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CONSIDERED ONE OF THE GREATEST ENGLISH PROSE STYLISTS OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY, AND ARGUABLY OF ALL TIMES, V S NAIPAUL WAS A COLOSSUS WHO STRODE THE LITERARY REALM. HE WOVE A FICTIONAL LANDSCAPE AND WAS KNOWN TO SPIN MAGIC OUT OF WORDS, AND WAS EASILY IN THE LEAGUE OF LEGENDARY WRITERS LIKE CHARLES DICKENS, LEO TOLSTOY AND JOSEPH CONRAD. NAIPAUL WAS AWARDED THE NOBEL PRIZE IN 2001, WHERE HE HIGHLIGHTED ONLY HIS ADOPTED COUNTRY BRITAIN, AND THE LAND OF HIS ANCESTORS INDIA, BUT NEVER MENTIONED THE COUNTRY OF HIS BIRTH, TRINIDAD, PART OF THE CARIBBEAN ISLANDS. THE GENRE OF HIS WRITING WAS FICTION AND NON-FICTION, ESPECIALLY NARRATIVISED HISTORY THAT INCLUDES SOME HISTORICAL RESEARCH BASED ON HIS TRAVELS. ACCORDING TO NAIPAUL, A NON-JUDGMENTAL OBSERVATION OF THE WORLD WAS A HALLMARK OF HIS WRITING. NAIPAUL WAS KNOWN FOR HIS VISION OF WRITING AND BELIEVED THAT EVERYTHING ELSE HAS TO BE SUBSERVIENT TO THIS GOAL. IN WHAT CONCERNS THE QUESTIONS THIS PAPER INTENDS TO ANSWER HERE ARE SOME OF THEM: 1. WHICH IS THE RELATION BETWEEN NAIPAUL'S WORKS AND BIOGRAPHY AND AUTOBIOGRAPHY? 2. WHAT ARE THE DIFERENT MEANINGS OF NAIPAUL'S FREE SPIRIT? 3. WHY ARE VS NAIPAUL'S NOVELS A GRIM EVEN PESIMISTIC VIEW OF THE POST-COLONIAL WORLD? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to examine the reading of a book-length fiction or non-fiction text in one disciplinary literacy (DL) teacher education course. This paper considers how the assignment may help pre- and in-service teachers understand literacy as multifaceted and connected within and beyond their content areas (Moje, 2015). The research explores how reading a book-length text may help support DL, equity-oriented curricula that consider literacy as empowerment and connected to lived and communal experiences (González et al., 2005; Muhammad, 2020). Design/methodology/approach: This work is grounded in a qualitative, humanizing methodology and thematic analysis approach (Braun and Clarke, 2006; Paris and Winn, 2014). This approach examines student work in one DL course, considering how teachers within and beyond English language arts (ELA) respond to the task of reading a book-length text. Findings: First, the assignment offered space for participants to redefine literacy as empowerment and enjoyment. Second, the assignment helped participants connect literacy within and beyond their content areas and to see literacy as active and interdisciplinary. Third, the assignment includes clear limitations for a DL approach, particularly when participants focus mainly on connections to their content area. This sometimes obfuscated participants' enjoyment of reading. Originality/value: The study offers a new perspective on a task that is often seen as specifically "ELA": reading a book-length text. This project offers space for ELA educators to consider literacy from a DL, equity-oriented framework focused on enjoyment in literature within and beyond ELA classrooms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

EDITORIAL [0.1] Abstract--Editorial for "Fandom Histories", edited byPhilipp Dominik Keidl and Abby S. Waysdorf, special issue,Transformative Works and Cultures, no. 37 (March 15, 2022). Consider the example of fan-made documentariesand fans' use of various images (scenes from films,historical images, interviews with time witnesses), editing(the length of certain scenes, juxtaposing past and present,speeding up or slowing down images), sounds (narrator or nonarrator, on- and off-screen sound, music and scores,original compositions for the films), special effects(animations, image manipulations, charts, graphs), as wellas the sources used (archival materials, privatecollections, other fan works) and participants (fellow fans,industry professionals, creative personnel). In these papers, Paul Thomas looks at disputesin fan-made wikis in "How Adventure Time Fans Understand the'True' Producer: A Close Analysis of Two Encyclopedic FanTexts", J. Nicole Miller investigates reading and searchstrategies in "Information-Seeking Behaviors of Young AdultReaders of Fiction and Fan Fiction", Argyrios Emmanouloudisconsiders the archiving of ongoing fannish events in "Twitch(Still) Plays Pokémon: When Spectators BecomeArchivists", and Eleonora Benecchi, Colin Porlezza, andLaura Pranteddu explore the practices of fan studies itselfin "Filling the Gap: An Exploration into the Theories andMethods Used in Fan Studies." In "Fan Binding as a Method ofPreserving Fan Fiction", Kennedy looks at fan binding as apractice of preservation, using interviews with fan bindersto situate it within physicalizing practices and suggestimplications for the broader preservation of fan work. [Extracted from the article]