
Christina Katopodis, City University of New York
Sandra Petrolionis, Pennsylvania State University at Altoona
Roger Sederat, Queens College, City University of New York
Randall Fuller, University of Kansas
Caleb Smith, Yale University
Prentiss Clark, University of South Dakota (ex officio former RWES President)
The Ralph Waldo Emerson Society
The Dial is a publication of the Ralph Waldo Emerson Society. Founded in 1989, the RWES is dedicated to fostering scholarship on and appreciation of the life and writings of one of America’s greatest authors. The Society, which has about 200 members in eleven countries, publishes the biannual Emerson Society Papers (ESP), featuring original scholarly articles, current book reviews, notes and queries, an annual Emerson bibliography, abstracts of conference papers, reflections on “My Emerson,” and announcements of interest to Emersonians. Since 1990, the Emerson Society has presented annual panels in May at the American Literature Association conference and in July at the Thoreau Society’s Annual Gathering in Concord, Massachusetts. The Society also maintains an informative web site with a rich and growing archive of Emersonia and conduct annual award competitions for subventions, research support, community programs, and graduate student presentations.
The Dial is an open-access journal that depends on the Emerson Society for its fiscal support. To support the publication, please join the Ralph Waldo Emerson Society. Readers may join here.