Editor’s Note

Abstract

Editor’s Note John N. Duvall This is my final issue as editor of MFS, and I’m pleased that my editor-ship ends with Paul B. Armstrong’s excellent special issue, “Cognitive Modernisms,” that follows. I began working as the associate editor of the journal in January 1999 and took over as editor in the summer of 2001. It’s been a privilege, a pleasure, and an education. Over the years, I’ve vetted more than 6,000 submissions and seen close to 600 essays (and twice as many book reviews) through production. I’ll miss reading those submissions that made me excited to turn the pages—even after the pages became virtual in our online submission system. I’ll miss the bonhomie of our little staff that always has taken pride in never missing a deadline for getting issues to Johns Hopkins University Press. I’ll even miss the impromptu meetings to discuss the minutia of a grammatical issue or to think through how we should cite some strange text not covered by the MLA Handbook. Much less will I miss asking for volunteer labor—readers for essays and book reviewers. I’ve made more than 20,000 such requests over the last two decades. I called not only on members of our splendid Editorial Board but also on hundreds of people with specialized knowledge related to various submissions. Thanks to each and every one of you who answered the call in the service of the profession. Without your intellectual input, MFS simply couldn’t operate. Beginning with Volume 69, Robert Marzec, my associate editor since fall 2007, will take over as editor. Bob took the lead in editing several special issues, most notably “Modern Fiction and the Ecological” (Fall 2009) and “Anthropocene Fictions” (Winter 2018). Joining [End Page 599] him as associate editor is our colleague, Maren Linett, who has twice guest-edited special issues—“Modernism’s Jews/Jewish Modernisms” (Summer 2005) and “Cripping Modernism” (Spring 2019). Without question, MFS will be in good hands for years to come. So many people have helped make MFS a crucial outlet for scholarship on modernist and contemporary fiction. Prior to Bob Marzec, Siobhan Sommerville and Nancy J. Peterson served as my associate editors. Over the years, I’ve relied on the dedicated labor of some of the very best of Purdue’s English doctoral students who have been my editorial assistants. More than simply correcting MLA citation and documentation, the editorial assistants wrote countless queries to authors so that the work appearing in our pages would be not only intellectually stimulating, but also clear, concise, and correct. Here’s a chronological list of the editorial assistants who worked for MFS during my editorship: Diana Gilroy, Celeste Hines, Angela Laflen, Geoffrey Stacks, Carol Fadda-Conrey, Martin Whitehead, Monica Osborne, Rebecca Nicholson-Weir, Michael Mauritzen, Jason Buchanan, Paul X. Rutz, Aaron DeRosa, Stella Setka, Jason Dodge, Rebekah Mitsein, Leah Pennywark, Shaun Clarkson, Marc Diefenderfer, Elizabeth Boyle, Daniel Froid, Alejandra Ortega, Narim Kim, Allyn Pearson, and Matt Morgenstern. “Thank you” doesn’t begin to express my gratitude. William Breichner, Director of the Journals Division at JHUP has always been great to work with. Thanks, Bill, for all you’ve done to support and promote MFS. And finally, kudos to our contributors. You made my job easy. I’ve always said that it would be hard to publish a bad issue because of the consistently high quality of the submissions that came across my desk. I’m not retiring and will remain a member of the Purdue Advisory Board of MFS. I may even read a submission now and then if Bob or Maren ask me. But for now, my work here is done. [End Page 600] Copyright © 2022 Purdue Research Foundation