New Books In Literary Studies

What do werewolves, enslaved women and immortal beings have in common? And how can they shed light on contemporary questions of ableism and police brutality? In Bodyminds Reimagined: (Dis)ability, Race, and Gender in Black Women’s Speculative Fiction (Duke University Press, 2018), Sami Schalk argues that black women’s speculative fiction changes the rules of literary and textual interpretation by opening up productive spaces of conversation at the intersection of (dis)ability, race and gender. Schalk undertakes a close reading of a variety of genres of speculative fiction including science fiction and neo-slave narratives by authors such as Octavia Butler, Nalo Hopkinson and N.K. Jemisin. Her book shows the range of black women authors’ exploration and critique of marginalizing social and political structures and their visions for more just, equitable futures. Sami Schalk is an Assistant Professor of Gender & Women’s Studies at University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her interdisciplinary research focuses