We are currently soliciting essay proposals for an edited collection on the fiction of M. R. James, tentatively titled “Medievalists Read the Antiquary: Essays on the Fiction of M. R. James.” As the title reflects, we are interested in proposals which engage the relationship between James’s academic medieval studies and his ghost stories, and therefore we especially invite proposals by specialists in medieval literature, textuality, history, and art history.

This will be the first book devoted to James’s fiction, and we would be pleased to see it become comparable in breadth and quality to “The Legacy of M. R. James: Papers from the 1995 Cambridge Symposium,” edited by Lynda Dennison (Shaun Tyas Press, 2001). That volume, which gathered responses and continuations of James’s lifetime of work on manuscripts and early printed books by insightful medieval specialists, is a model for the collection we envision.

The project will be co-edited by Patrick Murphy (Miami U) and Fred Porcheddu (Denison U). Please send abstracts of 500 words or less (for proposed 5,000 to 7,000-word chapters) with a brief professional c.v., by 30 April 2008, to porcheddu@denison.edu. Once abstracts have been accepted, a firm proposal will be sent to publishers for consideration; it is hoped that an agreement will be signed and chapters commissioned by December 2008.